Baby #2 News

Well, just like when I was pregnant with Hayden, I have been experiencing some bleeding during this pregnancy. Yesterday afternoon, I noticed I was bleeding again. If it hadn't been for an incident earlier in the day when Hayden and I were playing on the floor at home and he tripped and his knee slammed right into my belly, I probably would have brushed it off. But I decided to call the doctor to report it. Since it was 4:30, they said it was too late to come in and recommended I go to the ER. Grrr. But they wanted me to get it checked out, because the impact could have caused damage to the placenta or some other area. I waited until Phil got home so he could stay with Hayden, ate dinner, got to the ER around 7pm, had an UltraSound at 10:30pm, waited until 11:30pm to talk to the doctor for the results and got home after midnight.

The UltraSound revealed a small hemorrhage at the bottom of the uterus near the placenta that is causing the bleeding. It is unknown whether the impact caused the tear or if that was just coincidence. The doctor thought that since I’ve had other episodes of bleeding that the tear might have been there already. I guess sometimes where the placenta attaches to the uterine wall, it can aggravate the tissue and occasionally bleed. The placenta itself is not bleeding. There is a small risk that the tear could become worse, and affect where the placenta is attached, and if the placenta becomes detached from the uterine wall, a fetus cannot survive. The doctor assured me that this risk is very small, and most likely the tear with either heal or just be there for the remainder of the pregnancy. He did recommend pelvic rest and no lifting, straining or exercise for at least a few days of no bleeding. So I’m trying to take it easy.

SO... there’s one really positive outcome of this whole scary experience. Because I had to get an UltraSound done, I got to find out the sex of the baby!! As the UltraSound tech was scanning around and measuring various parts of the placenta and baby, I told her I wouldn’t mind finding out if it was a boy or girl. She was nice and after she got the information needed, she took a peek at the tell-tale parts. Since I’m only 17 weeks along, she said it might be hard to tell. Usually it’s better to see at 20+ weeks. She was watching the screen and said, “Well, you have a boy already”. I have to admit, I was a little sad. I really felt in my heart we were having a girl. I quietly lay there and tried to focus on how blessed I am that he has a heartbeat, and is ok, and that a little brother for Hayden is going to be wonderful. Then the tech pointed to the screen and said, “So this is where a penis would be, and instead, there are 3 lines. That indicates a girl.” HUH??! I thought you just said I was having a boy? She laughed and was like, “Oh, sorry, I was just saying you ALREADY have a boy”, meaning Hayden - who I mentioned earlier when I described the accident. I thought she had meant she could already tell it was a boy. She said she’s about 90% sure it’s a girl, but she never says 100% because especially with girls it is a little harder to tell. But I’ll take 90%! :) She had to do a couple other measurements and scans to do, and later during the procedure said, “Yup! Still saying girl!”. It was so awesome to see her moving all around on the screen. At this stage, you can really make out the spine, hands, feet, head, heartbeat. It was wonderful! Despite the long, exhausting ordeal at the ER, it was so fun to get home and wake up Phil and tell him the news. He thought he was dreaming!

We have a follow-up UltraSound on March 31st. This should also help confirm it, but for now, Phil and I are giddy with excitement that we’re 90% sure it’s a girl! YAY!

Oh, and she is also measuring big for my estimated due date (was August 6th), so by their measurements, a more accurate due date is around July 28th.