WARNING: This entry is pretty long.
Just thought I'd write a little update about recent events and life nowadays. Let's start with Friday, May 20..
That morning started out normal. I had trouble sleeping the night before because I was feeling super anxious. I was super excited about the ultrasound appointment we had scheduled for that morning. I got up a little earlier than I planned, showered and got ready. Since it felt like it was going to be a good day, I decided to run out and get some donuts for breakfast. Once Reece got home from work, we headed out for our appointment. Our ultrasound itself went pretty well. The ultrasound tech said that the baby looked normal and he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. He did notice something peculiar about me though. He took an extra measurement of my cervix because he thought that it looked a little short. After he took the second measurement and saw it was short, we had to wait in the waiting room while he called the base hospital to see if they wanted us to do anything special. Turns out we had to head straight over to the Women's Clinic on base to talk to a nurse. The nurse explained our situation-my cervix was measuring a little over 1cm. At that point in the pregnancy (I was a couple days shy of being 20 weeks), a normal cervix measure around 4-4.5cm. I had about 25% of the needed amount. That puts me at risk for premature birth. Scary.
Oddly enough, I felt very calm the whole time the nurse was talking to us. Not only was Reece already tired because he worked the whole night before, I could tell he was freaking out. I got prescribed some medication and she told us that we had another appointment with a Maternal Fetal Specialist at an off base hospital that afternoon. After picking up my medicine, we tried to have a calm lunch. Key word being tried. We both called our parents to tell them what was going on. At that point I started to feel really scared but it helped to hear from our families to just stay positive and to not think the worst is going to happen. That I'm not the first and only person with this issue and to just take everything one step at a time.
2:30 pm finally came around and we headed over to Alaska Native Hospital for our next appointment. We had to wait just about an hour before finally getting called back. Nurse took my vitals and then we headed into an ultrasound room. The doctor we were seeing just wanted to get a confirmation about the length of my cervix. Once that was all done and the doctor saw the pictures, he came in. Using one of my pictures, he explained what was found. He said that I have what they call funneling (basically, part of the amniotic sac is in the opening of my cervix as if my cervix was in the process of getting ready for me to give birth-opening from the inside out). He also said that my cervix was correctly measured and that it is short. What made it more scary than it already was, was how he's a no bullshit doctor. He doesn't beat around the bush or try to make things seem lighter than they are. He kept telling us how this is serious. He said how if this wasn't caught, my water could've broken a couple days or a couple weeks from then. If that happened, that it's pretty early and our baby most likely wouldn't survive.
He talked about our options-the medication, bedrest and the possibility of a cerclage (a surgery where he would put a stitch through and around my cervix to help keep it closed). He recommended that I start the medication that night and put me on bed rest for the weekend (to start with). We also got a follow up appointment for that Monday to see if there were any changes. Reece had to get the truck and park near an exit that was close to the exam room. They didn't let me walk across the street to get back to the car.
I was told to become the ultimate couch potato-stay off my feet as much as possible. Since we have stairs in our house, he did say I could come downstairs in the morning and then back up at the end of the day. But just to be safe, I decided I wanted to live in our living room. Only going upstairs to shower. Otherwise, Reece just brings me clothes and whatever I need from around the house. I basically stay on the couch and only get up to shower or use the bathroom.
Monday, May 23: Our appointment was first thing in the morning. Reece had to get a wheelchair so I wouldn't have to walk around the hospital. I kept giggling mainly because I found it very exciting for some reason. At this appointment, the ultrasound tech took a quick look at baby again and measured my cervix. After that was done, doctor came in to talk to us. He said that my cervix looked stable and looks like it got about 1-2mm longer. Because of that, he said that a cerclage might not be necessary. He felt that the bed rest and medication was working so far. After talking with him, Reece and I agreed that as long as we can, we want to avoid getting the cerclage. We didn't want to irritate the environment anymore if we don't have too. Before leaving we had to set up another follow up appointment for that Thursday.
The next couple days went just as the weekend did. Hanging out on the couch, watched tv/youtube and tried not to do anything. I thought it would be easy but I started to notice that all I wanted to do was clean and do what I usually do-take care of the house. Reece works mids. I already felt bad that it was messing up his routine a bit to take care of me and the house. I just hated that if I thought the carpet needed to be vacuumed (our dog sheds quite a bit), I couldn't just do it myself. Surprisingly, the days seemed to pass by pretty quickly.
Thursday, May 26: Again, our appointment was in the morning. Same thing-ultrasound tech took quick look at baby and measured my cervix. This time, our doctor took us to another room to talk to us and grabbed one of the nurses. We got kinda nervous that maybe something changed and I needed to get the surgery done. When he came back, he said that not counting the previous measurement, my cervix is about the same as it was the first time we came in. He felt everything looked stable and that the medication and bed rest seemed to be working at keeping my cervix from opening. He brought up the cerclage again and asked how we felt about it. He said how there's not right or wrong answer about it. That some doctors are all for it and some don't do it unless needed. If I were to get the cerclage, he said there was a possibility I could go back to work but that it depended on how my body reacted to the stitch being there and obviously if there were any changes after the surgery. We ended up telling him that if it's not necessary, we would rather not get it at this point.
Reece also asked what milestone should we be looking at as our goal to get too. Doc then told us the chances of survival when a baby is born early and how the earlier it's born, the more complications it can have. Obviously full term is what every baby should get too but we're hoping our little one can stay in there until I'm about 30-32 weeks. As the nurse was setting up our next appointment, I had asked her if she knew exactly what causes a short cervix. She pointed out that in my case, it's hard to say why my cervix is short mainly because this is my first pregnancy. She said how this isn't something I caused and that I could just happen to have a short cervix. But that when it gets caught in ultrasounds, women normally get watched (like we are) if their cervix is shorter than 2.5cm.
The base hospital had ended up creating leave paperwork for me. Keeping me out of work from May 24-August, since the doctor put me on bed rest. So for the time being, I am still hanging out on the couch all day. Reece's grandma was sweet enough to send me a coloring book and colored pencils to help pass time. We're not sure how long this is going to last. Even though for now I'm on leave from work til August, it could get extended (or shortened) as needed. Just trying to stay positive and take it one day at a time. Everything's going good so far. Baby's still cooking and I've actually started to feel some movement!
That's pretty much it. Just thought I'd let everyone who cared (or get bored enough to read my blogs ;P) what's going on in our lives. Thanks for stopping by. Until next time!
Just thought I'd write a little update about recent events and life nowadays. Let's start with Friday, May 20..
That morning started out normal. I had trouble sleeping the night before because I was feeling super anxious. I was super excited about the ultrasound appointment we had scheduled for that morning. I got up a little earlier than I planned, showered and got ready. Since it felt like it was going to be a good day, I decided to run out and get some donuts for breakfast. Once Reece got home from work, we headed out for our appointment. Our ultrasound itself went pretty well. The ultrasound tech said that the baby looked normal and he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. He did notice something peculiar about me though. He took an extra measurement of my cervix because he thought that it looked a little short. After he took the second measurement and saw it was short, we had to wait in the waiting room while he called the base hospital to see if they wanted us to do anything special. Turns out we had to head straight over to the Women's Clinic on base to talk to a nurse. The nurse explained our situation-my cervix was measuring a little over 1cm. At that point in the pregnancy (I was a couple days shy of being 20 weeks), a normal cervix measure around 4-4.5cm. I had about 25% of the needed amount. That puts me at risk for premature birth. Scary.
Oddly enough, I felt very calm the whole time the nurse was talking to us. Not only was Reece already tired because he worked the whole night before, I could tell he was freaking out. I got prescribed some medication and she told us that we had another appointment with a Maternal Fetal Specialist at an off base hospital that afternoon. After picking up my medicine, we tried to have a calm lunch. Key word being tried. We both called our parents to tell them what was going on. At that point I started to feel really scared but it helped to hear from our families to just stay positive and to not think the worst is going to happen. That I'm not the first and only person with this issue and to just take everything one step at a time.
2:30 pm finally came around and we headed over to Alaska Native Hospital for our next appointment. We had to wait just about an hour before finally getting called back. Nurse took my vitals and then we headed into an ultrasound room. The doctor we were seeing just wanted to get a confirmation about the length of my cervix. Once that was all done and the doctor saw the pictures, he came in. Using one of my pictures, he explained what was found. He said that I have what they call funneling (basically, part of the amniotic sac is in the opening of my cervix as if my cervix was in the process of getting ready for me to give birth-opening from the inside out). He also said that my cervix was correctly measured and that it is short. What made it more scary than it already was, was how he's a no bullshit doctor. He doesn't beat around the bush or try to make things seem lighter than they are. He kept telling us how this is serious. He said how if this wasn't caught, my water could've broken a couple days or a couple weeks from then. If that happened, that it's pretty early and our baby most likely wouldn't survive.
He talked about our options-the medication, bedrest and the possibility of a cerclage (a surgery where he would put a stitch through and around my cervix to help keep it closed). He recommended that I start the medication that night and put me on bed rest for the weekend (to start with). We also got a follow up appointment for that Monday to see if there were any changes. Reece had to get the truck and park near an exit that was close to the exam room. They didn't let me walk across the street to get back to the car.
I was told to become the ultimate couch potato-stay off my feet as much as possible. Since we have stairs in our house, he did say I could come downstairs in the morning and then back up at the end of the day. But just to be safe, I decided I wanted to live in our living room. Only going upstairs to shower. Otherwise, Reece just brings me clothes and whatever I need from around the house. I basically stay on the couch and only get up to shower or use the bathroom.
Monday, May 23: Our appointment was first thing in the morning. Reece had to get a wheelchair so I wouldn't have to walk around the hospital. I kept giggling mainly because I found it very exciting for some reason. At this appointment, the ultrasound tech took a quick look at baby again and measured my cervix. After that was done, doctor came in to talk to us. He said that my cervix looked stable and looks like it got about 1-2mm longer. Because of that, he said that a cerclage might not be necessary. He felt that the bed rest and medication was working so far. After talking with him, Reece and I agreed that as long as we can, we want to avoid getting the cerclage. We didn't want to irritate the environment anymore if we don't have too. Before leaving we had to set up another follow up appointment for that Thursday.
The next couple days went just as the weekend did. Hanging out on the couch, watched tv/youtube and tried not to do anything. I thought it would be easy but I started to notice that all I wanted to do was clean and do what I usually do-take care of the house. Reece works mids. I already felt bad that it was messing up his routine a bit to take care of me and the house. I just hated that if I thought the carpet needed to be vacuumed (our dog sheds quite a bit), I couldn't just do it myself. Surprisingly, the days seemed to pass by pretty quickly.
Thursday, May 26: Again, our appointment was in the morning. Same thing-ultrasound tech took quick look at baby and measured my cervix. This time, our doctor took us to another room to talk to us and grabbed one of the nurses. We got kinda nervous that maybe something changed and I needed to get the surgery done. When he came back, he said that not counting the previous measurement, my cervix is about the same as it was the first time we came in. He felt everything looked stable and that the medication and bed rest seemed to be working at keeping my cervix from opening. He brought up the cerclage again and asked how we felt about it. He said how there's not right or wrong answer about it. That some doctors are all for it and some don't do it unless needed. If I were to get the cerclage, he said there was a possibility I could go back to work but that it depended on how my body reacted to the stitch being there and obviously if there were any changes after the surgery. We ended up telling him that if it's not necessary, we would rather not get it at this point.
Reece also asked what milestone should we be looking at as our goal to get too. Doc then told us the chances of survival when a baby is born early and how the earlier it's born, the more complications it can have. Obviously full term is what every baby should get too but we're hoping our little one can stay in there until I'm about 30-32 weeks. As the nurse was setting up our next appointment, I had asked her if she knew exactly what causes a short cervix. She pointed out that in my case, it's hard to say why my cervix is short mainly because this is my first pregnancy. She said how this isn't something I caused and that I could just happen to have a short cervix. But that when it gets caught in ultrasounds, women normally get watched (like we are) if their cervix is shorter than 2.5cm.
The base hospital had ended up creating leave paperwork for me. Keeping me out of work from May 24-August, since the doctor put me on bed rest. So for the time being, I am still hanging out on the couch all day. Reece's grandma was sweet enough to send me a coloring book and colored pencils to help pass time. We're not sure how long this is going to last. Even though for now I'm on leave from work til August, it could get extended (or shortened) as needed. Just trying to stay positive and take it one day at a time. Everything's going good so far. Baby's still cooking and I've actually started to feel some movement!
That's pretty much it. Just thought I'd let everyone who cared (or get bored enough to read my blogs ;P) what's going on in our lives. Thanks for stopping by. Until next time!
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