High Risk Obstetrician Visit

At about 24 weeks of pregnancy I had my first high-risk ob visit for complete placenta previa. I was expecting the visit to be all discussion, and that I probably would be put on pelvic rest (no fun.) I even told Nick to stay at work since it would be all talk and I would be in and out! I was soooo wrong.

I had an ultrasound done and the technician noted that I had very low amniotic fluid, as well as some of his bone growth was not where we wanted it to be. At 24 weeks, his head circumference, femur length, humerus, tibia and fibula were all about 1.5 weeks behind. His cord only had 2 vessels instead of 3. His brain and heart looked great but there was definite cause for concern.

So I'm sitting there, shivering with nerves, wishing I'd brought my darn phone in from the car so I could try to get a hold of Nick, and surrounded by my doctor, the technician, and a nurse who check me to make sure I'm not leaking fluid, and start discussing what these results could mean.

It was awful. Basically, all of his measurements and all of these odd things (placenta previa, placenta looks "thick" and globular, low fluid, lagging measurements) were within normal limits on their own--but having so many odd things meant it could be something serious.

There were three main ideas of what could be wrong:
1) Placental problems for some odd reason, which means he is not growing the way he should. Could indicate IUGR (intra-uterine growth restriction [doesn't grow right because of lack of nutrients, etc.])

2) Exposure to some kind of infection during pregnancy: toxoplasmosis, parvo (Fifths disease, that red cheek disease kids can get), cytomegalovirus (cmv, a very common virus many adults are exposed to). These diseases could cause the problems we were seeing and could result in serious problems for baby.

3) Genetic issue: something in the chromosomes or genes is wrong and is causing the placenta to be odd and fluid to be low and baby growth to lag. This is the scariest one for us because there are so many possibilities, and we are uncomfortable with the idea of having to raise a special needs child.

I had blood drawn for many tests and sat there feeling sick as the doctor told me she feels we should get a second opinion. She referred us to a great hospital with a fantastic NICU right by our house. We were slotted in less than a week later.