We'll Be Going To A Specialist

We are set up with a fetal cardiologist for June 14th (2 days after my shower out of state).

Backstory: After having what I thought were mild contractions late in the day on Monday (tightening, discomfort, pressure), I called my OB to see what they said. They called me back Monday evening, and told me measures to get comfortable, that it probably was some stretching. I used heat packs, took tylenol and rested. As the evening went on, I started getting more uncomfortable, and was contemplating calling the OB on call, or going to the hospital to get checked. The whole time, Matt was a nervous wreck, and I could tell he was worried about me. We finally fell asleep at 1 am, after deciding to just wait it out and see what happens.

I woke up yesterday morning, and felt about the same. Except when I actually started moving around, I started feeling progressively worse. My belly would cyclically tighten with discomfort and then relax. I went to work, because I figured my doctor is where I work, and they will probably want to see me. I was right. Within minutes of them opening at 8:30, they told me they thought I was contracting, and to come right over.

So Anyway: Since my official OB visit was next Tuesday with a follow-up ultrasound to recheck Cael's heart (bilateral echogenic foci), they just did everything yesterday. My husband was supposed to go to that appointment next week, but because they took me right in, he was going to miss everything, and I knew that broke his heart (we live an hour and 15 minutes from the hospital).

Turns out my midwife thinks that I have been having Braxton Hicks, combined with ligament/uterine stretching, and some GI thing. She told me she wanted me to go home and rest the rest of the day. I kept my appointment for next week on Tuesday for her to follow up with how I'm feeling.

So at the ultrasound that I had yesterday, they still saw the bilateral echogenic foci. The one in the left ventricle was slightly larger than the one in the right ventricle. Because they were still seen, my midwife wants me to see a fetal cardiologist, and have a fetal echo done. That is in June. However, since they also looked at everything during this ultrasound, they noticed the lateral ventricles in his brain were prominent, and that the choroid plexus (which sits inside the lateral ventricles), is starting to "splay" out. It should be sitting strait inside the lat ventricle, and his is starting to push outward because of the extra fluid in his lat ventricle. He doesn't have hydrocephalus currently, but because the choroid plexus is starting to splay, it merits further investigation. When there is fetal hydrocephalus, the choroid plexus will "dangle" at almost a 90 degree angle, within the lat ventricle. We're not there yet, and I hope we don't get there.

Great - another issue to worry about. The midwife said that they will be doing a comprehensive ultrasound at the specialist appointment in June, and that they should look at his brain again too. But I'm not so sure, because he isn't an MFM doctor - he's a fetal cardiologist. So I'm assuming that they will only be looking at his heart. I will have to ask her about it on Tuesday just to make sure. I don't want to let it go, and find out at birth that it has developed into hydrocephalus.

On a good note, everything else looked good, and my cervix wasn't shortened. He weighed in at 1 pound 10 ounces +/- 2 ounces.

When I got home yesterday and explained everything to Matt (sometimes I hate the knowledge I have from being in the medical field), he started crying. And he never cries. It just broke my heart. I'm going to try my hardest to remain optimistic. He doesn't have a definite problem with his brain (yet), and I'm happy they'll be looking at it again. And I know there are worse things that can be wrong, so I feel bad venting about this or even stressing about it.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9