Mar 9, 2012

More praises!!

We have so much to be thankful for! Praise God we found out it is not vasa previa, but total previa. I know this may not sound like a better diagnosis, but it is. Vasa previa would have meant possible rupture of the blood vessels, emergency c-section and premature delivery of the baby and worst case scenario, hemorrhage or worse. Total previa means there are no fetal blood vessels over the cervix which is great. There are blood vessels over the cervix but they are maternal, meaning mine, because the placenta is over the cervix. The image to the left is the type of previa I have. It's the best I could find on the internet. The main placenta is on the anterior side of the uterus, on my belly side. But there is a smaller section of placenta on the posterior side of the uterus, on my back side. It took the sonographer and the maternal fetal medicine doctor a while to accurately determine if the vessels were fetal or maternal. But I was so happy when they said over and over they believed them to only be maternal. They can tell by the wave length of the blood flow. It was really neat. The whole ultrasound was neat. It was long too. The sonographer started with an entire anatomy scan again then did a transvaginal ultrasound. Then the doctor came in and did both again just on the specific areas he was interested in. And I had to go empty my bladder during the ultrasound. I was so glad I went to the practice I went to. They were super nice, let me ask all my questions and gave me so much information. It was great. I was really excited to go to the specialist to get a thorough evaluation and diagnosis. I will follow-up with them in four weeks and have more ultrasounds during the pregnancy to keep an eye on it. They are keeping me on pelvic rest and want me to continue to take it easy to prevent any chance of bleeding. Another praise is as long as there is no bleeding they will schedule a c-section for week 37. That's great because a baby is fully developed by week 36 which is much better than being born earlier. Of course if there is any bleeding this will change. Spotting and light bleeding will result in bed rest. Severe bleeding will result in hospitalization. Uncontrolled bleeding will result in emergency c-section. So thank you all so much for your prayers. Please continue to pray for both my health and Lady Mommaerts health, for me to take it easy and for us to get to week 37! All these ultrasounds mean more images of her so I have to share them with you all. Love, Holly

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11









Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12

Mar 7, 2012

24 Week Praise Report & Prayer Request

Tuesday, March 6, 2012, we had the follow-up ultrasound to my 20 week anatomy scan where marginal placenta previa was discovered. They informed us I most likely have vasa previa. You can Google it for more info (warning you there's a lot of scary stuff out there), but it basically means my placenta is attached to the uterine wall too close to my cervix but there are also fetal blood vessels going over the cervix. We were able to see the placenta still very close to the cervix and the blood flowing through the fetal vessels in the ultrasound with color Doppler. It also means the placenta and blood vessels could rupture at any time and if that happened I would have to have an emergency c-section asap to save my life and the life of my baby. Since I am basically a ticking time bomb I have been put on pelvic rest for now and have had to cut all my activities, work, volunteering, etc in half plus cut out all physically straining activities until I see a maternal fetal medicine doctor this week to confirm it. So no prenatal yoga, no exercising, no walking, no lifting, no dancing, no nothing, until I see the specialist hopefully this week. But most likely I will eventually be put on bed rest if any slight bleeding occurs or hospital bed rest if more significant bleeding occurs. I found a really good article from the April 2006 issue of the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology. Vasa previa is covered on pages 11-13 of the article. Warning, there are graphic images. Peruse it at your leisure. I found it to be one of the better sources of information on vasa previa out on the Internet.

Of course there are lots of super sad stories on the Internet about vasa previa ending in death which is why we are so glad this was caught now as most people go undiagnosed with this until it is too late and they find out under horrible circumstances. I have been reading up a lot on vasa previa and it seems like it goes undiagnosed because the placenta is not examined during routine ultrasounds during pregnancy. We have to thank God that examining the placenta during ultrasound is policy at our OB/midwife practice or we would not have known until it was too late. That is a huge blessing and praise right there. But I have to really take it easy which is going to be hard for me but I will manage if it means saving the life of my baby and myself. They would like for me to go to as full term with this pregnancy as possible but I will definitely have an early scheduled c-section at around 35 to 36 weeks as I can not go into labor or the placenta and blood vessels will rupture from the contractions. Hospitalization in diagnosed cases occurs at week 30 to 32 and steroids are administered to help the babies lungs mature. Of course, all of this is dependent on what the specialist says when we see her hopefully this week. She will do a more in depth transvaginal ultrasound to evaluate and confirm the diagnosis then she will set a course of action such as immediate bed rest, etc. I have pages of questions for her and my OB especially if the diagnosis is correct and we have to look into a scheduled c-section.

Another praise is the baby is looking great. She is moving like crazy inside me. It's kind of weird and neat at the same time. The ultrasound showed her heart beat is great (141 bpm), they were able to confirm the one item she was hiding with her hands during the anatomy scan and it showed she is where she is supposed to be in weight and size. Previa is also known to hinder the size of the baby as the placenta can’t get the blood supply it needs over the cervix as that’s not the ideal place for the placenta to be attached. But she's good. Thank you God. So we are just hoping she continues to grow well and healthy and we make it as far as we can, to the scheduled c-section and not an emergency c-section. Please pray for this and for us to have peace and comfort and for me to not go crazy taking it easy especially if I get put on bed rest. One more neat thing we got to see at the ultrasound was Lady Mommaerts yawning as you can see from the image below. I hope she loves to sleep like her momma and daddy. That or she was taking a big gulp of amniotic fluid. She may be a good eater like her parents too. :) ~ Holly