Pregnancy update ... grrrr

I went to lunch with Jon and Caden Friday.  We ate at my FAVORITE place, Noodle and Company.  I haven't had lunch with Jon in forever, so it was a grateful respite from my typical day filled with piles of laundry, cleaning, taxiing my kids around, oh, and cleaning.  Gross.  We had a pretty uneventful lunch and afterwards as I was taking Jon back to work I suddenly got this horrible "pain".  It's a hard to describe "pain", all I knew was that it sucked and I was doubling over. 

Jon asked if we needed to b-line to the ER and I grimaced and said, "uh, no, I'm good, just give me a second."  The pain thought otherwise of my "give me a second" plan and suddenly kicked in full gear with accompanying "pressure" in the pelvic area.  The pain sucked, but the pressure worried me a little.  I've passed the magic "12 weeks" marker for being out of the woods with a miscarriage, but this felt hauntingly similar. 

Fortunately the Longmont ER wasn't busy Friday afternoon (I think it gets busier come Friday evening, at least that was my impression when we finally left the hospital only to see a cop and his "shackled" prisoner checking in at the front desk), and they got me right in.  The "pain" continued ... but quickly went the other direction when after incessant begging the nurse INSISTED I have an IV.  I tried all routes of deterring this event telling her, "look, I'm pregnant, I'm not taking anything for the pain, so this is really stupid."  Apparently it's policy to stick everyone evenly in the ER.

Caden was with Jon and I for the whole initial check in process.  The second we walked into the room Caden found a seat, sat down, and said, "don't worry mommy, the doctor's coming with some medicine to make you better."  How could that not melt you a little?  I was in the ultrasound room before too long, and the pain was sort of starting to temper down.  The ultrasound took over an hour with the tech repeating, "I'm so sorry this is taking so long ..."  Poor tech, it wasn't her fault my body wasn't cooperating.  Apparently I was having contractions and they wouldn't let up so she couldn't get the pictures she needed.  The word contractions immediately launches fear in any pregnant woman when it's "too soon".  She assured me this was okay and not to worry.

After the ultrasound and giving gallons of blood, the doctor appeared to tell me the news.  THe radiologist had read the ultrasound, he had been in contact with my perinatologist, and the tests were all back.  "Well," he starts, "first of all the baby is fine."  Of course the baby is fine, it's MY body that gives up on me, but it manages to always protect my babies, in reality a grateful blessing.  "But, your placenta has torn a tiny bit from the uterine wall (hence pain) and you have a complete placenta previa.  Unless the placenta tries to crawl back up your uterus in the next couple months, you will have to have a cesarean, and the complete previa can cause bleeding, possible hemmorage, you could be on extended bedrest, etc."  Great.  My fears of death in delivery are realized at the words, "posssible hemmorage" (sp?:).

Placenta previa for those of you that may have never heard such a term (even my understanding was a loose understanding and this is my 4th baby!) means that the placenta, which is SUPPOSED to be placed somewhere on the side or above or generally out of the way of the "cervix" decides to cover the cervix.  Now, again, for those of you with no basic understanding of the miracle of labor and delivery, the cervix is that part of your body that bends and stretches itself to an enormous size so the baby can be "delivered".  Think of it as the gatekeeper and protector to keep that baby in to term.

In my case, the placenta is covering the gatekeeper not letting any baby come out, ever, so it guarantees a cesarean, unless of course the placenta grows feet and "crawls back um, up the wall of my uterus".  Seriously.  The problem is that as the baby grows, the pressure on the placenta grows, and this can all make for a difficult situation for me and the baby.  I'm on "take it easy" orders, but not bedrest.  I told the doctor "take it easy" was a little unrealisitc with three boys, he wasn't amused and informed Jon he needed to now step to the plate.  The pain has sibsided a bit, but the pressure is still disconcerting.  The placenta covering the cervix is apparently not going to ease up the whole pressure situation, and I guess I'm jsut going to get used to this new perk of being pregnant.

Summing it up ... 15 weeks into this thing.  So far, blood thinner injections 2x day, a blood clot on the placenta (apparently resolving itself, but being "monitored"), and now the placenta won't cooperate and go where it's supposed to.   25 more weeks to go ...  oh little baby, you're not going to make you're entrance into this world easy on either of us, are you?  I rubbed my growing belly yesterday and the baby and I made a deal... we're a team and both of us are going to get through all of this intact.