After a lengthy discussion with our midwife, who's in constant contact with an obstetrician, and after spending time to do some research ourselves about my condition (very low levels of Papp-a and b-hcg hormones) it is clear that careful monitoring of baby and mother is the one and only course of action to take.
Evidence from research suggests the following - remember, just providing the facts here and being informative, it's not said that all of this will happen to me or baby.
The hormones mentioned above are responsible for the working of the placenta and baby's growth. Low levels of these hormones give a 40-50% chance to 'adverse' pregnancy outcomes and is associated with: pre-eclampsia (zwangerschapsvergiftiging), hypertension (hoge bloeddruk in de eerste 20 weken), restricted growth of baby, stillborn, early delivery, induced delivery, caesarian (keizersnee).
Monitoring the mother means checking blood pressure and protein in urine (all good yesterday). Monitoring baby means having regular scans, where they look for growth (baby is behind), maturity of organs (couldn't get a good look of all organs on Friday), activity (baby was very active), heartbeat (heartbeat was strong, 140-160bpm), amount of amniotic fluid (was normal, which means that baby's kidneys are functioning), blood pressure in umbilical cord (no data) and size and indicators of functioning of placenta (looked like there might have been a bleeding at some stage).
Anyway to cut a long story short, we need to be prepared that the baby won't make it full term and will be early. How early depends on how he is doing inside and how I'm doing.
The next scan will be in the first week of October, to finish the anatomy scan and to monitor baby's growth. Two weeks later there'll be probably another scan, at 24 weeks, but that may depend on the outcomes of the previous scans.
The results of the scans will be discussed with an obstetrician, at the hospital here.
What do we think of all of this? Well it's not a fun place to be in and we're mentally preparing for a rocky road ahead, which started with a bit of a meltdown Friday night. But hubby and I are a good team, we're totally involved in the decisions that are being taken, we don't take everything for granted at first sight and like to do our own research as well. Support is welcome, but no drama or unsolicited advice please.
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Good luck in the weeks to come. Hope the road will turn out to be smooth.....Eveline
ReplyDeleteYes, good luck with this. My advice: Don't read too much about all of this on internet. Somehow people who went through a bad experience are more active on the discussion sites than the people for whom everything turned out just fine.
ReplyDeleteJust caught up with your blog after many weeks absence. Concerned to hear that your pregnancy has a few extra challenges...but like you said you and hubby are a great team, and you are both positive, pragmatic people. I'll pop in and out of your blog, now that I found you again...I'm so hopeless figuring blogs and had forgotten the name...but now recorded in sensible place.
ReplyDeleteI leave for Melbourne on Sunday, and take up my position as Manager of a children's centre on Monday. Big challenge, but its what I love to do - ie creating safe and supportive places for young children when they are not in the care of their parents. House on the market - check out on - www.open2view.com - under Paremata, "Urban Scantuary....Ian talking to a view people, and expect his exit to be soon, but as yet unconfirmed.
Sounds like you resting and eating well, and baby is letting you know he is about with all his activity...all good things.
Take great care,