When life hands you lemons...I am really sick of lemonade!

Could things be easy for us when it comes to pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum? I was hoping since the 3rd time was not a charm that the fourth would have to be, I can't be that unlucky, but I found out I am and somehow ended up with another complication that only happens in like 1% of pregnancies.

I had some of the routine first trimester blood work done and it came back that I have antibodies to certain things in blood. I was referred to a Perinatologist (for those of you who don't know it is a doc that is specialized in high risk pregnancies.) To make a long story short if my baby has a certain blood type that my body has made antibodies against my body will destroy the baby's red blood cells and cause anemia in the baby. Treatment? Very frequent ultrasounds to measure blood in the brain to check for anemia and if anemia happens the baby will have to get blood transfusions via a needle inserted into my stomach and through the umbilical cord. Sounds like fun for both of us huh?I asked how likely it will be that the baby will be affected. They said based on the high number of antibodies in my blood it is very likely. Damn.

So the next step is getting my husbands blood type looked at to see if he is going to pass the baby the type my body has antibodies to. Second at 15 weeks will have follow up bloodwork and an amniocentesis, which I haven't ever had so I am nervous. I guess the doc said for now it won't affect the baby until about the 18th week and I am 11 weeks now. I will keep you updated.

On a cheerier subject, spring is near, I can feel it. I have been thinking about planting flowers, having sheets on the bed that smell wonderful from being hung outside, having the windows open and barbecuing. I can't wait for the children to be able to play outside and to be able to take these hyper dogs to the dog park. The down side to the transition from winter to spring is all the dog poop that surfaces, and the muddy dog feet that have to be cleaned, woohoo! I love my animals but Life would be so much easier without them *sigh*.

Baby #4?!

My post today was going to be about Valentine's day and what we as women REALLY want, but I decided to share our news instead. To our surprise we just found out we are expecting again. I can't believe how soon this is happening, we really never expected this and weren't sure if we would even have anymore children, but surprise, after 4 positive home pregnancy tests and a trip to the doctor it was confirmed.

There are some concerns on if the baby is in the tube since on ultrasound they had a hard time pinpointing baby's location . If that is the case the pregnancy won't be viable, but they are also saying everything might be ok it may just be that I am so early that its just hard to see and everything will be fine. So right now we are waiting for news from bloodwork and we have to have another ultrasound to look again later this week. I am just praying that everything will be ok , I know it will be because whats meant to be will be and it's in God's hands, the best place it could be.

Right now I am just living for today and not worrying about anything. I have my 4 beautiful Valentines and am enjoying each moment with them. I hope you are doing the same. Happy Valentine's Day (:

Waiting

Monday I had an ultrasound, one of many that I have had throughout this pregnancy to look for problems with the placenta because I had a condition called "placenta accreta" with my last pregnancy that caused major problems postpartum. Everything has looked normal with the baby and the placenta up to this point, and Monday was supposed to be my last ultrasound since I am due soon.
At the very end of the appointment though, the Doctor noticed that the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck and when he looked closer he said that it was wrapped around twice. My heart just sank. The doctor watched the baby's breathing and heart rate for awhile and found it to be normal. He said that right now the baby is fine but that a cord around the neck during labor can pose a problem because once the baby descends into the pelvis, the cord can get compressed or pulled tight and cut off oxygen to the baby. With that, he decided he needed to see me back next Tuesday to see if the baby has unwound himself otherwise a c-section might be the best route. Although I would like to avoid that especially since I've never had a c-section, I'll do whatever it takes to make sure he gets here safe. So now all I have been doing is making sure I am feeling him move inside and I feel so on edge. I am so worried about him. I have a doctors appointment on Friday and just want Friday and Tuesday to come so I can find out what we are going to have to do.  More than that I just want him to be here, safe in my arms. That is all I've wanted since the day I found out I was pregnant, him here where I can keep him safe.