I just knew things were going too smoothly...

***WARNING - post is a bit graphic***

On Thursday night, I was just finishing up a new episode of Grey's Anatomy and decided to hit the hay. I pit stopped in the rest room like every pregnant woman needs to do before bed time. And low and behold - blood. Not bright red and scary, older brown blood but yes, of course still scary. After staring at it for a couple of minutes. I prayed a bit and decided to wake IJ up. I scared the heart of of the poor guy - he was sound asleep. I called the doctor's office and the on-call nurse called back within 15 minutes. 10 minutes later, we were at the hospital. 15 minutes after that, Baby J was hooked up to a fetal monitor. After bracing us by saying she might not find his heart beat right away, there he was, clear as day and right away. Heart beating strong and still moving like crazy. I was also hooked up to watch for contractions.

My doctor came in about 15 minutes later and did an internal exam. He said to expect more bleeding but that if it remained "old looking" not to panic but if there was a lot of it, to call again. They sent me home with instructions to schedule an ultrasound for Friday.

I was in the shower Friday morning and the phone rang by 8:10 - the office opens at 8. They had already scheduled me for the U/S at 9am. IJ and I headed over and saw the little guy moving and shaking. All of his measurements were right on track. And then, there it was. A large whitish area overlapping my cervix. Yes, placenta previa has now been discovered. When I went for the Level 2 Feb 14, the Doctor said it looked like my placenta was "close to" my uterus but he didn't say anything about overlapping. According to this close look, it is definitely overlapping- hard to tell how much because scale is so altered in U/Ss but I would guess about a centimeter. So, it is possible that as my uterus stretches, my placenta will move up (like it normally does) but it may not. If it doesn't, I am likely facing bed rest and a definite C-Section. Which is fine. Since it causes no harm to the baby, I don't care what I have to go through to get him here safely.

For now, I had to take the weekend to rest and I can't lift anything over 15lbs for the rest of the pregnancy. Also, no aerobic activity. They will monitor me with US every 4 weeks and see what happens. I am really hoping I can make it to June before having to be on bed rest. I think I will go nuts if it goes on for months. Even 6 weeks sounds like a lot. But, they could take him out early, likely after 36 weeks. Of course I will keep you all posted on this as it progresses. For now, no bleeding since Friday morning so it seems, for now, we are in the clear.

23 week update

My baby this week: size of a pomegranate

Weight Gain: 11.4 lbs. total. Bad week.

Baby bump: 

Sleep: Tossing and turning a lot.

Best moment of the week: Every time I feel the baby moving.

Symptoms: Hungry. Very sensitive.

Food cravings: Salt and Cadbury mini-eggs

What I miss: Not getting short of breath walking up stairs

What I am looking forward to: Starting on making the curtains and crib skirt.

Milestones: nothing major this week.

Emotions: Very sensitive. 

22 week update

My baby this week: size of a papaya

Weight Gain: 9 lbs. total. No gain this week.

Baby bump: Looks similar to last week

Sleep: Not able to get comfortable and I toss and turn a lot.

Best moment of the week: IJ felt the baby move.

Symptoms: Hungry. 

Food cravings: Avocado and Triscuits

What I miss: Laying on my stomach

What I am looking forward to: Starting the third trimester.

Milestones: nothing major this week.

Emotions: Excited to get started on the nursery. 

21 week update

My baby this week: size of a banana

Weight Gain: 9 lbs. total. eh, it is what it is.

Baby bump:

Sleep: Good, except for IJ's snoring. I am spending many nights on the couch.

Best moment of the week: Feeling the baby. Feelings got more strong as of last Friday. I love it!

Symptoms: Hungry. 

Food cravings: Avocado and Triscuits

What I miss: Nothing really

What I am looking forward to: starting the nursery.

Milestones: nothing big this week I guess.

Emotions: Excited about my baby boy.

20 week update - halfway there

My baby this week: size of a cantalope

Weight Gain: 7.6 lbs. total. Bad, bad eating this past weekend. But still ok on total weight gain.

Baby bump: I know, I know, I need to take photos...

Sleep: Good

Best moment of the week: Having a plan for the nursery.

Symptoms: Hungry. 

Food cravings: Avocado and Triscuits

What I miss: Nothing really

What I am looking forward to: Feeling the baby move

Milestones: Halfway there!

Emotions: Excited to get started on the nursery. Still in awe that I am having a son.

19 week update

My baby this week: size of an heirloom tomato

Weight Gain: 5.8 lbs. total. Doctor says I am right on track and that I should be at about +15lbs at 28 weeks.

Baby bump: It's here! I really should start taking photos soon.

Sleep: Good... for now

Best moment of the week: Finding out Baby J is a BOY! 

Symptoms: Hungry. Crampy now and then but nothing painful or serious.

Food cravings: Avocado and Triscuits

What I miss: A glass of wine on Valentine's Day and definitely blue cheese.

What I am looking forward to: Hitting the halfway point next week. Can't believe it!

Milestones: I felt the baby move the other day. Still very subtle and not very often but amazing every time.

Emotions: I must admit, I was SO convinced I was having a girl that when the US tech said it was a boy, I was shocked and even maybe a tad disappointed. But that didn't last too long. I am actually thrilled to be having a boy. Boys love their mommies and our last name would have died out with IJ but now it will live on through our little guy. 

Sick

Today is day 5 of being sick. Sore throat  Thursday turned into stuffed nose Friday and Saturday turned into hacking coughing fits on Sunday. All of this equaled a lot of tears yesterday. On Friday, the OB nurse gave me a list of 5 things I could take. I went to CVS to get something and made the mistake of checking with the Pharmacist. She said she wouldn't recommend taking ANY of them so I bought natural throat drops and some menthol disks to melt in the shower and inhale the vapors. Saturday I felt worse and by Sunday, I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't imagine how my suffering wasn't having a negative affect on the baby.

So, I decided to call the on-call OB/Midwife. I waited and waited and never got a call back. So this of course lead to more tears. I decided to call the on-call doctor at my PCPs office. She called back almost immediately. But, she recommended I take nothing and go in to see someone in her office today. Again came a flood of tears.

I actually got a good night's sleep last night - first one in days - but decided I should try the OB's office again. I spoke to a nurse right away and explained the situation. She recommended plain old Robitussin and told me not to talk to the Pharmacists anymore. So I went online to look up Robitussin and they no longer make a plain Robitussin - they ALL contain a certain drug the nurse specifically told me NOT to take. So, I remembered back to the original list of meds I got on Friday and I know Mucinex was on there. So, I took some this morning. I definitely feel like things are loosening and coughs are more productive and less violent.

So why did I wait? Why didn't I just take the Mucinex on Friday when the nurse told me it was ok? Because I was petrified of harming the baby. I figured my suffering through it was the right thing to do. But my internal struggle yesterday between "would meds harm the baby" vs. "is my stress level harming the baby" really had me torn. So I gave in today. I hope and pray that I made the right choice.