Three pictures of bean. We've now reached "gummy bear" status. I was hoping to get to see it wiggling around since I ate a fruit salad in the waiting room, but it was still too early.
The appointment was bittersweet. It definitely did not go the way I thought it would. We started out with the ultrasound. Unfortunately, I noticed that there were ultrasound pictures of the twins along the bottom of the screen before the tech started. I almost cried and am still feeling very, very sad about that. They were luckily replaced by pictures of this little one. He or she was upside-down, just like the twins liked to be for ultrasounds. The heartbeat was at 175bpm, and it was measuring a couple of days small for the gestational age of 8w2d (determined from my last period). That's not anything to be concerned about. The twins started out slow, too, and they ended up being big when they were born.
As for the consult with the doctor. Not exactly what I wanted to hear. As of now, we are not doing a cerclage. She does not want to risk injuring my cervix and truly believes that the problem I ran into had to do with having twins. She is optimistic that I will not have a repeat performance since there's only one baby. I am freaking out about this because I really wanted to be sewn up to avoid the possibility of dilating early. I guess her point is that if I dilate as fast as I did before (0 to 10 within a few hours), the cerclage will rip my cervix in half and we'll be left completely defenseless and I will need a hysterectomy. Hence, the cerclage is going to be the last-ditch effort, if need be. She said we're going to do weekly ultrasounds from 16 to 23 weeks to check my cervical length and if she sees any change at all, we will be at the hospital for a cerclage the same day. After that point, I will have an ultrasound every two weeks. I will also be starting my 17p (progesterone) shots at my 16 week ultrasound and will receive those until 37 weeks. I guess these shots have about the same success rate as a cerclage, so at least we're doing something that is shown to be effective in this situation.
As I suspected, she also said she does not want me on full bed rest. She said to get up and walk around as much as I feel comfortable doing. It's okay if I decide to take it easy, but she doesn't want me to just lie in bed all the time (so I don't get a blood clot). I have a feeling my other doctors are going to have a difference in opinion. We'll see.
The good news is that Kettering will be upgrading their NICU in the next few months, so if I do go into preterm labor and make it to 24 weeks, I will not have to transfer to a hospital at which the doctors do not know my history. I will still have to do a transfer from Southview to Kettering, but at least my high-risk doctor will be there with me.
I am relieved that the bean is doing well, but it's going to take some time to digest this new game plan. I am disappointed that things are not going the way I wanted, but I know I'm in good hands and will trust my doctor. She's the one who was able to (almost) save Liam, so she does know what she's talking about. So here we go. Taking it day by day and hoping my cervix doesn't fail me again.
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