Wednesday, October 31, 2007

on the baby front

Well I haven't posted in a while because things have been a little crazy. While i was in for 31 wk ultrasound (Which they do because of my thrombophilia- to ensure the placental perfusion is good and baby is growing well) they found a really really rare cord issue- An intra-abdominal vein varix- basically after the umbilical vein enters the baby- it is dilated within the abdominal cavity of the baby. I noticed the U/s tech kept looking at something but i couldn't figure out what is was. Well the perinatalogist came in and explained it and said she thought i needed to have weekly NSTs and we needed to move up my next ultrasound. Well I went home and started reading-- Unfortunately reading up on it only made things scarier. The first thing I learned was one it was really rare- There are less than 100 cases documented. Each study maybe only included 7-9 patients.Then of those cases documented outcomes varied widely. Some showed really good outcomes 7 out of 7 healthy babies- other showed stillbirth and fetal loss rates of 25-44%. the problem that frequently occurs is thrombosis of the vessel- not what you want to hear when you are already high risk for thrombosis (I'm on lovenox 2x a day and aspirin)That was definitely not what I wanted to hear. Especially after all I have been through ( 8 m/cs) I called the perinatalogist back the next morning, got kicked over to high risk for my managment and we came up with a new plan- 2x a week Bpps,Nsts, doppler studies, we did steriods to speed lung development, and we are due an amnio to check lung maturity on the 12th and assuming we're good- baby will be induced then at 35 weeks- So I have to keep this baby hanging in for 11 more days and then we won't take any risks.We are hoping with our careful monitoring we could catch a "problem" before it happens but again there is enough to know who things play out when they go bad. So we are hoping we don't have to deal with that- needless to say I live hour to hour and day to day and appt to appt- poking and prodding this little boy to ensure he is always moving and dopplering him a few times a day. But there is nothing like need to be ready for the baby- so i am trying to not stress myself out- but also expedite things and get in gear. So keep your fingers crossed!

8 comments:

Jeannette said...

I was just thinking about you and wondering how you were doing! Hang in there.

Char @ Crap I've Made said...

(((HUGS))) keep that baby cooking a few more days!

Courtney said...

Hang in there!! You are doing great and it sounds like your dr has a good handle on things. Keep us posted

Amber said...

Hang in there! I'm glad that your dr. is willing to take a proactive approach.

Zoe said...

Oh Leslie, I am so glad that they caught this in time take precautions . . . although no pregnant woman wants to hear this. I will be thinking of you and your little one. Let us know how things go - good luck! :) :)

g said...

I'm thinking of you, too, and hope your little one will stay put for a little while longer. It sounds like you and your doctor are doing everything right. Wishing you a happy and smooth birth!

Stephanie C. said...

(((Hugs))) Les! I'm crossing everything I've got and you and your sweet babe are in my prayers!

Jane said...

I have been thinking about you and thought I would pop onto your blog to see how things are going. I'll keep you in my prayers that all will go well, and that baby will keep cooking for a few more days!

((hugs)) for you and your family!