If you missed Part I - check it out here.
I struggled a bit getting a hold of my doctor after I had left the ER but they also recommended to just monitor the bleeding and that they would check on me once I was there. They mentioned it could be a subchronic hematoma or hemorrhage which is also what a few other women I had chatted with through the Peanut app said they had experienced. It can be a little hard to detect but essentially is blood between the uterine lining and the chorion (the outer fetal membrane, next to the uterus) or under the placenta itself and is a common cause of vaginal bleeding in the first trimester. Haj ended up coming that afternoon and stayed overnight before having to head back on his work trip. The following day the bleeding had stopped completely which was somewhat of a relief but was still hoping to get some answers.
When I went for the ultrasound on Friday the baby looked good! :) They weren't able to find a subchronic hemorrhage or any reason for the bleeding which they mention sometimes happens. My cyst however, was still there and the size of it hadn't changed. Due to the cyst and bleeding I was told to avoid any form of sexual activity and needed to wait a few more weeks until I was cleared to see the pelvic floor specialist. The nurse let me know to contact if I had any bleeding whatsoever and gave me an emergency phone number to use which I was appreciative about. I experienced consistent cramping over the next few weeks but luckily no more blood and continued with my acupuncture which I believe really helped. Fingers crossed that was the end of it.
I had opted to do the high risk genetic blood work at 10 weeks which also gave the option to find out the sex of the baby. The process itself was quick and easy and not invasive at all. They just took a few vials of blood and sent it out to the lab. I had this done on a Monday and they said I should get the initial results back the following Monday with some of the more specific testing taking up to two weeks. Knowing that I was going to find out the sex of our baby in just 1 week was so crazy! Haj and I had a gut feeling since day 1 that our baby was a boy, but obviously there was no way for us to actually know so I was excited to get the results.
The following Monday I could not concentrate on work at all and was constantly checking my phone and e-mail for an update. I got a call from the doctors office in the early afternoon and for sure thought they were calling to tell me the sex. Instead the nurse said she had just reviewed my file and noticed I was only down for 2 of the 16 genetic tests and asked if that was a mistake. I let her know it was and that I wanted to get whatever testing done that was available. I also mentioned that they had told me I would hear back regarding my results today and was curious if that was going to happen. She noted that it looked like a couple of the results may have come in, including the sex, and asked if they were available, did I want to know the results? I exclaimed - YES! Absolutely. And she said she would follow up in a bit. I received an e-mail notification about an hour later and figured this had to be it! I Facetimed Haj as he was at work, so that we could both look at the email together. The e-mail from my doctor stated - initial NIPT results came back low risk (phew!). I also have the sex of your baby, would you like that information? False alarm #2 -- my heart couldn't take much more haha. I replied immediately Yes! and waited again for a response. I took about 1 more hour until I received another e-mail notification -- this had to be it! I called Haj again and was more anxious than ever. Honestly, before I got pregnant, I had always thought that I wanted a girl. Once I got pregnant and had an immediate feeling it was a boy, it was hard for me to picture the baby being a girl. Now, with the complications I had experienced, I truly understand what people meant when they said, that they just wanted a heathy baby. I wholeheartedly agreed with that but still, the unknown was killing me. I opened the e-mail and before I even read it fully, I blurted out to Haj -- it's a BOY! The excitement that came over his face is something I will never forget (and luckily something I was able to capture from a Facetime screen shot!) We had planned to wait a few days to tell our family but couldn't hold in the excitement and ended up surprising them all with different "blue gift" deliveries.
The following week I had my 12 week OBGYN check up and received the rest of my test results, all of which came back low risk -- great news! Dr. O had to do a full exam this time but was so calm and gentle during the entire process, I was extremely grateful. It had been 4 weeks since I last saw my little guy and just due to everything that had occurred I was hoping to get some reassurance that he was okay. She completely understood where I was coming from and offered to do a quick handheld ultrasound that showed our baby on what looked like an iphone screen. This guy definitely looked ok -- he was moving up and down like crazy! Dr. O immediately was like "we have a dancing baby on our hands - look at him go"! This did not come as a surprise to me whatsoever. If any of you know Haj, of course our baby would be bouncing off the walls - literally! :) It was so amazing to see but hard to still not have Haj there with me to experience these moments. Dr. O also cleared me to go to my first pelvic floor physical therapy appointment with Dr. Tanza, which I was hopeful and nervous about!
My first interaction with Sara Tanza could not have gone better. She was so warm and easy to talk to. I went over all of my history and she immediate was like - we've got this. You are the reason I am in this practice. I know we can heal you -- what AMAZING words to hear. We spent the next hour chatting, doing some physical therapy exercises and internal work. She said she ideally wanted me to come in bi-weekly until I delivered but due to her crazy busy schedule (clearly she is a magic worker), we left it to getting in as much as possible and having me do a lot of outside work on my own. Unfortunately, the insurance coverage situation with this hasn't changed much since I had last gone 7 years ago - but the knowledge and experience Sara brought made me more confident that my money would pay off this time.
I was going in for ultrasound #100 it felt like, for the end of my first trimester checkup and ended up being there for a lot longer than planned. First of all - baby T would NOT stop moving. The nurse could not believe it. She said usually she has to poke the babies a bit just to make them move but he was not having that problem at all. This made it harder to get accurate pictures of all the bones and organs. One thing was clear however -- we could definitely see that it was a BOY. Typically, it's not that easy to see this early on, but not for our little guy haha. This provided some much needed comic relief. I tried to Facetime Haj in since he still was not allowed in person, but it was really tough for him to see unfortunately. Once I hung up the phone, the nurse asked me to drink a bit more water as she was having a hard time seeing everything and left to go find a doctor. When the doctor came in she also commented on how much the baby was moving which also lightened the mood a bit. She said she was there because the nurse was unable to see any fluid in the babies stomach or bladder which made her worried that the kidneys weren't developing. It turns out the baby just needed to swallow and the fluid appeared - thank god! My original cyst had since disappeared but they found another small one this time on my other ovary. Again, nothing out of the ordinary or a cause for concern, they would just need to watch it to make sure it doesn't grow/goes away. These ultrasounds really are such a rollercoaster. Overall, baby T looked healthy and I would be back in about 7 weeks for my 20 week follow up.
I was excited to be moving into my second trimester as everyone kept telling me that was the best part of pregnancy. We celebrated with a small family gathering where we did a pregnancy/gender reveal and received so much love. I found that having the support of your family and friends during this wild ride it so important and I am beyond grateful that we have that. Now, on to trimester two -- hoping for no more baby scares and smooth ride. Stay tuned next month for that update! :)
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