I had my doctor appointment today and we did an ultrasound because I was measuring a little small at my last appointment. I’ll get back to that…
Weight: 141.2 (a gain of 2.8 pounds from 2 weeks ago – not quite 2 pounds a week this time! yay!)
Fetal heart rate: 131
Blood pressure: 101/60-something (can’t remember & am too lazy to get up!)
Questions:
Q: I’ve been at the hospital visiting my grandpa and doctors there are telling me horror stories about preggos with swine flu. Tell me again what you think about getting the vaccine?
A: The vaccine isn’t tested well on pregnant women – doctor recommended not getting it. Which is how I feel about it, so I’m reassured.
Q: My hips are really sore, anything I can do?
A: She suggested I see the office’s chiropractor who can massage them too. I wasn’t aware their office had a chiro. so that’s nice! I might look into it…
OK, now for the ultrasound drama. First, I got my picture I’ve been wanting 
We couldn’t get a good 3D one because he’s face down and covered by the placenta so she wasn’t going to print me any, but I finally got her to understand that I just want a PICTURE. I could care less if it’s 3D… so we got this adorable profile 2D one, with his hand near his face:
I DID ask for pictures from my last ultrasound to be printed, but she was a bit snotty about it. “For what reason??” For myself, I want them. — She basically gave me a round about answer and ignored me. Whatever, I got this picture and I’m happy.
However… the doctor later told me that from the ultrasound they were able to tell that there are issues with my placenta. It has hardened arteries and looks like it’s a “full-term placenta” even though I’m still 8 weeks from my due date.
Labor is induced if you pass your due date by too much because the placenta stops working as effectively: hardened arteries = less oxygen = harder for baby to breathe/grow.
I was too shocked when she told us this to really ask any questions at all. And she basically only told us to do kick counts and call any time, day or night, if he’s moving less (should be 10x in one hour).
But once I got home and really thought about it… I have a million questions. I tried to call and talk to someone and was told they’d call me back, but no one ever did (grrrr).
What are my chances of going into early labor? Or worse, what are the chances he does move less and I need an emergency induction/c-section??
How long can a “full-term placenta” last??? How often should I be doing kick counts? Is once a day enough? because I FEEL like I need to do them constantly, all day long, and I’m freaking out about it. I mean, what if I miss a warning sign because I’m not paying attention?! 8 weeks is a LONG time to be aware, constantly.
My next appointment isn’t for 2 weeks so I feel like all the pressure is on me to do these kick counts and make sure all is okay. She basically told me it makes for a “high risk pregnancy” but I guess if it was a huge issue right now, I’d have my next appointment sooner… right?? Maybe the next 2 weeks will be alright and then they’ll start monitoring me more closely. I have no idea. And I really wish someone had called me back today.
You have this idea of how things are going to be… I’d be full-term (probably late), go into labor at home and get to take a warm shower, etc before going to the hospital and delivering the baby naturally. I never imagined I’d be a high risk pregnancy, possibly go into pre-term labor, or even worse – have an early emergency c-section.
Right now the baby is measuring fine… based on the ultrasound they said he’s 4 lb 13 ounces, which is the 60% percentile. The placenta issue may cause him to have growth issues later in the pregnancy. They actually didn’t measure my fundal height today, which I thought was weird – the whole reason I had the ultrasound was because the fundal height measured small last time.
Just think… I was BEGGING for another ultrasound. If I hadn’t had this one, I would have never known there was a problem. I’m not sure yet if that’s good or bad. All I know right now is I can’t stop worrying (although I know I should) or thinking about it. I even took the afternoon off work (which I feel terrible about) because I couldn’t stop crying and was busy doing kick counts on the couch. I cried until I was too exhausted and fell asleep.
Thanks all for the wonderful wishes I’ve received already – you guys help keep me sane!!!
ultrasounds show quite a bit, but they also have a high false positive rates for a lot of things.
one thing I would suggest more than ultrasounds are non stress tests. it measures their heart rate and so can tell if they are actually getting enough oxygen. they do these for suspected postdated babies. also, measuring small doesn’t mean much unless you measure smaller and smaller with every appointment. I measured small with every appointment with my daughter and that’s just how I am.
measure your kick counts after every meal and that will be enough. babies sleep too, so the best time to get them to wake up is after you have eaten.
you are in my prayers, and I am sure everything is going to be okay!!
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Baby Dickey Reply:
October 27th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Thank you! I’ll be sure to ask the doctor (whenever I finally get to talk to her!) about a non stress test. Seems like a good idea!!
A month ago I measured 1 cm too small.. then at my next appt 3 weeks later, I measured 2 cm too small. And at this most recent appt, she just didn’t measure me at all! Which I didn’t realize until after I left… but that had been the whole reason for my ultrasound and then she didn’t even measure at this appointment.… weird, right?!
So far, so good – he’s kicking a lot!
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Everything will be ok. I’ll be praying for you & Baby Dickey! If they thought it was an emergancy they probably would have done an emergancy c-section. Since they said 2 wks & monitor kick counts then it’s probably not as bad as it sounds. I know how you feel tho…at a 32 wk (I think) they told me something was wrong with her kidney during the u/s… I was so sad, you just can’t help worrying! She ended up fine thank god. I’ll be thinking of you & hope u get your questions answered soon to help ease your mind.
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Baby Dickey Reply:
October 27th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Thank you!! It is hard to not worry… and I do agree it must not be urgent since they made my next appt 2 weeks away… but I am (of course) worrying about what happens after that!
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Hi
Just wanted to wish you all the best and share a small story with you… A friend of mine gave birth to twins at 32 weeks after Drs told her she’d be lucky to make it to 24 weeks due to placenta troubles. Her boys did exeptionally well, if it wasnt for their small size they would have been home a lot sooner. There is hope and as Kayce said the U/S are not 100% accurate. They are a good indicication though
You’ve reached an important gestation in that the chances of any major complications due to prematurity are fairly remote.
My babies were both premmies, my first 30+1 and my second 34+3, feel free to follow our journey through my blog, http://journeyof2premmies.blogspot.com/
All the best, and (I know this is hard) but try not to stress!
Sally
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Baby Dickey Reply:
October 27th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Thanks much
And great blog, thanks for sharing – I found you on twitter too! 
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You poor thing! I’m sure if there was anything dangerous going on with baby Dickey, they would have rung you back straightaway. I’ve never been pregnant, so I can’t help you, but it looks like lots of people are offering really good advice. Try nto stay calm, we’re all thinking of you guys
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Hang in there — know that if the doctors were really worried about things — they would have not sent you home. If you feel like you haven’t felt baby in a while, lay on your side — and drinks some orange juice or other juice. Those are the first things they try at the Dr. Babies need to sleep too… and so do you so get your rest.
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Oh sweetie…try not to panic. I know it must be making you CRAZY! It would me too. I am sure the little guy is doing just fine and will continue to do so. Yes, you sure do have mother’s instincts already
Thankfully the docs know about this and I am sure they will keep a good eye on you two. Don’t you just hate it though when you can’t get through to anyone. I will pray for you and baby!
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We’ve got our fingers crossed that you hear some good news at the next appointment! It has to be so frustrating especially when the doc didn’t call you back or at least have a nurse answer some of your questions
Take care and try not to get too stressed out!
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you know what I think??
I think you need a new doctor.…
sounds like she is very busy and kind of brushes you off.…
annoying!!!!!!!
Hope everything is going well!!!! see u soon!!!!
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Everything will be ok girlie! i know it! I’m praying for you! I’m so sorry you had to experience that but SO HAPPY things are getting better.. right?! I’m glad you got that ultrasound too.. see! Mama’s always right!
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I agree with Joanna. Your doctor is supposed to be there for you to answer the questions that drive you nuts. I had a similar issue with my last doctor and decided the stress it was causing me just waiting for an answer was reason enough to move on. I research compulsively to try to validate whatever my doctor tells me. I’ve looked into some material regarding placental aging and calcification. It’s widely regarded that the placenta does not really ‘age.’ It calcifies at different rates for different women, so sending you into a panic over something normally seen seems a bit unprofessional to me.
Hope you find this journal to be helpful. There’s tons of information out there as well.
http://www.archive.org/download/PlacentalAging/placenta.pdf
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Thank all so much for the kind words! I talked to a nurse today, but she told me she couldn’t answer any of my questions (some nurse, right?!) and that I’ll have to wait until my doctor can call me back herself… which will HOPEFULLY be tomorrow as she was out today.
After talking with many of you (on twitter too) I am beginning to think my doctor was trying to scare us. She asked us if either of us smoked… of course neither of us do! And she said that if we did smoke, she was going to lecture us about it (like we’re children?). I guess smoking is one cause of this placenta issue… but seeing as how we DON’T smoke, I don’t believe she should have scared us with words like “high risk” and “full term” and “complications.” Those may be true, but we need answers, not to be scared and worried.
At my next appointment in 2 weeks I am seeing a different OB doctor in the same clinic. We’ll see how that goes – it would suck to change doctors this late in the game, but… our doctor never even remembers who we are (she asks us every time if it’s a boy or girl). And she probably didn’t measure my fundal height this time because she didn’t even remember I was measuring small… her laid back attitude is something I liked at the beginning, but maybe she’s TOO relaxed.
Just trying to breathe. Baby boy is still kicking away!
Thanks again everyone– so much! You all keep me sane!
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You highlight many appropriate points in this post, but the main one is when you said you had to beg for the ultrasound and what if they wouldn’t have done one. Truth be known, there was a giant study done years ago that basically showed that prenatal ultrasound does not change the outcome for the population studied. Obviously, for single cases it could mean a lot, but for the population as a whole there is no need to perform ultrasound (according to the study). What happened then is that insurance companies jumped on this study and basically tried to deny even paying for one ultrasound. They have also been trying to decrease payments for ultrasounds every year since then and they are still trying to not fund ultrasound during pregnancy. I am glad you were able to obtain your ultrasound and that it sounds as though everything is going well. The fli side of ultrasound is that it can see things that are not “there”. Chances are your baby will be born just as you had planned and there was unecessary worry; this would be more hope. Reassurance is great, but be prepared for the potential that they might see something like borderline fluid, aged placenta, choroid plexus cysts, fetal echogenic cardiac foci, all of which may mean absolutely nothing.
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