New Diagnosis and The Information Monster

First, the good news: The baby is doing great. Still growing rapidly and maintaining a strong heart rate (4.35 cm, 163 bpm). More good news: Our baby no longer has webbed fingers and toes and he/she lost its tail this week (according to the books). So that's a relief.

Now the not necessarily bad news, but I wasn't jumping up and down news: I have a new diagnosis. After a high definition sonogram with a perinatologist (high risk doctor), it has been decided that I have a large hematoma in my left horn. It is now believed that the pain and bleeding I have experienced was caused by the hematoma, not by my body's confusion over whether it's pregnant or not.

So what does this mean? It means we wait. So far the baby has been able to develop normally while sharing the uterus with this hematoma. The danger is that uterine hematomas (I believe they are technically called Subchorionic Hematomas) often cause the placenta to separate from the uterine wall. As the baby and the hematoma compete for space this becomes a bigger concern. The grand plan is quote "to watch [me] like a hawk." Which means sonograms and Ob appointments every other week.

I do not know how my bicornuate uterus factors into all of this. In my mind (which knows NOTHING about this kind of thing) I figure it has to be beneficial that there is a dividing "wall" separating the baby from the hematoma. When I actually get to speak with the doctor I will find out.

Now onto "The Information Monster". There is a fine line between being informed and freaking yourself out. Therefore, I have a new policy: The only information I care about is what I hear come out of MY doctor's mouth. It is really tempting to come home from doctors appointments and head straight to the computer to Google the strange new words they filled my head with, but not once has my Googling had a happy ending. The bottom line is every pregnancy is different. Despite what Google has to say, there are plenty of women with bicornuate uteruses who have delivered healthy, full term babies. There are also plenty of women who have delivered healthy, full term babies that shared a uterus with a hematoma.

So, I caution anyone who is tempted to Google medical information: it will most likely do more harm than good. You do not need to worry about the million and one things that could go wrong. In the event that something does go wrong, your doctor will inform you about YOUR situation.

Now, I have a favor to ask of you. Please drink a nice cold Leinie's Sunset Wheat for me (orange slice optional). Drinking water on the patio while enjoying the beautiful summer smell of neighbors' BBQs just isn't the same. I would feel better if I knew my friends and family were fully enjoying this experience with a delicious beer.

Lots of love,

Nicole

Week 10. Going public.

Most people would advise us to wait another couple of weeks before breaking the big news, but what can we say? We're excited! So excited that keeping it a secret has been a challenge...for some(one). A few weeks ago a certain unnamed father-to-be made a few super sly phone calls that went something like this: "Shhhhh...don't let Nicole know I told you, but WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!!" It's hard to be mad at that kind of excitement :)

So here is a quick rundown of what we know so far:

Due date: February 5, 2011

Growing quickly (on schedule), good strong heart rate, wiggling around like crazy.

Also, I have two uteruses (uteri?). Well, technically it's just one uterus that has a complete separation of the right and left side. Doctors call it a Bicornuate Uterus. There are varying degrees of this condition. Some women have a slight heart shape to their uterus, others a more pronounced heart shape, and fewer still have almost complete separation of the two sides - which doctors refer to as "horns". I am pregnant in my right horn. I will attach pictures I found online of a Bicornuate Uterus as well as a normal uterus so you can see what I'm talking about.

This is a normal uterus.

This is a Bicornuate Uterus.

Having such a pronounced Bicornuate Uterus does present some problems - and it already has. My left side is very confused about what is going on because it's not pregnant, but my body's hormone levels are telling it otherwise. So against its better judgement my left horn is producing everything it needs to build/house a baby - except there is no fetus. Once my left horn realizes that there is no fetus and it's doing all this work for nothing, it decides to get rid of everything - which presents as a "miscarriage". I say "miscarriage" because that's not what actually happened since there was never a fetus in the left horn to begin with. This poses a problem because every time this happens (it's happened twice) we worry that a miscarriage took place in the right horn - where there is a healthy fetus. Talk about a roller coaster!

The good news is the baby is doing just fine and hasn't been affected by the events in the left horn. What a trooper! I on the other hand cannot wait until the left side gets its act together because it is exhausting!

That about covers it for now. We will keep you posted as the adventure continues!

xo,

Nicole