Early visit to the hospital
I am writing this from room 5481 at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. I've been here since about 9:00 last night. The good news is that I can hopefully go home tomorrow!
I was praying that my diagnosis of marginal placenta previa at 22 weeks would not cause any complications. Unfortunately, it did, but things look very good today, and I hope the remainder of the pregnancy will progress without anymore episodes.
It's been awhile since I wrote so I'll tell the whole story. On the day of our 20 week ultrasound, I had some spotting. I was thankful that we had an appointment that day so I told my doctor about it. He was a little nervous, due to our history, so he ordered a follow-up ultrasound to check my cervix at 22 weeks. At the 22 week ultrasound, thankfully, my cervix looked perfect, but they discovered that my placenta was too low in the uterus. It was bordering the cervix, and it may have caused my spotting. My doctor explained that, in many cases, the placenta "moves" upward as the uterus grows and fixes itself. If it doesn't fix itself, I won't be able to have a regular delivery, and they will need to do a C-section preferably before I begin labor. Also, he explained that there is a chance that the placenta could bleed, especially as the cervix begins to change shape later in pregnancy. If the bleeding gets too severe, they may possibly need to deliver the baby to save my life.
So, here we are, at almost 25 weeks, and I had some bleeding yesterday. They advised me to call if I had any bleeding so I called the after-hours nurse line last night and explained what was happening. They told me to come to labor & delivery here at Abbott. When we got here, they monitored the baby and checked for contractions for about an hour. The baby's heartbeat was great, and I didn't have any contractions. They also checked for infections and checked my cervix which, again, looked great. For precautionary measures, though, they are giving me steroids to help speed up the development of the baby's lungs in case an early delivery is needed.
I have not had any new bleeding today, but I do have to get my second dose of steroids tonight...in the butt...and man, the first one hurt like heck. Although my care board still has a '?' next to my anticipated discharge date, they had hinted that it could be tomorrow if things continued to look good. I'm not sure what is in store after that, and I hope I don't have to come back here until January.
However, everything is in God's hands, and we will continue to follow whatever journey he brings us on. I know am so blessed to have Kevin by my side. He stayed the night with me last night, and he said he will stay with me tonight too...even though he has to sleep on the most uncomfortable couch thing that has ever existed. He brought me toiletries and clothes, and he went to Thrivent to pick up my laptop for me. Through all of the trials, he always tells me, "There's nothing we can't get through together," and I know he's right.
I was praying that my diagnosis of marginal placenta previa at 22 weeks would not cause any complications. Unfortunately, it did, but things look very good today, and I hope the remainder of the pregnancy will progress without anymore episodes.
It's been awhile since I wrote so I'll tell the whole story. On the day of our 20 week ultrasound, I had some spotting. I was thankful that we had an appointment that day so I told my doctor about it. He was a little nervous, due to our history, so he ordered a follow-up ultrasound to check my cervix at 22 weeks. At the 22 week ultrasound, thankfully, my cervix looked perfect, but they discovered that my placenta was too low in the uterus. It was bordering the cervix, and it may have caused my spotting. My doctor explained that, in many cases, the placenta "moves" upward as the uterus grows and fixes itself. If it doesn't fix itself, I won't be able to have a regular delivery, and they will need to do a C-section preferably before I begin labor. Also, he explained that there is a chance that the placenta could bleed, especially as the cervix begins to change shape later in pregnancy. If the bleeding gets too severe, they may possibly need to deliver the baby to save my life.
So, here we are, at almost 25 weeks, and I had some bleeding yesterday. They advised me to call if I had any bleeding so I called the after-hours nurse line last night and explained what was happening. They told me to come to labor & delivery here at Abbott. When we got here, they monitored the baby and checked for contractions for about an hour. The baby's heartbeat was great, and I didn't have any contractions. They also checked for infections and checked my cervix which, again, looked great. For precautionary measures, though, they are giving me steroids to help speed up the development of the baby's lungs in case an early delivery is needed.
I have not had any new bleeding today, but I do have to get my second dose of steroids tonight...in the butt...and man, the first one hurt like heck. Although my care board still has a '?' next to my anticipated discharge date, they had hinted that it could be tomorrow if things continued to look good. I'm not sure what is in store after that, and I hope I don't have to come back here until January.
However, everything is in God's hands, and we will continue to follow whatever journey he brings us on. I know am so blessed to have Kevin by my side. He stayed the night with me last night, and he said he will stay with me tonight too...even though he has to sleep on the most uncomfortable couch thing that has ever existed. He brought me toiletries and clothes, and he went to Thrivent to pick up my laptop for me. Through all of the trials, he always tells me, "There's nothing we can't get through together," and I know he's right.
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