Problem Revealed

We went for our level II ultrasound at the UAB high risk clinic yesterday.  It was nice they got us in so quickly!

The u/s technician thoroughly scanned the baby and measured lots of different things... parts of his brain, details of his heart, kidneys, bladder, spine and more.  She spotted the bleed and told us where it was.  Then she got the perinatologist to come talk with us.

The peri did her own full scan of the baby, placenta and then the bleed.  She confirmed that the bleed is a Subchorionic Hemorrhage.  We got to see more clearly where the bleed is and how big it is.  She said it starts at the placenta and goes almost all the way around the baby's amniotic sac.  The sac has separated from the uterine wall where we could see the blood sitting behind it.  She said the placenta is still intact and connected to the uterus... a very good sign.

  The bleeding could have come from the placenta or possibly from when the sac separated from the wall.  Most likely the blood will reabsorb and not cause any further problems.  She also said the bleeding I had 1 week after my cerclage was not related to the procedure.

The bleeding does put us at higher risk for miscarriage and preterm labor.  Best case no more bleeding will happen.  She said we will just need to be more cautious about signs of preterm labor... which we already are.  She recommends follow up ultrasounds monthly to check the bleeding and see if it is being reabsorbed, but also to monitor the growth of the baby.

So this week things are good!  We are 20 weeks today.

Papa and Grandma are here, playing pirates with Josiah!  They brought some fun foam swords with which he loves to "fight" with!  It's fun to watch the three of them.

Thank you to all who are praying for us and for this baby!  We are really thankful to be this far along.