Appointments

I had my first prenatal appointment last Friday with my primary midwife, Megan. I was pleasantly surprised that she's taking this SCH issue seriously, much more than Phyllis sounded like she was when I talked to her the Monday before. I wanted her to show me on u/s pictures where the SCH was,  but she didn't have pictures, just the radiologist's report. The report said there was a long, thin bleed that was as long as 50% of the placenta. Before I could even request it, she said she wanted me to have another ultrasound within the next 1-2 weeks including a consult with maternal-fetal medicine. Good. I was going to ask for that if she hadn't suggested it. That appointment was this morning, but I'll get to that in a minute.

I asked Megan if it was normal to not have heard about these not-so-good u/s results until almost a full week after the test. She said that with these "viability" ultrasounds, if the pregnancy is viable, it doesn't trigger a flag for the report to be viewed immediately. She said if I want to check on results, I can call the midwives' office the day after the u/s. Thing is, with this one, I didn't know there were any results to check - the u/s tech had told me the heartbeat and the measurement and didn't mention anything else (I know the tech can't really tell me much), so I didn't know there was anything I needed to call about. But now I know that if I don't speak with an MD, I won't know if there's anything else to know and I'll call to ask.

The rest of the appointment was the usual first prenatal appointment stuff. She asked me all the screening questions like do I have anyone in my family with neural tube defects, etc. I got momentarily confused and told her I have a 3rd or 4th cousin with hydrocephalus and some retardation, so she told me she wants me to take prescription strength folic acid (1mg?) for the next three months. I picked it up but haven't been taking it, because I realized the guy I told her about is actually the husband/boyfriend of my actual blood-relative cousin, a female with retardation of some sort, but no hydrocephalus. We talked about first-trimester genetic screening, and I told her I wanted to do whichever one will give me the most information. I'm all set to go in for the bloodwork and nuchal translucency u/s (which apparently goes with it) a week or two from now.

Megan answered some questions I had, and then checked my cervix to make sure it was closed and that there was no blood near it that I hadn't seen yet, but all was well. She tried to find the heartbeat with the doppler, but warned me first that she may not be able to find it because it was borderline that I was far enough along. She tried briefly, but then decided to just look on u/s - they have a big, old u/s machine they use to check quick things like heartbeats. So this was fun, because she let me videotape the screen, so I have a recording of the teeny-tiny baby moving around a bit, and we could clearly see the heart was beating.

The nurse drew blood to check a CBC and whatever else they usually draw at this point, and Megan had them check my A1C (I think? sugar?) and thyroid. All came back fine. Hemoglobin and red blood cells just under the normal range, but apparently that's ok, and I should just keep taking the prenatal vitamin. The appointment was informative, but took FOREVER, and by the time I was leaving, the MFM office was closed for the day (and the weekend), so the receptionist had to call on Monday to try to get me in for the u/s and consult that (this) week.

On Monday, the receptionist called to tell me she could get me in with MFM at the main hospital the midwives deliver at on March 25th - NEXT Friday! I told her that was too far away, she double-checked with Megan, and then said she was going to try to get me seen at their back-up hospital (which is actually a much bigger, very well-respected, more "main" hospital than the first one) this week, but first I had to call and preregister at that hospital. Ugh. I did that, called her back, and finally heard from the MFM department at the back-up hospital to schedule an appointment on Tuesday early afternoon. Somehow, they were able to see me this morning (I could have even gone in yesterday, but at a less-opportune time).

So now... the MFM consult! The tech, Colleen, was great. She did the u/s, and then the MD came in afterwards. Colleen told me the baby measured 10w3d (a couple days ahead, even) and the heartbeat was 157. She saw the fibroid mentioned in the first u/s report, said it was small and no big deal, that fibroids often grow in pregnancy due to the hormones, and that they sometimes go away after the pregnancy. She printed out a couple pictures of the baby for me. The MD, Brett Young, was also very nice, but I could tell she found mine to be an uninteresting case and not worth a whole lot of her time. She said she was "underwhelmed" by the bleed, and really didn't see anything to be concerned about. She saw (and showed me) two small spots that she said may have been what they saw on the first u/s, but they were small and nowhere near 50% of the placenta. That if my first u/s had looked like it did today, she would have read it as a normal scan. It was "all good news", and while it was possible that there had been a large bleed that had mostly disappeared by now, it's also possible that there was never really anything much there in the first place (which is what it sounded like she thought was more likely).

Which begs the question... WTF?!? I mean, don't get me wrong - I'm VERY HAPPY that all seems to be well and I don't have to stress about the SCH anymore. But seriously, WTF happened with that first u/s?? Dr. Young definitely didn't sound convinced that there had ever been anything to worry about, because it's only been 16 days between ultrasounds, and she seemed to think a bleed as big as the report said couldn't possibly have turned into what she saw today in such a short period of time. Sounded to me like she thought it was more likely that something had been misread entirely! I'm thinking about trying to get a copy of my medical records, at least in terms of the ultrasound, from the other hospital. I figure they must save the pictures from the u/s, right? And not just the report? I'd really like to know what happened - this is going to keep bothering me if I don't! When the u/s was being scheduled, the midwives' receptionist tried to have it be on a couple specific days when I would have been seen in the prenatal ultrasound area, as opposed to general radiology, but the scheduling didn't work out, and they said it was fine to do it in radiology. So, I did, but now I regret that, and wonder if things would have been different if I'd gone to the totally different area where they do prenatal ultrasounds, instead. Ah, hindsight.

But... At least I can relax and know that there's not some huge bleed in there threatening the pregnancy. Phew!!

And now for the next two (or so) week wait... until the cell-free DNA test and NT u/s!