Appointment yesterday

Yesterday I had my first appointment with my new Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor. It sounds like we are going to need to BF4E. (Best Friends 4-Ever) But that's okay with me because he seems like a really nice man. Professional and super knowledgeable but he kept things casual too, which I liked. My favorite fact about him? He's been practicing since 1980 and he said that once people have started seeing him, he's never had a woman lose another baby. Wow! Pretty impressive fact. I hope I can be a part of that awesome statistic!

It was obvious that he had spent a lot of time reading through my records about what had happened to Timmy. Because Timmy had an enlarged liver and spleen when he was born, this indicates that the abruption was a slight one that had been going on for a long time and not one that happened all at one time. Basically, it was a slow leak and Timmy was able to compensate while inside, but obviously not on the outside. He also mentioned the fact that I had been tested around the middle of my pregnancy because I was exposed to Fifths disease. He's not sure at all, but said he found that interesting that I had been exposed to it because, people that are and then pass it on to the baby, abruption can be a possible side effect of it. I found that interesting.

For the future, it sounds like there is a lot of monitoring that can be done to try to detect another abruption if it were to happen again. It sounds like there would be two weekly brain ultrasounds that would monitor the blood flow to the baby's brain. Also, there would be weekly NSTs (stress tests) to monitor the baby's movement. Additionally, blood counts from the baby can be taken from the umbilical cord while it is still in utero. Pretty cool. Delivery would be right at 37 weeks and steroid shots would be given to make sure the baby's lungs were ready for delivery at that time. So all in all, LOTS of precautions taken. In our minds now, it seems like if Timmy would have had all of these things done, maybe he'd still be with us? It feels like they could have done something to help him since it was such a slow leak of an abruption. We know we can go backwards in time, but hopefully it can help to change the future perhaps? That thought is somewhat comforting at least. Doesn't change how scary the next time around will be but there is some hope.

In the immediate future, I'm making an appointment for them to "drain" me, in the doctor's words. They will be running every blood test imaginable to see if I have any blood clotting disorders that could have contributed to the abruption and maybe even the miscarriage before Madelyn. If one is found, then it can easily be treated through Heparin or Lovenox injections during pregnancy. So, we'll see in a month or so what those tests show. We'll see!

If you know me, you know I'm about as Type A as you can get. I'm a planner. I like to have things ready in advance. As nice as this sounds, it's also a drawback when things go wrong, as they did with Timmy. However, this doctor has what sounds like a great plan for us in the future so I feel a little bit more hopeful today...