02 September 2010

placental venous lake

Quick update:
I no longer have previa of any kind. Hot damn.

Imagine if you will, a peaceful but undulating venous lake at the lower margin of my placenta.
Imagine that because of said lake, I will get rechecked week 36/37 and if it is still lakeish (80% chance of being so), I will get an amnio to test for the baby's lung development, and proceed to a fucking C-section.
If labor before then, emergency c-section. (no worries! he said, we do them all the time!)

Now, on the good side, I am very glad I went to the specialist.
First of all, I adore him. He is geeky, talks to me like I have a brain, is clear, no bullshit, but kind and direct.

Second, he stood hip to hip with the US tech and they did a very thorough exam, doppler flow, heart rate, baby looks great, and yeah, oh, how interesting! venous lake.

So I definitely feel well cared for and we all have the same outcome in mind: healthy baby, healthy kate.

But I did want to have the chance at a vaginal delivery, I really did.

so

YAY!!!!!!!!
and

shit.




10 comments:

Sprogblogger said...

yay (& shit) indeed. Still - 100% yay on no vasa previa. Going to have to go Google venous lake - but still it's sounding a whole lot better than what we were thinking 2 weeks ago.

And you (& your doctors) sure seem to be going into this with the right attitude. Healthy baby. That's why we're doing this. Everything else really is incidental.

That said, I hope you get the birthing day of your dreams, because I GET that, I really do.

Unknown said...

I hope it all goes well, Kate. And I do hope you get the birth you want., Andrew was born by emergency C-section and he's nearly six foot these days, so it all turned out just fine.

Joannah said...

Whatever it takes for you and baby to be well. :)

alyssa said...

i love you, kate, i'm so thrilled that this is going so well.

Baby Smiling In Back Seat said...

Hooray for no previa, at least.

If it's any consolation, even if vaginal delivery is out, you may still be able to experience labor. I had an emergency c-section yet I went drug-free almost all the way through labor, until the contractions were about 1 minute apart (peak to peak, which means only a few seconds between contractions) until finally they brought me to the OR.

Any chance the specialist can do the delivery? He sounds fantastic.

Good luck!

Minta said...

Kate, I am in the process of recovering from an emergency c-section right now. They do do them all the time. I'll tell you, I was hell bent on an unmedicated, vaginal, natural delivery. But, when the complications started to pile up and talk turned to inductions and c-sections my disappointment at "losing" that experience wasn't there. I was just glad they got my baby out and he is healthy.

It was scary at the time, but it was short lived...

Anonymous said...

YAY for no previa!!! Did the doc tell you why you cannot try for a vaginal delivery? Either way, a healthy baby is the only thing we want, right?

takingbabysteps

Anonymous said...

yaya for no previa...i hear you on wanting to avoid a c-section - although i was so jacked up (2nd degree tear, hemorrhoids, anal fissure and urinary tract infection all at the same time post partum) that I wondered if a c-section would have been better? stupid I know but some women swear by them. ((HUGS))

Michele said...

I'm sorry about the vaginal delivery. That is so tough... Big hugs...

Elle said...

Yay for no previa!

I completely understand how you feel about the delivery. There are times when I still get sad that I'm not going to get to experience a vaginal delivery.

But I've realized that the delivery is like one grain of sand on the beach of motherhood. It's such a tiny, tiny piece of the whole thing that sometimes I think that people put too much emotional energy into it. No matter how, you are giving birth to your child, and that is your precious story.

And really? The c-section is not that bad. Pain? Not that bad (I never had to take anything stronger than extra-strength Tylenol and Advil). Scar? Not that bad (I swear, no matter how teeny-tiny a bikini I wear, nobody but me, my husband or my doctors will EVER see it -- it is SO low, I honestly don't know how a baby came out of there).

And there are a few benefits to not having a small human come out of your vagina! I was scared to death of tearing, and, well -- not an issue. :)

Anyway, not trying to minimize this, because trust me, I know it's hard. But a year from now, it will seem like a small thing.