20 Weeks and 3 days

We had another doctor visit today and it went great. No ultrasound today, but we got to hear the baby's heart beat- which was absolutely beautiful! I am measuring exactly where I should be at this time, too. Matt and I both thought I was HUGE, but looks like I am just normal!!! We were able to ask lots of questions about the placenta previa and the blood thinner and we both feel much much better about it all. We will find out more when we go back in two weeks for the ultrasound. Until then, lots of prayers that the placenta is "moving" and the placenta previa will be completely corrected, or at least partially corrected by then. As long as their is some movement, it will be a good indication that it will correct itself by 32 weeks. Which is what we want so that we have a much easier and stress free third trimester, a more normal delivery as far as timing, and no risk of hemorrhage or accreta. The sequential results were back today, as well, and everything looks perfect. Almost no risk at all, actually less than the odds of having conjoined twins, of having spina bifida, downs syndrome, anencephaly, or any of the other things they check for. So that was very reassuring. Just nice to know everything is proceeding without problems. More later, and I will try to put a pic of my growing belly up this week, too!!

Baby Rosecrance at 18 Weeks

Sorry it took me so long to get this up. It was actually taken two weeks ago, at 18 weeks. Thank you to "Crandpa Williams" for taking it from VHS to DVD for us, and to Matt for digitizing it for me so I could put it on the blog. We have another doctor appt. this Tuesday and another ultrasound in two more weeks! I am now 20 weeks, so hard to believe and we are so thankful to be blessed with this baby! I will update again in a few days after our doctor appt. Love to you all!!

18 weeks and 3 days

We had our big anatomy ultrasound today. The baby looks great. I tried to get a peak to see if it is a girl or boy, but was unable to tell! From one angle it looked like a boy, and from another a girl, so I am no closer to knowing. She was careful not to show us, and she said she didn't know either because she wants it to be a surprise for us. The baby has a beautiful spine, skin fold, brain and heart. Everything looks great with the baby. There is a slight complication, but when I asked Dr. Rousis if we should be worried he said "Yes and No." That didn't give me the warm fuzzies. I have total placenta previa, which is when the placenta is over the cervix. I will go back in two weeks for an exam and then again 2 weeks after that for another ultrasound. So in 4 weeks we will know if we are to worry or not, basically. Of course I will be worrying until then, it's my nature and I just can't help it. The placenta can grow higher up so that it is not covering the cervix, so that is why we check again in 4 weeks. Hopefully we find out the placenta has "moved" (it can't actually move, but at this point the uterus will grow faster than the placenta, so it will be as if it moved higher on the uterus and away from the cervix. Statistically, 5% of pregnancies are diagnosed between 18 and 20 weeks with placenta previa, and 90% correct themselves by the third trimester. So those are very good odds. If it doesn't correct itself, then there is an increased risk of hemorrhage (terrifying since I am on blood thinners presently), premature delivery, low birth weight, and placenta accreta (which is when the placenta grows into the uterine wall and can even attach to other organs like the bladder and usually requires hysterectomy after delivery and surgery to remove the growth from the other organs-also terrifying but this is worst case scenario.) Those of you who know me know that I am now worrying myself into a frenzy. For now, I am not completely on bed rest, but almost. No housework (woohoo!), no camping, no lifting, no exercise, etc. We will just hope and pray that everything is totally corrected by my next ultrasound! More later...

Latest Doctor Visit

We had a great doctor visit yesterday - all good news to report. Everything is going great with this pregnancy. The baby's heart beat is good and strong. Our first trimester screening all came back normal - so now I am glad I had it done! I was regretting it during the waiting period for the results thinking "why did I even have them done? There is nothing that can be done even if they find something wrong, and now I am just worried." But now that we know there is no increased risk of downs or spina bifida, I am very glad we had it done. I had the doctor look at my stomach at a place I thought might be a hernia. He also thinks it is a hernia but we are just going to watch it for now and if it is repairable he will fix it after my c-section while he is already in there - so that is good news! We go back in three weeks for the big anatomy ultrasound, but of course we are waiting until delivery to find out the gender. I am hoping I can sneak a peak and figure it out for myself!!! I feel like it is a girl, and I have a 50/50 chance I am right, right? I was right with the boys and with Billie, so we will see if I have a "gift" this July, lol! Any one else have any guesses? Post a comment if you think it is a boy or girl - it'll be fun to see what others think! I didn't have an ultrasound yesterday, so no new pictures to post yet. Just three weeks until we have more, though.

Turn of events

Hello, all. Not really a lot to update about. Everything is going great with the pregnancy. I actually have another doctor appointment with the perinatologist on Tuesday, so I will give an update again later this week. But so far, so good! I am feeling pretty good, except for still trying to shake this cold. I didn't know colds could last so long! The morning sickness seems to be tapering off finally, and I have a lot more energy now. Just looking forward to the day we get to meet our miracle baby! We have been batting names around. I think we are pretty certain of our girl name, but not quite so certain on the boy name yet. I will put the names up later in the pregnancy, so stay tuned. I am still trying to talk Matt into finding out the gender in three weeks when we have our big ultra sound, but his mind is set on waiting until the birth. I guess I can wait if I have to.
School is in full swing for me and I am feeling overwhelmed as I always do when things get busy. But I graduate in less than 12 weeks, so that is keeping me motivated!
Billie is doing great in school and really looking forward to the end of the school year and summer vacation, which is almost just around the corner! She is keeping busy with piano, ballet, hip hop and chorus and soccer will start in a few weeks. We are looking for summer camps for her to do this summer, but it will be tough to get everything in that she wants to do because I don't want her gone in July when we are expecting the baby, or after! I think we will let her do her "stay-over" camp in June and then she can do her horse camp, which is only during the day, either the first two weeks in July or the first of August that way her camp will not be interrupted by the baby's birth.
So this wasn't much of an update, but it's great that everything is going so good that I have nothing to say!!! Quite a turn of events, huh?! I will update again later in the week after our visit with the doctor Tuesday. Until then I hope you all have a great week!!

Middle of July

More great news. I went to the Perinatologist Monday, the same one that delivered the boys. All of the blood clots are totally gone and the placenta and the baby look great! I go back in 3 weeks for another check up and blood work, and then we will have another ultrasound in 6 weeks. So now it is time to just relax and enjoy the pregnancy and prepare ourselves for our little miracle to be born around the middle of July!! The boys were born July 15. We can hardly believe it. My due date is August 9, but since I had such a large incision with the boys, Dr. Rousis doesn't want me to go in to labor because there is a higher risk of uterine rupture. So, at 37 weeks I will have an amnio to make sure the baby's lungs are mature enough to deliver and we will deliver that week! I hate the thought of the amnio, but I do not want to deliver before the baby's lungs are ready, so it will just have to be that way. When I have time to scan it in, I will post a new pic of our little wiggly baby. I need to get to school, so more later when I have time. We still covet your prayers for a happy, healthy pregnancy and baby!

Ultrasound

This is the ultrasound we had Monday. You can see the baby move all over the place - a real acrobat! It even sucks it's thumb at one point. It's a long video, so don't feel you have to watch the whole thing! And if you have trouble seeing ultrasounds, sorry, but I wanted to share! Love to all.