Appointment update

So I had my doctor's appointment today. My fluid has dropped this week. So we have to stop my medication and hope it goes back up. Taking it extra easy to keep contractions down. So far everything else is still stable. Fingers crossed.

26 weeks

So I know I was going to write every week, but I felt it was getting redundant. So here is my 26 week update. So far everything has stayed pretty stable. The medicine has kept my contractions down for the most part. I had 1 day a fews ago where I had more. I went in to the hospital and they gave me a shot that slowed everything down. Another day, I had more but was able to get then to slow down drinking lots of water.

My fluid has stay around 8.7. It needs to be above 5 to stay on my medicine. My doctor is going to do a fetal growth during my ultrasound on Monday to make sure my little guy is still growing okay.

My latest struggle has been a cold the last few days. Other than that things are going as expected.

Holding strong

So I'm 23 weeks today. I've gained about 10 lbs so far and look pregnant now, so people tell me.

My appointment this week was a little weird. Because I have to go in every week scheduling can get a little tricky. They double booked me with someone else, so I had a different ultrasound tech. She definitely didn't do things the way I've seen them in the past. She finished my cervical measurements. They were between 1.8-2.5. My doctor likes to take the average, but my specialist takes the shortest measurement. So that is a little bit shorter than the 2.2 I was the week before. 

When she went to measure my amniotic fluid, which I had to tell her needed to be done, she didn't do a very good job. Usually they will do what looks like cross hairs in each pocket of fluid giving them a volume index. She did some interesting things. Normally the tech will tell me what the number is before I meet with the doctor. I didn't even bother asking because I figured it wouldn't be accurate. When my doctor came in later, she said what I had been thinking. She didn't think the measurements were accurate, but based off the pictures there seemed to be plenty of fluid. I was a little unsure since the whole reason I'm coming in every week is to check this number. Hopefully next week, when I have someone more capable doing the ultrasound, everything will be fine. 

The medicine seems to keep my contractions under control for the most part. It worked pretty good my last pregnancy as well. So we will keep on this track until my fluid drops. I will be at 24 weeks at my next appointment, which is the first week of viability. At 23 weeks chances are between 25-30%. This jumps up to 50-70% for 24-25 weeks. Every week is a victory. 

I've been trying to keep busy with color books, reading, and netflix. Of course we still have "J" to entertain us during the day. My mom and dad have been a big help with him and things around the house. Happy eggplant week!

Pregnancy marathon begins again.

So I haven't written a blog post in over a year. I figured this was the easiest way to update people on our latest pregnancy saga. This will be partly a journal for me as well so bare with all the numbers.

For those of you not in the loop, I'm pregnant with a baby boy due December 28, 2017. I will be 22 weeks on Thursday. We found out at our 20 week ultra sound that my cervix was already shortening to 2.5 cm. Average for 24 weeks is 3.5 cm. After my doctor not saying much, I attempted to go to work that Saturday. My co-workers promptly sent me home and I told my boss I needed to figure some things out. I contacted my doctor the following Monday and got a referral to see a Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist. They called the next day and got me in on Wednesday.

Dr. Blea was amazing. He told me everything that I wanted to hear from my regular doctor. He was concerned that I was having contractions this early and wanted to monitor me. I was admitted to the hospital for observation. There are only a few medications they can give me this early on. Most of the medications we used last time can't be used until 24-25 weeks. They put me on a medication called Indocin. It can only be used for 2-3 days because of the side effects. I switched to a medication called sulindac, which I used last time. It seems to be working to slow down my contractions but doesn't get rid of them.

Part of using sulindac is the weekly ultrasound to check my amniotic fluid levels and check my cervical length. At my appointment today, my cervix was measuring 2.2 cm. It hasn't changed much in the last 2 weeks which is promising. I've been taking it pretty easy though. I had several doctors tell me that bed rest is not proven to prevent preterm labor and carries other risks. I like to use common sense, if I'm having contractions I'm going to lie down and do nothing. My doctor is concerned about my mental sanity being stuck inside all the time. I wanted to tell her that I already did this last time to 2 months and I'm a boss.

My amniotic fluid level was 13, which is in the normal range. They want it to stay above 5. If we get close to 5 then I'll have to stop my medication. When I was pregnant with Jack, every time I went off the medication my contractions picked up and my cervix shortened. I told the doctor I was shooting for 25 weeks at this point. She said 28 would be better. I explained that while I would like to stay pregnant as long as possible I need to at least get to the point where the baby is viable for my piece of mind.

I will try to put a weekly update on here. I should be having my appointments on Tuesdays. Feel free to check back if you are interested.