Second Trimester... again

I had my First Look appt at the MFM Tues, 10/13. It went really well! The u/s was up first. The hubby and I were sitting in the waiting room reminiscing over how much we hate sitting there. That room was fun for us - well - only once last pregnancy. It was at my 6 week u/s with Vincent and we saw the heartbeat. All Vincent's other u/s were done at a different "imaging place". I call it that because they had fancy machines and pretty picture printers - but not the type of place they allow you to go when you are high risk and need the specialists seeing you. The next times we were there with Vincent - I was brought in the back door in a wheel chair. These u/s just got worse and worse.

So far the u/s with Sprout have actually been quite good. But nothing will erase the awful memories that place holds for us - but the dr.'s are the best and we love them - so we sit there and bitch about how much we hate the waiting.

My turn arrived to go in. Guess who was doing the scan? The amazing dr. who delivered Vincent. Actually, she was more than that. She was the dr. watching me while I was in the hospital. She is a MFM fellow- so she is not on her own yet. She is a practiced OB - but she is just doing her 3 year stint in MFM before she can be certified on her own. When she delivered Vincent - she sent everyone but the nurse out of the room and didn't even call the attending in. She wanted it private. She knew it suck and she made it as comfortable as possible. She had tears in her eyes as she delivered.

So now she is learning to do the scans. It was so AMAZING for her to be there. She asked about my BPs and who was watching me and how it was going. Then super bitch attending came in because she was taking too long to get the measurements (I told her after the scan the bitch lady just pushed A HELL OF A LOT harder - bringing tears to my eyes many times - she laughed and thanked me for the tip). I mentioned to said bitch that my Dr. ordered dopplers.

B: nope we don't do them until 24 weeks

me: well he said he may be able to get them done earlier elsewhere

B: Nope not until 24 weeks

me as she was leaving; well gee I guess they make an exception to that rule if your baby is dying.

Now don't get me wrong, I understand some things are protocol. It was the dismissive way she spoke to me, and the dr as well, that made me despise her. So they leave the room. The door is not even shut for 2 minutes when Dr. amazing comes back in with the head of fetal imaging. Immediately I was like - Oh fuck. Sprout's NT measurement must be too large. Nope, he hoped in the chair and said let's try to get some quick unofficial dopplers. He did and it was wonderful! They look normal right now. My MFM complained it would have been better if he could have done an official one but that the dr. is really good about calling him with abnormal results. Plus the doctor told us everything looked great. Dr. awesome guarded the door while he did all this. I looked at her and thanked her profusely.

Then when she handed me the report in the hall - we hugged. She wished me the best of luck and told me to e-mail her at anytime. Her being there to support and help us had to be a sign from Vincent. He was such a hard delivery for her. He effected every person who was in that u/s room in the beginning.

So u/s results:

Sprout still measuring about 5.5 days ahead. Actual 12.6 - measured 13.4.

Dopplers were within normal range

NT measurement of 2.0 (accepted range: 0-2.6)

Later blood work combined with u/s - Downs Syndrome risk of 1:1600

Went to MFM after with my new BP machine and waited and waited and waited. Monday was a holiday around here so the double booked appts :/ Nurse sent my for bloodwork because the phlebotomist was going to close before I saw the Dr. When getting my blood work done - Vincent's song cam eon. It is a song I used to sing to him all the time when I was pregnant. I made his slide show to the song. I have only heard it one time since - on my birthday on the way to dinner. I don't usually read into signs. But I took this as sign Vincent was looking down on me.

Back at MFM I got my baseline protein results: 208. Higher than I would have liked , but could have been worse. Dipped trace at the office and I was really hydrated so that stresses me out a bit. BP 140/88 - I quickly set up my machine to get a comparison and got 143/91. This made my dr. and me happy my machine seems on track. It also made him believe all my other readings from 2 weeks in the 120s/low 80s. We are not going to adjust meds unless I really spike with sustained pressures of over 155/95 or a head into L&D with a one time reading of over 160/100.

I have four weeks off. Then I see him - actually his NP since he will be out of the country- and then the fun starts. The next week I go see another specialist at Children's Hospital to perform Advanced Fetal Echos. I have anti-ro antibodies which can cause congenital heart block in Sprout. This guys - as my hubby put it- is like the ultimate ship in the bottle maker. He does lots of in-utero heart surgeries. I will be having these done weekly in case we see a problem arise - we can try and correct it. Not only does Sprout run the risk of PE - but also congenital heart defects :sigh:

Sprout is very much wanted to make it home. I am optimistic right now - tomorrow who knows. This road is hard. As happy as I get for the future and when I start making mental plans - I knock myself around a bit and remind myself we have a way to go. I'll start the dreaming in 2010 hopefully. If we make it - New Years Day I turn 24 weeks. The magic time they will provide life support. If things are still looking O.K. then - well I'll have a busy few weeks with figuring out how to rearrange the house and how we want to do a baby shower (not having one - if things are looking O.K. is not an option - I need everything - and I don't have the money to buy it).

G\So keep on doing your parasitic wonders little Sprout - we love you and want you to come home. Vincent - please keep watching out for us all.

I am pretty sure the next post is going to be about feeling alone in this pregnancy - but that is a whole other topic and I want to leave on a happy note.

:)