Had another scan to rule out the blood vessel issue - 100% we do NOT have a blood vessel issue. All is good to go for normal delivery!
In other (related) news, it's my last day at work tomorrow before o go on maternity leave. I'm totally looking forward to napping all day until the bub comes.
If the weather stays mild, I may even go look at/brush my horse! How novel!
Had my doctor appointment today at the hospital. Despite having a 10.45am appointment, I didn't see the doctor until 12.30!!
She looked at my scan and the results and she really put my fears to rest. Apparently they all look like maternal vessels, as they seem to be surrounded by muscle, not just clinging lightly to the membranes (like they would if they were baby's vessels). She assured me that the scan next week is just to double check, which they always do in these types of cases. She doesn't think it's vasa previa (the scary baby-bleeds-out-in-4-minutes thing) but just some random maternal vessels that I've grown for some reason or another.
THIS IS AWESOME NEWS.
Not only that, but if all comes back clear at the next scan, they'll let me go naturally. Even if they are the maternal vessels we think they are, I wouldn't bleed that much apparently so vaginal birth is perfectly safe.
I'm super happy.
Thanks guys for your comments and concern. I was rather scared!
In other news, I miss this horse so.much. even though I see her every day, it's just not the same.
If you're uninterested in baby stuff, skip this one. I won't blame you!
I'm 34 weeks, 2 days today. At 18 weeks, I had a scan and they noted that I had a low lying placenta (only 1cm away from my cervix) which, if it didn't move, would block the way for bub to come out and would be too dangerous for a vaginal birth. So, they booked me in for another scan at or around 34 weeks to check to see if the placenta moved up as the uterus grew bigger.
I had that scan last Tuesday and the good news was that my placenta is now 5cm away from my cervix! Plenty of room apparently. However, while I was having the yucky internal scan, the sonographer started using colour doppler to look at some blood vessels that were randomly near the cervix - only 1.5cm away. She hummed and hawed and tried to get a heartbeat from them (to see if they were my blood vessels going into placenta or if they were Bub's vessels going from the placenta to bub). Bub's head was RIGHT up against my cervix, and s/he is a super active kid so she spent about a half hour trying but not able to get a clear reading on any of the blood vessels because kiddo kept head-butting the area and ruining it.
She took out the probe and told me to relax a minute while she went and got a doctor as she wasn't sure what was going on with these random blood vessels.
A doctor returned with her and they did another internal, same as before, trying to get readings on the vessels, poking and prodding my lower abdomen to try to get the baby to move away from the cervix, to no avail. Stubborn kid.
They didn't really talk to me but I heard them discussing. I heard "I think they're maternal", "too close to cervix", "can't tell, maybe just placental lakes?", " many vessels"... Blah blah blah. They removed the prove again and the doctor (who seemed to be a bit of a newbie) told me that they aren't sure what the vessels are, nor who they belong to. She said another scan at 36 weeks was needed, and that if they couldn't tell what was going on then (again), that there was a possibility I would need an MRI to map the vessels! She also mentioned that if they are baby's vessels, that it would be too dangerous to allow a vaginal birth and that a cesarean may be a possibility.
I left, but they didn't give me the scan results (that I needed to take to the birth unit after the scan to book a cesarean if my placenta hadn't moved) so Andrew and I went home, a bit confused and disappointed that there seemed to be another complication.
Now, I know LOTS of people have cesareans. I know they save lives. But I was/am looking forward to labour and giving birth naturally to my child and experiencing that whole thing. I know, crazy talk. Also, I'M FUCKING TERRIFIED OF HAVING MAJOR ABDOMINAL SURGERY WHILE AWAKE BUT TRAPPED ON A BED. Ahem.
So that night, I got all cranky and teary and sad about the birth I felt I was loosing, and being scared of surgery, and upset about the long drawn out recovery, AND also the even longer wait to get back in the saddle. Andrew copped my random abuse about silly things and then just held me and talked me through everything. He is an absolute gem, that man.
The next day, the birth unit called me. She said that she saw in the book that they were expecting me yesterday (I didn't have an appointment though) and that they hadn't seen me. I jumped in, explaining the weird scan and how they hadn't given me any results and how I am going back at 36 weeks. She then surprised me when said that she had my results with her (ultrasound, midwife program and birth unit are all at the same hospital), and that she had just spoken to the team of doctors on my case (eh? I've only been seeing midwives as it's been a low risk pregnancy), and that the doctors want to meet with me as soon as possible. She asked me to call their office as soon as I got off the phone and to book in to see Dr Rizvi (I think she's the head doctor?) as soon as they could book me in after she got back from annual leave. I was a bit shocked - why would they want to see me before my next scan? Anyway, I am booked in to see her on Tuesday next week, which was the earliest available apparently.
So that whole "meeting with the doctors" thing got me panicking a little bit. So I googled "blood vessels close to cervix pregnancy" and whoah boy why did I do that?!?
I couldn't find anything on maternal vessels near the cervix, but there is plenty of scary fucking shit on fetal blood vessels near the cervix. It's called Vasa Previa (meaning vessels in the way of the baby) and if that is what I have got, it seems that if my membranes break, the blood vessels are extremely prone to breaking and baby can bleed out and die within 4-5 minutes. It's rare, one stat I saw was something like 1:3000 pregnancies. It's not often diagnosed before labour, and fetal death rates when not diagnosed pre-labour are something like 98%. The only safe option is early cesarean before the mother has a chance to go into labour. Risk factors include low lying placenta. So yeah. Ugh.
But most sources said (I used my uni's account with Google Scholar to read studies on the condition, more reliable, scientific, not as emotive language, less scary research tbh) that when diagnosed at antenatal scans, that survival rates are over 97%. Also, most mothers diagnosed with this are hospitalised as soon as possible.
So what is it I have? Do I have a serious fatal condition and if I go into labour my baby will die and I should be hospitalised now? Or do they really not know what this is and there's little risk at this point and I can just keep doing my thing and attending scans and appointments etc? I keep lying awake at night stressing about it and trying not to google more. I have given up any hope of a vaginal birth and have stopped being so terrified of a cesarean because the alternative is unthinkable. I'm super worried and scared and just needed to write this all out here. I know it's not horse related, but this is the only blog I have for now.
So yeah. That's where we are at at the moment. I've probably (hopefully) way overreacted but this is what I do when medical people don't give me answers. I go looking myself.
I don't know how to end this entry now. Hrm.
FIN.
From Lisa, Allie, Joey, Gracie, Evan, Herman, Fluff and probably Andrew too.
Hope uou have a great day!
Oh my goodness. Well, I hauled Allie to the vet yesterday for a check up and to see WHY she is continuing to suffer from snot-sposions on and off for months.
I was by myself and didn't anticipate any issues, but hauling your horse to the vet at 30 weeks pregnant is harder than it sounds ;p
My float has a canvas dust cover that needs to be rolled up when you use the float, and I normally just jump up and sit on the butt bars and roll it up that way. But that was 20kg ago... Pulling myself up on the butt bars and then balancing on them while trying to roll up the dust cover would have been rather amusing to watch. I had to laugh at myself. At least this situation is temporary?
Hooking up was OK, but I had to sit on the ground to plug in the little electrics terminal thing and to attach the safety chain. Because I can't bend, because there is a 1.5kg child in the way. Then I had to get up off the ground.
After all this I was puffing. LOL!!
She was in a total mood too. When I caught her, a big log truck came down the driveway past her yard. I thought she would just throw her head up in the air because she's normally quiet, but no. While I was holding her she reared straight up into the air over and over and was striking!! What a wench! I forgot for a moment that I am pregnant and I got stuck into her for it (growling, pulling her down with the lead) and when she came back down to earth she looked rather sheepish.
Putting on her shipping boots was fun too. She acted like it was the first time she has worn boots on the hinds..kicking out, dancing and hopping between her hind legs. I was like "ugh. Horse. Can you not?".
After all this I thought she would be a wench to load but she remembered all the hours of float training I've put into her and marched straight on and was very mentally in the float, if you know what I mean. No thinking about rushing off.
She travelled a little worse than normal though. Normally you can't even tell there is a horse in there, but yesterday she was shuffling and stamping a bit. We got there safe and unloaded like a polite seasoned pony though, so that's good.
First up, after sedation, she got an oral exam. They were really pleased - made comments like "that pack feels really solid in there" and "teeth feel good!". She did have some feed stuck between her teeth/pack and her cheek, so they flushed that.
They gave her teeth a quick float too. Better to do little and often. She is good for the dentist for another 6 months now.
Then I had to waddle out of the room so they could take rads. She needed another sedation because she kept throwing her head. I think she's sick of people poking and prodding her.
The rads looked good! The teeth haven't changed at all since last time. Christine doesn't want to touch them - she said we could remove the one in front orally but she has no idea how to get the one behind out because it's curved like a banana. Apparently she has consulted with a top dental vet in QLD who has told her to leave the teeth alone, "don't touch them". So we are very very happy that they aren't dying. If they were going to, we would have seen changes by now. WHAHOO!!!
The reason for all the on/off discharge? Her sinus cavity is chock full of scar tissue, which is reactive and sensitive. This is not a surprise at all to be honest.
What's the fix? More surgery, she said she would "have to scoop the tissue out like ice cream with a scoop". Which could mean even more scar tissue in the end.
For now, it doesn't affect her quality of life at all. She doesn't react to the discharge, except if it tickles her she will wipe it on her leg. Christine said if I was happy to manage it with occasional antibiotics and other management, then her recommendation is to leave Allie the way she is.
We both agreed that the surgery, while saving her life, also improved her quality of life overall too. Previous to the surgery, Allie would go off her feed at the drop of a hat, it was harder to keep weight on her. We think she suffered from headaches or it was painful to eat. Since the day of surgery, her appetite has been AMAZING. She eats everything I out in front of her.
Only one thing left to see now - how much this whole thing limits her performance. I think I need to scale back my hopes and dreams for her - if she can't breathe optimally I can't expect her to gallop cross country and jump while doing so. Hopefully we can do dressage, trails, maybe lower level eventing and some show jumping. I'll have to play it by ear and see how she goes.
Overall, while the whole situation has been heartbreaking and devastating for me, I am happy with the result and feel it has all been worth it. The horse is perfectly happy, and she is ALIVE which I am so so so grateful for. I've been allowed to keep my heart horse with me, when some others have had them tragically taken away. This outcome is more than what I ever dared hope for.
I took a little video, which you will probably have to copy and paste because I'm posting from the Blogger app on my phone. You'll notice I can't articulate myself well anymore - apparently that's pregnancy for you.
http://youtu.be/BYFjq4MqkaI
I'm really, really happy.
