While there was silence here in the blog, things were quite busy during the past couple of weeks.
First, James and I had a plan to sort through, re-organize, and clean up the whole apartment in order to prepare and make room for the baby. This was to be done only one room at a time on Saturdays, so we wouldn’t overwhelm ourselves and so that I can take it slow and rest as we’re doing things. So far the bedroom is done and the living room is about 80% finished and still awaiting completion, because…
First, James and I had a plan to sort through, re-organize, and clean up the whole apartment in order to prepare and make room for the baby. This was to be done only one room at a time on Saturdays, so we wouldn’t overwhelm ourselves and so that I can take it slow and rest as we’re doing things. So far the bedroom is done and the living room is about 80% finished and still awaiting completion, because…
Well, we also went to the doctor back on the 21st. It was originally just a regular check-up to compliment seeing my midwife. However, things didn’t go quite as smoothly as we’d hoped.
There were two problems the doctor seemed really concerned about:
There were two problems the doctor seemed really concerned about:
- The baby is currently/still in a complete breech position.
- My cervix is thinner than normal.
The first concern was really not a surprise (this has been the case all along until now) and also not really a concern to us yet, as I think the baby still has plenty of time to turn around, though I might be mistaken…
The second was more worrisome. For those in the know, this was also not a total surprise, we kind of expected it to happen, but if I must be honest, I guess I started to feel a bit too optimistic that maybe, just maybe, we were lucky enough to avoid this problem all together.
A quick recap… A few years ago, just before JET, I had a procedure called a cone biopsy to remove some close-to-cancerous cells from my cervix. One of the risks of this procedure is that even though the cervix heals fine, there’ll always be a piece missing, leaving it somewhat weaker in the future, so much so that potentially it could be too weak to allow me to carry a baby full term and possibly resulting in second or third trimester miscarriages, or in a premature birth. This condition is called an incompetent cervix. Unfortunately, the likelihood of this is not something the doctors could give me a percentage for; they said we’ll just have to see what happens when we get pregnant. Well, obviously we did, and when I told my doctor-at-the-time about my history, she told me not to worry, it doesn’t happen very often and we’ll keep an eye on it. To up our chances, I tried to take extra good care of myself and the baby, and things were going fine, even back in November, when my newer doctor told me I was good to go on our New York City trip over the holidays.
However, now the picture was somewhat different. The length of a cervix that’s considered normal is anything above 30mm. I was down to 24mm. To try and get a better picture, the doctor asked me to come back a week later for another check up, which we did last Saturday, along with my midwife and an assistant midwife who spoke English and was there to help with any language problems.
During this visit we realized that while just having one or the other problem would probably not cause such a concern, having both together was a bit too much for this doctor and clinic (and of course my midwife too) to handle. 
They were seriously worried that even though my cervix has not thinned out any further according to the ultrasound, the baby could be born premature with the added complication of being breech, especially if I keep biking, which is a must for work. So in the end everyone agreed the best course of action was to refer me to a bigger hospital that has a NICU for further check ups, and to put me on sick leave as soon as possible, with absolutely no more biking until after delivery, and to stay at home and rest in the meantime.
They were seriously worried that even though my cervix has not thinned out any further according to the ultrasound, the baby could be born premature with the added complication of being breech, especially if I keep biking, which is a must for work. So in the end everyone agreed the best course of action was to refer me to a bigger hospital that has a NICU for further check ups, and to put me on sick leave as soon as possible, with absolutely no more biking until after delivery, and to stay at home and rest in the meantime.
Sick leave was requested, was approved on Sunday, and appointment to the hospital was made for yesterday (Tuesday). We took a taxi, because it costs only slightly more than public transportation for the two of us combined with the convenience of no walking required for me, and off we went. During this check up, we found out that my cervix was now only 16mm (what happened in those three days, I have no idea…), and was given some sort of medicine to take three times a day after meals, with orders of resting at home (not even short and slow walks outside are permitted at this point), and to come back in a week to see how things changed.
And this is where we are right now. I’m trying not to worry, use my time off productively (YAAY knitting, studying Japanese, and blogging), and bugging James as little as possible. I really hope that on our next check up we won’t get more worrisome news, and that maybe by that time I’ll be able to coax the baby into a head down position with some tricks and tips from various sources. Wish us luck! (^.^)v
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