First Ultrasound

As most of you have probably heard through the grapevine, my spotting increased on Monday, and being the worried sort that I am, I called the OB and they let me come in. At first I was under the impression that it would be to pick up the paperwork for getting my blood drawn for a progesterone check, but they surprised me by saying that the doctor was squeezing me in during his lunch break. It was a really fast appointment. He gave me a quick ultrasound -- and even let me hear the heartbeat! To me, that was the most critical thing about the appointment - seeing the baby was great, but actually hearing the heartbeat, and knowing it was okay at that precise moment was amazing. I wish Justin was there to have witnessed it as well. During the ultrasound he also found that I have a uterine septum*, which may be a factor in my previous miscarriages. This was not discovered during my last two pregnancies, so it is a bit of a relief to discover the likely cause of the miscarriages, when there was previously no definitive cause. Other than the uterine septum, he could find no real cause for the spotting, but said we would be monitoring it closely.

After the ultrasound, he gave me a prescription for progesterone (woman who have a uterine septum are more likely to need help with their progesterone levels), told me to take one baby aspirin a day, and gave me the paperwork to have an enormous amount of blood work done (including having my progesterone levels checked). I tried getting in to get the blood work drawn on Monday, but I needed to fast, so I got it done on Tuesday. Both the OB and the blood clinic warned me that there was going to be a lot of blood drawn, but with my series of extended hospital stays these past few years, I assured them that I would be fine (I mean what could be worse than spinal taps and stomach shots? I got over my fear of getting blood drawn real quick after that). I was still surprised, when the phlebotomist took 14 vials of blood - all out of one arm! That's definitely the most I've ever had taken in one sitting, but I was lucky and only had to be stuck with the needle once, and didn't feel dizzy at all.

So what's next on the agenda? I have another appointment with the OB on Tuesday (3/17). I'll be getting an ultrasound and all that other stuff they do during your first appointment. Justin is going to scan in the pictures of Monday's ultrasound tomorrow at work, if he gets a chance, and I'll put them up here for everyone to see. I'm off of work for the time being, so that I can rest (that progesterone really is knocking me for a loop...and thought I was tired before? HA!) and hopefully the spotting will go away. For the past few days my lower back is hurting something fierce. We don't have a hot water bottle, so Justin's Mom heated up a damp towel in the microwave as a substitute, and let me tell you, that feels heavenly. My current due date according to the size of the fetus is October 17th. He said they would adjust it, and get a more solid due date in the next few appointments. So that's about it, so far!

I just wanted to thank everyone for their support in this, and also give a special shout out and thank you to Justin's Mom, Dawn, for helping me out and taking special care of me these past few days while she has been visiting. I love you all.

xoxo,
Rose

PS: I hope all of the above made sense...I'm too tired to go back and re-read it..haha.


*Uterine septum: A septum is a malformation of the uterus that is present from birth.To understand about a septum, you need to know a bit about how the uterus is formed. At about two months of pregnancy, the uterus in a female fetus begins to form. It develops from two tubelike structures called the Mullerian ducts. As the baby grows, these tubes enlarge and their middle portions fuse together to form the uterus. The upper portions of these ducts go on to form the fallopian tubes. The fused tubes continue to grow; as the uterus enlarges, the area where the tubes touch each other dissolves, leaving one hollow muscular tube -- the uterine cavity. It is a miracle how this chain of events happens. Yet things can go wrong. The ducts may not merge; the result is a double uterus. The ducts may merge incompletely, creating a heart-shaped (bicornuate) uterus. One of the ducts may fail to develop, forming a single-horned (unicornuate) uterus with only one fallopian tube. Or the ducts fuse, but the area where they joined does not dissolve, leaving a dividing wall inside the uterine cavity -- a uterine septum.