I have been dealing with a great deal of pain in my back, hip, and leg. It seems like it could be sciatica or possibly what they call "pelvic girdle pain". I already struggle with this leg because I have congenital hip dysplasia in the left hip which has also caused all sorts of issues with my left knee (in addition to injuries from a horseback riding accident) and back. That is why they think that the issues have started so early in the pregnancy. Yay for me! *rolls eyes*
But, I had a WONDERFUL prenatal massage this morning. This was a Christmas gift from Brian. Felicia Gaines Sachs from Healing Through Bodywork came to the house for my appointment. She was amazing: compassionate, empathetic, gentle, thorough, and knowledgeable. She had excellent "table-side manner", communication, advanced knowledge of anatomy and pregnancy, and the "magic touch". I hope that I can afford to have her come back. She was able to work on the areas that are causing me problems and I am hoping that I get some relief tomorrow. For today, the muscles got sort of irritated which meant that I had some issues with the sciatica. No numbness in my foot or leg, though, which was a treat. I felt very relaxed afterward and had a nice nap.
I had my blood drawn on January 10th for the Glucose Tolerance Test. Then we had an appointment with the midwives on the January 12th. Things with my health are really going well. My glucose came back normal, which is wonderful considering the high risk I am at for gestational diabetes. They will check my glucose levels again around 28 weeks. My blood pressure is still great, my weight is still the same from losing fat at the same rate as the baby is growing, and my regular blood work was normal. I wound up having to see the midwife that I don't like, but the appointment was rather quick, and we had to prepare for another appointment the next morning so I was distracted.
We did hit a bit of a "speed bump". They had run a Quad Screen on my blood to screen for birth defects and the results came back abnormal. I was referred to the Antenatal Testing Center at Monmouth Medical Center for an appointment with a genetics counselor and with a perinatologist from the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Department. Maternal-Fetal Medicine is a group of obstetricians who specialize in high-risk pregnancies. A perinatologist is an ob/gyn the specializes in problems in pregnancy. The Antenatal Testing Center has more sophisticated equipment to test for issues in pregnancy, including more in-depth and sensitive ultrasounds. Because our anatomy ultrasound was incomplete, a Level II ultrasound was included in our appointment.
We met with the genetics counselor first on at our appointment on January 13th. She went over our family histories and a brief summary of the test results. The marker that is used to screen for spinal abnormalities was a tiny bit high (one tenth of a point). Our risk was very low that there was any spinal abnormalities, but due to the fact that we got no good images of the end of the spine in the last ultrasound, there was a concern about spina bifida, which is where the backbone and spinal canal do not close. She felt that the anomaly on the blood test results did not warrant further testing besides the Level II Ultrasound.
Next we had the ultrasound with the ultrasound technician. She got lots of good images for the doctor. The baby was much more cooperative this time. Peanut was head down and stretched out which made it much easier for the tech to get images of all of the anatomy. She did have some difficulty because of the extra abdominal fat that I have from being overweight. I spent most of the scan lying on my left side, faced away from the monitor. I didn't get to see much of what was going on, which made me a little sad. What I did see was great, though, because this type of ultrasound has much more detail. Peanut looked like an actual baby and not an alien!
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| This is Peanut at the 20 week anatomy scan. This is the only printed image we were given. Looks like an alien...or Skeletor! |
The perinatologist, Dr. Nath, came in to finish the scan. He took lots of measurements and got extra pictures of the spine. Then we met with him in his office to go over everything. It turns out that the midwives were not clear about the concern over the test results, and the one result was not the only one that was abnormal. Dr. Nath is concerned because ALL of the hormones that they measured were abnormal. Apparently, the placenta is "leaky". It is producing unusually high levels of hormones and pumping them into my blood stream and into the amniotic fluid. The good news is that they were able to see through the ultrasound that the placenta is otherwise normal. It is good size, has a normal shape, has a nice smooth texture, good blood flow, no tears or abnormalities, the umbilical cord insertion was great, and the umbilical cord had normal blood flow. The level of amniotic fluid was also normal. Dr. Nath felt that Peanut looked healthy and normal with no spinal abnormalities. But he is concerned about the hormone levels from the placenta and will be keeping a very close eye on us from here on out.
So, we will most likely not be able to see the midwives anymore and will be followed by Maternal-Fetal Medicine for the remainder of the pregnancy. We are a little sad that things have become more complicated, but we felt really comfortable with Dr. Nath's expertize and are confident that his care will increase the likelihood that we prevent any further problems and effectively handle those that we know we now have. This doesn't mean that we will have more problems, I could go on to have no other issues at all. It just means that we will be watched closely to catch any problems from the very start if they should crop up. It is sad, though, because we were really hoping to avoid this type of medical involvement. With the high level of stress and added emotional content from the miscarriage and fertility issues, it would be nice to avoid the high-drama and high-stress situations which come from including specialists. That being said, we want the very best for Peanut and will do whatever it takes to make sure that we are both safe and healthy.
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| Here is Peanut at the Level II Ultrasound |
Dr. Nath gave us other news, too...
PEANUT IS A
GIRL!!
Please keep me and this little girl in your thoughts and prayers. We are hoping that everything stays normal and healthy and that this placental issue turns out to be a nagging worry and nothing more.
Thanks! We'll be keeping you updated when we can...
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