14 Weeks

I had a mostly good OB appointment yesterday. I heard baby's heart beat with a doppler for the first time, which was great! And baby was moving all over the place and I could feel it, which was also great.

Baby is about the size of a lemon (though if you saw my stomach, you would think cantelope!) He (she?) can grab things, cry, suck his thumb, and pee. Woo hoo! If baby is a girl, she would have about 2 million eggs in her ovaries at this point, which totally blows my mind. No matter how many times I am pregnant, this stuff never ceases to amaze me!

I am in my second trimester now, but my body doesn't seem to know it - I am still queasy and soooo sleeeepy. Wednesday after lunch, I could barely keep my eyes open at work. I had to get a little coffee just to make it through the afternoon and evening. I am ready for that 2nd trimester energy to kick in! I am scared that with three other little kids to care for (and a full time job), maybe I will never feel it.

I had a big ultrasound a couple of weeks ago, looking for some reassurance that baby didn't have a chromosomal problem like our Violet. And all of those tests came back perfect! Praise God! In fact, baby could not be more perfect, and I am SO excited to find out whether baby is a he or a she on June 1st, when I have another big anatomy scan.

Unfortunately, I have now had two ultrasounds that show some blood vessels near my cervix, which could indicate vasa previa. Vasa previa (different than placenta previa) is a rare and dangerous condition, in which some of baby's blood vessels are outside the umbilical cord and lie across the cervix. In undiagnosed cases (which sadly is most of them), when the cervix dilates, the blood vessel ruptures and baby bleeds to death within minutes. It is usually fatal for the baby, because once they figure out what's going on, there is just not enough time to get the baby out and replace that much blood. Fortunately, if it is diagnosed before delivery, the outcome is much better. The treatment is to put mom on hospital bed rest the entire third trimester (so in case she starts bleeding, they can do a c-section immediately) and then do a c-section as soon as baby's lungs are okay, usually around 35 weeks. When managed this way, up to 95-100% of babies survive. Right now it is early enough that my OB does not want to make a diagnosis or start really worrying about it, because things can still shift quite a bit. At my scan on the 1st, they will do a lot of extra looking at my placenta, the baby's cord, and any blood vessels, to see whether I really have it or not. I am of course hoping that they find that I do NOT have it. But if I do, I am thankful that it was caught early and can be managed. In the meantime, I am taking some precautions the doctor advised, and trying not to worry.

It has been a very busy week around here, I'll do a little blog catching up tomorrow. Right now I need to get three over-tired kiddos ready for bed!