Well, although the plan was to play blogger catch up, I'm actually going to fast forward to the present temporarily. I'm not able to do much today (which will be explained soon) so I'm just watching the A&M/Northwestern Bowl Game with Bryan & the pups and playing on the computer.
I will warn you, this post will get a bit personal and possibly be too much information for you. If you're the queasy type or don't like to hear terms like "uterus" - please don't keep reading after I give a heads-up.
This picture was taken after I had several friends get onto me about not taking any "bump" pics so far. Sorry, friends!! I TOOK ONE!! This was taken the morning of 18 weeks and 2 days. As you can see, the wee one is really starting poke out there.
Yesterday morning was our typically busy 9/80 Friday-off for Bryan & I. Bryan took my Highlander into Toyota to do the 5,000 mile check up (we've actually put way more than 5,000 miles on it in the brief time we've had it), get an oil change, and run it through the car wash. Meanwhile, I continued to clean up the house after all of our travels and wait for the Ryland guy to come and fix the air duct (we had a leak in our bedroom while we were gone). Then we met up with Janie, John, Tyler, Jessica, Todd, Amy & Ellen for lunch at 1pm at FREEBIRDS, yummm. Then we headed back home to continue cleaning and our friend Stephanie was going to come over for a while.
(Note: This is when I start sharing personal information.)
It was around then (3pm-ish) that I started noticing that I was spotting bright red blood. I didn't think too much notice of it, because I've been told a little bit is normal, but I did what's generally suggested - starting taking note of the time and how much blood there is over a period of time.
Stephanie came over, we hung out and talked, and I went to the restroom again to see if it was getting better/worse. It was getting really heavy - more like a menstrual cycle instead of just spotting. I was also starting to experience some fairly intense lower back pain and moderate cramping. (5:30 pm-ish.) I started to get really concerned. I was also hungry.
We made plans to go get some dinner and if it didn't lighten up by then I would call the midwife on call (for either labor or emergencies.) I decided to call on our way to dinner just to let her know what was going on. She asked me to postpone dinner and come into the center to do an ultrasound and make sure there was nothing seriously wrong. We did a u-turn and headed to The Woodlands.
I was of course getting really nervous by now because the cramping was getting worse and the bleeding was continuing.
We arrived and they immediately set us up on the ultrasound. Baby looked great - rolling, kicking, and wiggling a LOT, which the midwife was glad to see. She was more concerned about the placenta and my cervix. She spent quite a while looking at them. My placenta has moved in front of my uterus, which means that it's what's right under the middle of my tummy now, not baby. I can only feel the baby kicking on my sides and at the bottom so that didn't really surprise me. They said they will have to monitor it's placement as I get closer to term because I can't physically deliver a baby through a placenta, so it could result in an emergency c-section if we're not prepared for it. That's not really relevant now - but it was interesting and good to know. It also meant we couldn't get a very good view of my cervix.
Since the ultrasound couldn't show us what we needed to know (except they now knew that it wasn't the placenta that was bleeding, which is good), they had me do a urine sample to check for a bladder infection (which can sometimes cause bleeding), but it came back negative. Then they decided they needed a mucus swab, which involved an uncomfortable pelvic exam to get - yuck - to see if I was perhaps developing a yeast infection, which can also cause bleeding. It, too, came back negative.
They finally decided to check my cervix. To do this effectively, they wanted to do a trans-vaginal ultrasound. Again, yuck. They were able to get a very good image of my cervix though, which showed that it was irritated & very slightly opening. They said that the "cramping" I had been experiencing in my stomach and back could have been just severe cramping that caused irritation, or minor contractions which are not good at this stage in the pregnancy. To ensure no more contractions happen, they want me to take it very easy for a few days - at least until the cramping reduces and the bleeding stops. I'm also supposed to take an extra 1,000 mg of Calcium & Magnesium every day, which helps keep the cervix strong and shut. I'm also on "pelvic rest" for "quite a while." This basically means no sex. I'm not sure what "quite a while" means, but at least until my next appointment on January 25th for the anatomy scan.
Today the bleeding has slowed down quite a bit, but I'm still having pretty rough cramping. Hopefully that will stop today (or very soon).
It was scary, but the midwife (Christy) and nurse were AMAZING. They stayed calm, never once brushed off any of our concerns or questions, and were very thorough to make sure both me and our baby were fine. It was very reassuring to see our baby move and see and hear her strong heart beat and that she was still protected and safe in there. It was also a relief to get to the bottom of why the bleeding occurred, and know what to do to prevent any further irritation.
At this point (almost 8pm) I was VERY hungry (understatement), so Bryan, Stephanie & I went to the nearby Los Cucos and Bryan ordered a very large margarita to calm his nerves while I had one without any alcohol :) We got home around 9:30, completely wiped out. Stephanie headed home and we crashed into bed.
If you're still reading, we'd like to ask you for your continued prayers for this pregnancy. We want our little girl to stay very safe in there!
I will warn you, this post will get a bit personal and possibly be too much information for you. If you're the queasy type or don't like to hear terms like "uterus" - please don't keep reading after I give a heads-up.
This picture was taken after I had several friends get onto me about not taking any "bump" pics so far. Sorry, friends!! I TOOK ONE!! This was taken the morning of 18 weeks and 2 days. As you can see, the wee one is really starting poke out there.
Yesterday morning was our typically busy 9/80 Friday-off for Bryan & I. Bryan took my Highlander into Toyota to do the 5,000 mile check up (we've actually put way more than 5,000 miles on it in the brief time we've had it), get an oil change, and run it through the car wash. Meanwhile, I continued to clean up the house after all of our travels and wait for the Ryland guy to come and fix the air duct (we had a leak in our bedroom while we were gone). Then we met up with Janie, John, Tyler, Jessica, Todd, Amy & Ellen for lunch at 1pm at FREEBIRDS, yummm. Then we headed back home to continue cleaning and our friend Stephanie was going to come over for a while.
(Note: This is when I start sharing personal information.)
It was around then (3pm-ish) that I started noticing that I was spotting bright red blood. I didn't think too much notice of it, because I've been told a little bit is normal, but I did what's generally suggested - starting taking note of the time and how much blood there is over a period of time.
Stephanie came over, we hung out and talked, and I went to the restroom again to see if it was getting better/worse. It was getting really heavy - more like a menstrual cycle instead of just spotting. I was also starting to experience some fairly intense lower back pain and moderate cramping. (5:30 pm-ish.) I started to get really concerned. I was also hungry.
We made plans to go get some dinner and if it didn't lighten up by then I would call the midwife on call (for either labor or emergencies.) I decided to call on our way to dinner just to let her know what was going on. She asked me to postpone dinner and come into the center to do an ultrasound and make sure there was nothing seriously wrong. We did a u-turn and headed to The Woodlands.
I was of course getting really nervous by now because the cramping was getting worse and the bleeding was continuing.
We arrived and they immediately set us up on the ultrasound. Baby looked great - rolling, kicking, and wiggling a LOT, which the midwife was glad to see. She was more concerned about the placenta and my cervix. She spent quite a while looking at them. My placenta has moved in front of my uterus, which means that it's what's right under the middle of my tummy now, not baby. I can only feel the baby kicking on my sides and at the bottom so that didn't really surprise me. They said they will have to monitor it's placement as I get closer to term because I can't physically deliver a baby through a placenta, so it could result in an emergency c-section if we're not prepared for it. That's not really relevant now - but it was interesting and good to know. It also meant we couldn't get a very good view of my cervix.
Since the ultrasound couldn't show us what we needed to know (except they now knew that it wasn't the placenta that was bleeding, which is good), they had me do a urine sample to check for a bladder infection (which can sometimes cause bleeding), but it came back negative. Then they decided they needed a mucus swab, which involved an uncomfortable pelvic exam to get - yuck - to see if I was perhaps developing a yeast infection, which can also cause bleeding. It, too, came back negative.
They finally decided to check my cervix. To do this effectively, they wanted to do a trans-vaginal ultrasound. Again, yuck. They were able to get a very good image of my cervix though, which showed that it was irritated & very slightly opening. They said that the "cramping" I had been experiencing in my stomach and back could have been just severe cramping that caused irritation, or minor contractions which are not good at this stage in the pregnancy. To ensure no more contractions happen, they want me to take it very easy for a few days - at least until the cramping reduces and the bleeding stops. I'm also supposed to take an extra 1,000 mg of Calcium & Magnesium every day, which helps keep the cervix strong and shut. I'm also on "pelvic rest" for "quite a while." This basically means no sex. I'm not sure what "quite a while" means, but at least until my next appointment on January 25th for the anatomy scan.
Today the bleeding has slowed down quite a bit, but I'm still having pretty rough cramping. Hopefully that will stop today (or very soon).
It was scary, but the midwife (Christy) and nurse were AMAZING. They stayed calm, never once brushed off any of our concerns or questions, and were very thorough to make sure both me and our baby were fine. It was very reassuring to see our baby move and see and hear her strong heart beat and that she was still protected and safe in there. It was also a relief to get to the bottom of why the bleeding occurred, and know what to do to prevent any further irritation.
At this point (almost 8pm) I was VERY hungry (understatement), so Bryan, Stephanie & I went to the nearby Los Cucos and Bryan ordered a very large margarita to calm his nerves while I had one without any alcohol :) We got home around 9:30, completely wiped out. Stephanie headed home and we crashed into bed.
If you're still reading, we'd like to ask you for your continued prayers for this pregnancy. We want our little girl to stay very safe in there!
