29 Weeks

Well, I made it another week. I know that a lot can change in any pregnancy in a week, make that a day, but for now, for today, we are ok. No protein in my urine, blood pressure was good (for me) and I am feeling a bit more optimistic about making it a bit further. We know the outcome, but my doctor pointed out with clarity today that without intervention (which is what we have chosen) any baby would not survive at this point, so if we want to give him the best possible chance we should continue as long as possible. I asked several questions today. The big question I had of course was monitoring him. My OB today told me that her ultrasound machine did not have the capability to monitor his issues so if we want to monitor him, we need to continue to go to the high risk doctors. Ok, well that essentially answered multiple questions that I think we had already somewhat figured out. The two offices are not communicating very well. She finally received the letter from the high risk doctor a week after she was supposed to. Why that is I do not know, but I think it is probably not personal to just me. When I told her the high risk office said they did not want to step on her feet, she actually rolled her eyes as if that was silly, and it did make me feel better. I asked her if she was concerned about the excess fluid and she said as long as I can breath, she is not too worried. I am ok with that right now because honestly, I enjoyed a visit without drama today. I also know draining that fluid does have its own risks.

We discussed how long I will carry him, she reminded me that if something happens to me I will deliver immediately, but otherwise I think we are aiming for 36 weeks. That is not that far away in the realm of things. Many babies with no obvious abnormalities on ultrasound die in the womb. Approximately 1 in 3000 pregnancies are trisomy 18 babies, but most of those are miscarried very early and thus never diagnosed. 1 in every 8000 live births are trisomy 18 births and 95% of all trisomy 18 babies are stillborn. 80% of trisomy 18 babies are female and of all pregnancies only 1% to 2% develop polyhydramnios. So we are really quite the medical anomaly I suppose. The high mortality rate is usually due to heart and kidney malformations, feeding difficulties, sepsis, and apnea.