Peace of Mind

Thank you all for your kind words, thoughts and prayers. We spoke to the midwife and as many of you have said she totally reassured us that this isn't as huge a deal as it seems and to stop our internet searches ASAP!! Since I'm able to feel Bit move now and Amy has even felt a few nudges it seems all the more real to us and all the more scary when faced with the possibility that something can go wrong. But we are going to take a few deep cleansing breathes and go back to simply enjoying the pregnancy. Your words and reassurances meant a lot.


Bit at 19w3d (measuring 20w4d, weighing 14oz.)

1%

We had another ultrasound today with mixed results. Bit is doing really well. Everything looked normal, no cleft pallet, heart, brain and kidneys all look normal. Bit is weighing it at 14oz and is measuring one week ahead of schedule at 20w 4 days. We resisted the urge to look when they went to look at the baby bits so Bit's sex/gender is still a mystery.

The bad news from the visit is that it looks like we have velamentous cord insertion (which I have never ever heard of). This basically means that the umbilical cord doesn't insert into the mass of the placenta. The exposed vessels are not protected by Wharton's jelly and are vulnerable to rupture. Apparently, this only occurs in 1.1% of singleton pregnancies. Woo hoo! Lucky us.

Part of me feels like of course we fall into this 1%. This whole process hasn't gone our way or smoothly from the beginning so why should it now. Basically, I'm feeling extremely sad and scared for Bit that something will go very wrong. The doctor who's office we were in for the ultrasound wasn't in but the tech seemed unfazed. We'll have to go in for monthly ultrasound appointments to make sure Bit continues to grow, as lack of growth can be one of the complications. We have a call out to the midwife to see what this means for Bit and if our plans for a home birth are still possible. I'm hoping that I'm just overreacting and this really is going to be a non-issue since Bit is already measuring one week ahead which means he/she must be getting everything it needs. But I just keep thinking that if this only happens in 1% of pregnancies how can it not be a big deal?

Changes

Well, we have officially broken up with our OB. Nothing crazy bad happened to prompt the break up. It was more of a "it's not you, it's me scenario". We never ever really felt right there, everything was so rushed and of course clinical. The last straw was at our last visit when she happily announced that they were adding two more doctors to the practice bringing the total up to 7 and that we were welcome to make appointments with any of the doctor's not just her. We took that as a message that she really didn't care either way about us so we decided to make zero appointments with any of the doctor's.

Instead, we have decided to do a home birth with a midwife. We had talked about doing this in the beginning but chickened out by focusing on all the bad that could happen at home and all the good that would be available at the hospital. But the further we went down the OB/hospital path the less control we felt we were having in this whole process. Another big reason for the change is our whole TTC process has been so filled with needles, drugs, doctor's offices and surgeries that we just wanted to take back some of this pregnancy for us. And that's what this decision is, the right one for us. We know that not everyone will agree or understand our decision but we are truly happy and excited about this new direction.

Boys and Bellies

I've finally been given permission to post a belly shot. This week was a little rocky for Melissa. She has been having lots of leg and back cramps. She even broke out the Yoga for pregnant women to try to help her out. Most of her pain is in the evening or when she is sleeping so I thought I would buy her a body pillow to help. She really enjoyed the support of the body pillow and I think it will cut down on some of her back pain she is experiencing.

In other news, this weekend our friend came over and performed her "scientific" test to determine if our baby is a girl or a boy. She used a needle and thread and due to the direction the needle was swinging (back and forth mean boy, circles means girl) it looks like Bit's a boy.

I have to admit before we got pregnant I really wanted to know the sex of the baby. Now that we are pregnant I love the excitement of waiting to find out. Melissa told me if we have a second baby we can find out before hand but I think I like not knowing.



We are excited about the upcoming week because we have an appointment and get to look at Bit again and my sister is coming for a visit. We will give you an update this weekend after our appointment.