Living, Laughing and LOVING life as a Mom!: 26 Weeks and a trip to L&D

Whew what a week! I know I've mentioned before in my weekly posts that I have been having a LOT of pressure in my cervix since 17/18 weeks. After the LEEP Procedure I had done last summer to remove cancerous cells it ended up weakening my cervix and it's been a little short. So in addition to the normal pressure during pregnancy, the weakening my pelvic wall because Brayden was so big, I have been having added pressure since my cervix is soft and 25% effaced. They've had me being cautious and making sure I try and have equal time on my feet as well as my feet up. Which has been tough but I have been managing. Otherwise I had no other real restrictions as far as what I was and wasn't allowed to do.

The previous weekend we decided to take advantage of the 80 degree weather and get some stuff done in the yard. Jason had to finish cleaning up the stuff from tearing off the old roof on the back of the house and I wanted to fill in some holes the dog dug up, rake up some odds and ends and wash all of Brayden's toys off since they were covered in pollen. I really did try and be careful with things. Having Jason move anything heavy and help me pick up piles of stuff after raking. By the end of the day the amount of pressure I was having was unbelievable. It was really making me worry. I hadn't felt anything like this kind of pressure since I was in labor with Brayden so at 25weeks and 2 days I was a little stressed. The pressure was so intense i was literally crying in the shower b/c it felt like my insides were going to fall out. I wasn't contracting or anything so I laid my self up for the night, started chugging even more water and didn't move. I was hesitant to call the dr since it was the weekend and since I wasn't contracting (thank god) I thought it would be okay till the morning.

When I talked to the nurse in the morning she talked to one of my OB's. I have two drs I see regularly that are familiar with my situation and have been monitoring me. She told me she felt better having me go up to L&D and get checked out. So Jason came home, I dropped Bray off with my mom (thankfully she just got off of work) and headed down to Cooper Hospital.

L&D did all the usual stuff in triage. Hooked me up to the monitors to keep track of Bella's HB and make sure I was not contracting. I ended up seeing a resident Dr. and not one of the regular drs from my office. When she did my cervical check she said she was only feeling that my cervix was 2cm (50% effaced)(it was previously 3.1) so I was really starting to stress. Fortunately there was no dilation so the ffn and other swabs they did "just in case" weren't necessary. I was REALLY not happy with her bedside manner. She seemed a little too non-chalant and almost uncaring. Told me there was nothing they could do since I wasn't dilating/contracting to warrant a cerclage and i was good to leave. Needless to say I called my OB in the morning to see if they wanted another cervical u/s done to get an exact measurement, since they weren't able to get one done in the hospital, and see if there were any other restrictions that I should be following since we thought I had made a lot of progress in a week since my last appt.

The dr was able to get me an appt on Friday with the MFM to have another ultrasound and I have a follow up appointment tomorrow in reference to that. The appt on friday actually went MUCH better than I anticipated. HUGE sigh of relief. I'm not sure what the resident dr was feeling b/c my cervical length hadn't changed from the 3.1 that it previously was. This was a huge weight of my shoulders. I know we still need to be cautious but knowing that I wasn't progressing fast like we though I was at only 25/26 weeks was reassuring. An extra nice surprise was the u/s tech did a full biophysical profile on Bella since the Ob's ordered weren't very specific, so I got to hang out and see a lot of her. Despite the issues with my body not wanting to cooperate she is doing WONDERFUL! Her heart, brain, kidney and all other developmental milestones look absolutely perfect. She's measuring on track on the higher end of the range for 26 weeks at 2lb1oz! I can't wait till our growth scan b/w 32-34 weeks so we can have a better idea of what size she will be, and the dr will then figure out if they want to induce me a little early (prob 39 weeks) to avoid complications like with Brayden. All this saying that my cervix holds out, but knowing my kids, I'm sure all of our worrying will be for nothing and they'll have to pry this little one from me to get her out! lol

Hi mommy! these face on shots always seem a little creepy, but she's still cute!

"Potty shot" Yup still a girl, arrow point to "girl parts" :)

So the next step is my Ob appt tomorrow. They've had me coming every 3 weeks for checks so this will only be a 2 week appt. I'm wondering if they will keep them that way since we are approaching the third trimester anyway. Guess we will see. Fortunately Bella has been laying transverse (aka sideways) so the pressure on my cervix isn't AS intense as it is when shes head down, but it's still there. I can manage with the pressure I just want to make sure she stays in for as long as possible before she's born!