I know, it sounds a bit bizar, 'post-mortem results', like we've attended a crime scene or something like that. Anyway, we went to the hospital today and talked to one of the obstetricians there, this time the one who has done my amniocentesis.
What they have found was the following:
- the baby was perfectly healthy and normal. There were some 'abnormalities', but these were all related to severe growth restriction, where the baby saves energy in building up certain organs to spare his brain, for example.
- I was extremely healthy too - always good to hear such things :-)
- The placenta was the culprit. They were able to find out what happened with the placenta: it never managed to attach itself properly to the uterus. My blood vessels and that of the placenta were almost unable to interact with each other, which caused the poor blood flow to the baby and his severe growth restriction. Because of this large bleedings under the placenta did occur, eventually resulting in baby's death.
They haven't found any anti-bodies against the placenta, so my body wasn't rejecting the placenta, which would have been a troublesome outcome for the management of any future pregnancies. All in all it was a chance event, a case of bad luck, and there is no reason why a next pregnancy wouldn't be successful.
We were quite elated with these results, as through all this stuff it's easy to forget that the baby and I were actually healthy!
Should I become pregnant again then they want to see me at 7 weeks for a first scan, at 11-13 weeks for a nuchal translucency scan, combined with the first trimester serum screening, and at 20 weeks for the anatomy scan. The 7 week scan is an extra, as well as being under the care of an obstetrician and a midwife from the start.
And that makes this the last post of this series for now :-)
