Belly pics

12 weeks ~ August

22 weeks ~ November

30 weeks ~ January

30 Weeks & Good News!

Today we had our 30 week/final ultrasound.  I am fairly sure that I haven't explained why we've had all these ultrasounds and why I've been on restriction since August and so I suppose a brief explanation is in order.  In August, around 13 weeks, I had some bleeding (sorry if this is TMI) and had an ultrasound that determined that I had a low lying placenta as well has a placental abruption.  I was put on restriction from any heavy lifting, and was told not to do a whole lot of physical activity.  We had it rechecked in October at 18 weeks and found out that I'd gone from a low lying placenta to marginal placenta previa.  (This means that the placenta had moved to the very edge of my cervix and could really go either way:  away from the edge or cover the cervix even more.)  Either way, we'd need to follow up with another ultrasound to determine which way it had gone, if it had moved at all.  With placenta previa, there's a risk of bleeding out and so that is why a c-section was sort of on our radar. 

We've been waiting since the ultrasound in October for this one because this last ultrasound would decide if we would have to schedule a c-section or not.  Longest 12 weeks ever.  I was sort of glad when the tech started that I couldn't really see the screen to try and determine what all those fuzzy images meant before the tech could tell us.  I was especially glad in the moment when Josh said, "Oh.  So it's still low and didn't really move."  Thankfully, from a different angle, it told a different story.  We were told by the tech that, depending on the doctor, the placenta needed to be between 2.5 and 5 centimeters from the edge of the cervix in order for us to avoid an ultrasound.  I put in a silent wish that our doctor was on the 2.5 end of that instead of 5, since the placenta was just over 3 centimeters away from the cervix.  Thankfully, when we talked to the doctor after the ultrasound she said that was more than enough to avoid the c-section.  YAHOOOOO!  We also learned that I am dilated to 4 cm, and get to start seeing the doctor every 2 weeks now, rather than next month, to keep an eye on things since Jaxon was 6 weeks early. 

Here's a couple pictures from today's ultrasound.  Most of them were face pictures, but were sort of creepy and not so great so you just get to see a leg/foot and then one of the 3-D images.