Second OB Appointment and Some Issues

On Monday we had our second OB visit with Dr. R. It actually felt good to go for a pretty uneventful appointment. We were glad to hear that my belly is measuring right on target and the baby's heartbeat sounded nice and strong!

At the appointment this week, the doctor talked to us again about the possibility of having a C-section. She mentioned this at our first visit last month because of my past uterine surgeries. Up to this point I have had three D&C procedures after miscarriages (I had the other three naturally) and three laparoscopic/hysteroscopic surgeries -- two of them exploratory and one to remove a uterine septum back in 2005.

The septum surgery is the one that has her concerned. At my first appointment, Dr. R asked me whether I'd ever been told that I should have C-section deliveries in the future. I had not, so she said she would look through my huge file to see if she found any notes about it. At this month's visit, she said she had not seen anything about it in my file but is still considering that we may need to go that route. I am totally fine with doing whatever we will have to do to get the baby here safely. The concern is that she doesn't know how much of the area was removed and how thin my uterus may be at the surgery site. Unfortunately, that surgery was before we found Dr. G and the doctor who performed it has since moved her practice. I absolutely know that Dr. R would not simply rush to judgment about a C-section if she didn't have some concern. We don't know the answer for sure just yet, but we are glad to know about it in advance and be able to prepare ourselves for that option.

I also forgot to mention to you that at the 3D ultrasound last week we saw that I have an anterior placenta (which means it is located on the front of the uterus). I didn't know much about this until I got home and Googled it. I think it's fairly common and it doesn't pose any problems that I'm aware of, but I have read that it may hinder my ability to feel the baby's movements early on. The position of the placenta in front provides extra "padding" and muffles some of the early kicks you can usually feel. I still haven't felt anything yet and I'm getting close to 19 weeks, but I know that sometimes it can take up to 22 weeks or so to feel the baby moving, especially for your first. We obviously do know that she is moving around quite a bit in there, as we've seen on ultrasound! I haven't asked Dr. R about this yet but I'm sure we will discuss it when I have the May 17 ultrasound at her office. Of course, I also read that sometimes an anterior placenta gets in the way of hearing the heartbeat on a Doppler, but we haven't had any trouble doing that. Anyway, I plan to ask lots of questions at the next big ultrasound appointment. I am still having some anxiety about that one and would greatly appreciate your prayers that our baby girl will look nice and healthy.

We are still rejoicing in being able to call our baby by her name. I think we've decided to share the name with everyone after the May 17 appointment. Even though we feel sure at this point that the gender call is correct and we've announced it to our friends and families, I think we'll both feel more confident to have it confirmed by someone else in a few weeks!

If you've read this far, thank you! I really appreciate your support and your prayers as we progress in this pregnancy. Thanks for walking along with us on this journey!