That morning, I visited the high-risk specialists. The appointment was easy on my part because I just had to lay there while they took measurements of the baby. Unfortunately, because of my severely tilted uterus, at this point in my pregnancy, transvaginal ultrasounds are better than abdominal ultrasounds. (Yes, that's exactly as it sounds. Instead of the flat transducer on my belly, they stick a very long transducer, a wand, up my lady bits and into me to get a better image. Lucky me).
During this appointment, they want to measure the baby from head to rump as well as measuring the nasal bone and the neck membrane. These measurements can give them an indication if there might be chromosomal issues in the baby. But it's just an indication. Sometimes the baby's measurements indicate higher risk for the chromosomal disorders and end up being born perfectly fine. Essentially, they take the measurements of the baby along with the blood work and figure out your risk factor for various things such as Trisomy 13 or 18 among other things.
It was easy to get the head to rump measurement and that was perfect! Baby Obie was measuring right on track for 12 weeks and 5 days. Unfortunately (and fortunately), baby was staring straight at us and wouldn't move. The sonographer needed Baby Obie to turn to profile view so she could measure the nasal bone and neck membrane. The unfortunate part was that I had to lay there with this transducer up my vagina for a good 25 minutes as she pushed all over my uterus to try to get Baby to move, had my cough, etc. The fortunate part was that we got to look at our baby for 25 minutes. He/She just stared at us, occasionally rubbing his/her eyes, and wiggling about. But never turning.
She then took back to the abdominal transducer and was finally able to get the measurements she needed.
Below are two of the photos we received. I will admit, these photos are always hard for me to tell what I'm looking at. It's actually really easy to distinguish everything in real time as you're watching the baby wiggle all over the screen, but even seeing that and getting these still shots, I was like, "Um, what am I looking at again." So I pointed things out for you in the hopes you can possibly tell what you're looking at. If you don't, no worries. I don't blame you one bit!
The high-risk OB then came into the room and we really liked him (as opposed to the last doctor that we had and were less than pleased with). He said everything looked great with baby and then moved on to looking for the mass. As I mentioned in this post, they found the mass again. However, this doctor felt fairly confident that it is just the ovary. It is within the size of an ovary (the mass is 2cm), it's perfectly round, and it's smooth. He isn't too concerned but does understand my concern and worry. He did tell us that we can do surgery and testing if we feel we need to. Our game plan is to come back in four weeks for our anatomy ultrasound (fingers crossed I can convince Nick to find out the sex. As of now, he's not sure if he wants to know the sex and I do want to know). When we come back for this appointment, they'll again look for the mass. If it's still there and they aren't 100% certain it's an ovary, they might send me for an MRI. It is the safest test to get a clearer answer during pregnancy. While they don't like to do surgery or testing during pregnancy, sometimes they feel it's necessary. If you have something toxic and harmful growing in your body, the risks of keeping it in are greater than the risks of removing it. No decisions have been made and we won't decide until we know that's a bridge we have to cross. We could come back and not even have to worry about it. That's what I'm hoping for!
After the ultrasound, I got my finger pricked for the blood test to check for more risk factors for chromosomal disorders.
Then we scheduled our next appointment for December 18th and left.
That afternoon, I visited Dr. F, my regular OB's nurse practitioner. Because I met with my OB back in St. Louis this summer, I didn't need to get the full pap smear, just the cervical check. We then talked to her about a lot of our concerns, which included this mass, my stressful job, traveling, etc. She helped ease our mind about a lot of the concerns and we left feeling much better.
After meeting with the nurse practitioner, I had my blood drawn to check for various things like HIV, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, etc.
I got the call just before Thanksgiving that both blood tests came back great. My high-risk doctor called first saying the risk for Down's Syndrome and Trisomy 13 & 18 is very, very low, which was great! (They reach this number by combining the measurements with the blood work to get your risk factor number). Just a few hours later I received a call from my OB's office telling me that my blood work came back showing negatives for all diseases and that my CBC (complete blood count) came back perfect. I didn't mention it to anyone but I was worried about this because if my WBC (white blood count) was off, it could indicate something (cancer) and I'd be freaked out. The only negative to my visit was my urine specimen came back with bacteria, indicating I had a UTI. I was shocked and she told me it's in the early stages and thus I wasn't symptomatic yet. Thankfully by catching it early and starting the antibiotics immediately, I never did experience symptoms. Win!
I'm thankful to have a positive visit with both doctors. Sure, the "mass" is still there but hearing the high-risk specialist's confidence that it's an ovary has really helped to ease my mind. Since this appointment on November 20th, I've felt great. I have a few very rare moments where I get anxious, but for the most part, I feel good about it all. Stressing out would only harm myself and the baby so I'm doing my best to not let it get to me. And I've dedicated myself to doing what's best for Baby Obie and Mama. So here's to a healthy pregnancy, with minimal stress!!!!
I'll be back with another pregnancy doctor update after December 18th. And hopefully I'll have a sex reveal for you ;) (that all depends on Nick deciding what he'd like to do and baby cooperating, since I'll be in the middle of my 17th week).
No comments:
Post a Comment