[Friends Only] Mr. Excitement

[hkellick]

We've had... a little bit of excitement on this end in regards to the pregnancy.

K has had some brown-colored spotting for the last five weeks. The Bible (What to expect when expecting) says that this is totally normal and her OBGyn has told her that it's OK so long as it doesn't get worse and there's no cramping, but the fact that neither of us has any idea WHAT's going on, really, has been a source of stress, especially for K.
Last Wednesday, whilst on vacation, the spotting turned from brown to bright red.
She calls up her OBGyn who tell her to relax and go to the hospital if things get worse.
Then she goes and passes a fairly large (I think she said quarter-sized) blood clot.
And off to the emergency room we go!

Instead of doing an ultrasound immediately, they did some blood work and told us to come back in 48 hours so we can make sure her pregnancy hormone levels were still rising.

So... we had no reason to fear the worst yet, but for me, at least, it felt totally up in the air still at least until Friday.

Friday we return and we're both already fairly uptight since we hadn't gotten a straight answer on Wednesday. After.. a little bit of stupidity on the hospital's part, we get our numbers. And.. the pregnancy hormone levels have gone down.
The doctor's assuring us that this happens, that the hormone levels spike and sag naturally, but really.. Kristen and I and Kristen's mom are all looking at each other like "OMG! NO!"
FINALLY we get the Sonogram, to make sure everything's fine in there. And we see the baby move around in there and we hear it's heartbeat and it's OK.
And finally we can let go of the fears...

We did a followup appointment with the doctor yesterday and everything's still OK. The baby's heart is still beating. The baby is sized exactly where you'd expect him or her at 11 weeks. The doctor can't find any explanation for the spotting (which he assures us is actually GOOD because at this stage if he'd found any explanation, it would be a very bad explanation.)

So, everything's still OK and growing the way it should but still.. a little bit of excitement. :p

-----------------------------------

In less TMI excitement... the FEMA contract I've been working for the last three years is over and everything's changed (but not entirely. Anything that came to us before August 1 will stay with us, including all the cases I currently have and a few that we have to assign today.)

I'm all moved in to my temporary office (mine for.. either six weeks or through September, I'm not sure.) and am at least capable of doing work, though I'm definitely lacking in space and that's a bit of an issue, but I'm doing my best to get around it.

I will admit to being excited to get through the transition and begin working on the new contract, partly because I'm hoping for something a little more new and interesting, but mostly so I don't have to work with.. some of the individuals I've come to dislike working with under the old contract.

More on this as more becomes clear. The future is as clear as mud at the moment, so...

I'll post more about the vacation when I have time. But I've got some major work to do today.

Comments

[melanie]

Glad everything is ok on the baby end!

[peachtess]

Ugh I feel for you both. I went through that during the first trimester. In fact had the same exact thing happen with passing a clot about that size. It scared the crap out of Min and I.

Your lucky that you got to see the ultrasound. When I went to the emergency and they sent me to be ultrasound they wouldn't let us see. We had to take a sealed envelope to the early pregnancy clinic and wait for a doctor to see us. We were so sure they sent us to someone who was going to tell us we had lost the baby.

In my case the spotting was most likely due to RH negative incompatibility. I'm A- and my husband is a positive. When this happens you can end up with a baby that's a different type then the Mom. Kailey is A+ so this was definitely the case. Anyway, a baby that's a different type gets treated like an foreign invader by the mothers immune system and it can attack the baby causing bleeding and even miscarriage. Luckily these days its an easy fix with a rhagan shot which stops the immune system from treating the baby like a foreign body. I need to get a shot during and after every pregnancy. Once I was given the shot in the emergency room the spotting stopped.

I'm sure they checked when they saw Kristen but if you don't know your blood types it might be worth asking the doctor just to confirm.

Anyway *hugs* It is super common and I saw tons of women on the pregnancy forum I belong to have spiking pregnancy levels and spotting and they went on to have beautiful babies.

[hkellick]

K is O+ and I'm AB-.

We're aware of a Blood Incompatibility and hope it doesn't result in a Colic Baby.

I'm not sure if they're sure it's that, but they haven't offered that shot. The way the Doctors and Nurses happen it just sort of happens.

[peachtess]

Hmm never heard of the colic thing in regards to the blood incompatibility. Kailey doesn't have colic (thank gods).

It might be worth bringing it up and asking if it would be possible to get the shot if there's any more issues. Like I said they gave it to me early and the problems stopped. The doctor may not concerned because this is Kristen's first. Its normally not an issue until the second pregnancy when the body has had the chance to build antibodies. I was being seen at a high risk pregnancy clinic due to my heart so they are more cautious there I'm sure.

[phoenixsong]

I don't need the shot because I'm positive. It's only an issue if I'm negative and the baby is positive -- positive can accept negative, in pregnancy or blood transfusions, but negative cannot accept positive.

A friend told us her first child's jaundice (not colic) was probably due to her being negative and the baby being positive. She more or less expected her second child to be admitted back to the hospital a few days after birth for the same reason. (Check the linked wiki article, under "Extrinsic causes of hemolysis", for "Rh disease".)

[peachtess]

Just thought I'd mention it as it sounded very similar to what I went through and wanted to help.

My daughter Kailey had a very bad case of Jaundice when she was born. Her levels were quite high and she had to spend nearly three days under the UV light at the hospital. It was from the blood types like you said.

[aquinasprime]

Kristen doesn't need the shot, they would only give it to her if she was O- instead of O+.

[phoenixsong]

What aquinasprime said -- my body would only see it as bad if I was negative and the baby was positive. If I'm positive, the baby can be either and my body shouldn't care. (I can also accept O+ or O- blood, but no other types.)

I can dredge up my high school biology memories of blood type discussions when we get home tonight, if you really, really want. s;)