High Risk Check-In 1/18

MrsN092714

Hi ladies, been awhile since we have done a check in, but as we are getting further along I imagine some of our issues will become more consuming, and some of us will be overcoming issues that were present in the first trimester... Let's update where we are in our 'high risk' journey!  Hope everyone, and those sweet babes are doing well!

Why are you considered High Risk?  

How far along are you?

How are you feeling?

Up coming appointments/ results from any previous appointments?

Questions/ Rants/ Raves.

GTKY: Favorite alcoholic beverage?

MrsN092714

Why are you considered High Risk?  
I have anti-D antibodies present as I didn't receive a rhogam shot after my mc.

How far along are you?
14w1d

How are you feeling?
I keep hoping the ms is going to end but I swear it's getting worse.  To top it off I have ANOTHER wicked head cold.  And I'm feeling a little anxious after today's phone call from my Drs office.

Up coming appointments/ results from any previous appointments?
i have to go for monthly blood work to check the antibody titer levels.  My 4 week blood work came back as 'present, but un-titerable', my 8 week came back as undectable and today they called me about the results for my 13w draw asking if I had got a rhogam shot (which will give false high readings) which I did not.  The lab tech didn't give the nurse my results, but asked her to investigate as my levels have 'jumped substantially'.  Hoping I get numbers tomorrow, otherwise I have to wait until Monday.  Also really hoping that we are still under the critical levels.  Next apt is on the 1st unless they'd send me to the MFM prior to.

Questions/ Rants/ Raves.
Rave: the weather has been beautiful!  Snow has been melting and I have been able to spend a lot of time outside with my son.  
Rant: my entire house has this cold and it sucks.  Hubby is gone snowmobiling until Sunday so it's sick mom and sick baby until then

GTKY: Favorite alcoholic beverage? 
ceasers, packed with pickle juice.  While prego I up the pickle juice and ditch the vodka!  I might make one tonight...

mrsdrmatney

Why are you considered High Risk?  
PreE and congenital defects in kiddos
How far along are you?
15w5d

How are you feeling?
Exhausted

Up coming appointments/ results from any previous appointments?
First Trimester screenings came back low risk next appointment is our 90 minute 20w scan and fetal echo at 24w
Questions/ Rants/ Raves.
Was told no traveling after 32w and we are currently negotiating my stay in town (3hrs away from home)- they want me there at 36w. 
GTKY: Favorite alcoholic beverage?
Anything with rum or an oatmeal stout. 

MrsN092714

@mrsdrmatney Looks like we are all alone over here! How many kids do you have?  When did your preE strike?  Did all of your kids have heart defects?  

Xath

Why are you considered High Risk?  

I'm hypothyroid.  I have a history of premature labor/delivery with subsequent neonatal demise.  I also had a uterine rupture along my cesarean scar due to prolonged (weeks) of contractions with my 2nd pregnancy.  In addition, my placenta tends to calcify early, leading to a higher risk of clotting, cord obstruction, and stillbirth.  

Which is all a super bummer because I love being pregnant, and tend to have pretty easy pregnancies symptom-wise.  I initially wanted to be a surrogate after my H and I were done having kids, but my body has clearly decided that that is a no-go.

How far along are you?

16 weeks 4 days

How are you feeling?

At this exact moment I have a headache that I haven't been able to shake for several hours.  Otherwise fine.  

Up coming appointments/ results from any previous appointments?

I have an appointment this Saturday for a BP check, and to get my prescription for progesterone.  I did the Makena injections with my last pregnancies, but the OB over here doesn't like those, so I believe I'll be getting suppositories this time.  womp womp

Questions/ Rants/ Raves.

Nothing specific comes to mind now.  This is pregnancy #5 so everything seems pretty routine at this point.

GTKY: Favorite alcoholic beverage?

Mimosas.  I lurve me a mimosa.  

Cejiml

thanks for starting this again! 

Im glad everyone is still doing so well! 

Why are you considered High Risk?  
4 losses, uniconuate uterus, 2 clotting disorders
How far along are you?14+4

How are you feeling? I'm good. M/s is gone. Third child so my other 2 keep me busy and I'm pretty tired a lot but I'm making it. 

Up coming appointments/ results from any previous appointments? 
NT scan came back really great. Next up is cervical checks starting at 16. Finding out the gender either then or at the anatomy scan at 18 weeks. 
Questions/ Rants/ Raves. Feeling baby kick from the outside is so exciting!  Significantly earlier than my past pregnancies and it's the best feeling! 

GTKY fav alcoholic drink: WINE!!! I know red is fine but not on blood thinners . I'm on lovenox. 

KissMeImScottish

Why are you considered High Risk?
Twins are inherently high risk, but I also have a subchorionic hemorrhage that my body has been fighting and I had a possible amniotic fluid leak (could not confirm or deny thanks to the blood from the hemorrhage) about a week ago. So it's been an adventure.

How far along are you?
15w5d

How are you feeling?
Aside from a headache today, I'm starting to feel more like myself finally. If this damn bleed would go away and the twins would cooperate, I'd be a happy camper. I've also started to feel
intermittent flutters, so looking forward to hopefully feeling more soon.

Up coming appointments/ results from any previous appointments?
I have a regular OB visit on the 24th, although it's also morphed into a follow up for the fluid leak I had, so not sure what that's going to entail. I also have my anatomy scan on the 10th of February.

Questions/ Rants/ Raves.
Just a general frustration with the restrictions I have to operate under, considering my husband is leaving for 3 weeks and I'll be on my own with a 30 lb toddler that I'm not supposed to pick up. I've definitely handled the kiddo on my own before (my husband just returned from a 6 month deployment in September), but not being able to haul my son around and being 16 weeks pregnant with twins is seriously throwing a kink in my independence. And he's missing my birthday and the anatomy scan, so I'm sulking. I'll get over it.

GTKY: Favorite alcoholic beverage?
I'm all about champagne and prosecco. Mix it up and make me a mimosa and I'm a happy, happy girl.

MrsN092714

@xath Did you rupture happen once real labour started?  Were you trying for a vbac?  How many months between births?  Do they have you under the care of an MFM already or is that something they start at a later date?  Suppositories are a bummer...
@cejiml Crazy you are feeling kicks from the outside.  This is my second baby and I'm 14/2 and ive had 2 or 3 'maybe that was a flutter' moments!
@ktewart I have been following you and checking in.  That sucks the bleed hasn't let up yet?  Have they been monitoring?  Does it appear to be shrinking?  Good luck with your toddler alone, I have an Oct 15 baby and couldn't imagine not being able to pick him up.  He wouldn't handle it well either!  Do you have family around that can give you a hand?

Well I called today to see if they had my titer levels for my antibody, and they called me back just before closing to tell me that they had not been uploaded on the portal yet (in Canada, we don't have access, only the referring drs office does) and they are closed tomorrow so now I have to wait until Monday.  It really makes no difference as even if I am at a critical level, there are no treatment options until 18+ weeks (it also doesn't usually have much of an effect on the baby until around that time, thankfully) However, I am a need to know person and being left wondering for the weekend sucks.  This will definitely push the MFM referral up, which I am kind of glad about.  My OB straight up told me that she knows very little about this, and like I said, I like facts... so we wait.  Common Monday

Xath

@MrsN092714
 
Did you rupture happen once real labour started?  I'd been contracting regularly for 11 weeks at that point.  The rupture started when I was on the operating table.  

Were you trying for a vbac?  Nope.

How many months between births? 17; hence no option for a vbac.

 Do they have you under the care of an MFM already or is that something they start at a later date?  My OB here is an MFM.  He's handling everything.

KissMeImScottish

@MrsN092714, thank you so much for your concern. The bleeding is intermittent and seems to have let up for the last four days or so. I'm hoping my doctor will loosen some of my restrictions on Tuesday, as it would certainly make my life easier. They are definitely monitoring the situation, but are more concerned with the clear hush of fluid I had last week, since they were not able to identify that. Hopefully, I can have a quiet second trimester before the craziness of the third begins!

My son is September '15, so only a month older than yours! Luckily, he's very, very independently mobile and walks most of the time on his own. That means I really just have to lift him into his crib or into his high chair or into the car, which is doable. And in the case of an emergency, my sister and brother in law live literally a mile down the road from me, something I'm really enjoying, considering how far away most military families are scattered from family. And it's only 20 days that my husband will be gone - in our life, that's a drop in the bucket. Just hoping that in those 20 days, the twins stay cooperative in there!

I completely understand the need to know feeling. While I am familiar with the basics of the brogan shot and the condition that requires it, I admit that I am not up to speed on what, exactly, happens if you don't receive it in time. What do your high levels mean for baby and why is 18 weeks important? Please excuse the ignorance, haha.

MrsN092714

@xath I guess if your going to rupture, while on the operating table is the place to do it.  I am hoping to VBAC this time but I'm not sure it will end up being an option with all this other stuff going on.

@ktewart That's good the young are monitoring you so closely.  I have a friend who had a fluid leak at 22 weeks but it healed itself up and she carried him up until 9 days before her due date.  Hopefully if it was a fluid leak it hasn't resolved.  Sucks they couldn't tell for sure due to the blood.  Great you have family so close to help out!  

So by not not receiving the rhogam shot in the required time frame my body built up antibodies (anti-D).  My husband had blood work done showing that our baby has a 50% chance of carrying the D antigen (which would mean it has a positive blood type).  If our baby is positive my body detects the antigens and starts to attack as if it was an infection or virus or something.  It attacks the babies blood and can cause mild/ severe anemia in the baby.  If my levels get to high it's shows that the chance of that happening are greater.  At the 18 week mark they can start doing scans to monitor the blood flow to the babies brain (before that the chances of false highs are to high to accurately determine, and thr chance of the baby being affected are still quite low) If the blood flow levels are to high, that means the baby is anemic and based on those levels they decide if it needs to be treated.  Treatment means interuterine blood transfusions (IUT) to the baby to get some healthy blood in there, which they will keep doing until it becomes safer for the baby to be delivered than to stay on the inside.  Best case scenario is that this baby has a negative blood type... then my levels can reach crazy highs and it means nothing.  Best case scenario if the baby is positive is that levels stay below the critical levels, scans stay low and we look at a short stay with some jaundice and under the lights.  Worst case is death, followed by several transfusions throughout the pregnancy, early delivery, transfusions after birth with high iron and bill levels and a long stay in the nicu.  
Sorry for the novel... I'm still learning as well.  It's a lot to take in.  I'm looking forward to meeting with the MFM to actually have someone who can explain it better to me.  My OB is pretty clueless, I've been really lucky in finding a great group online that has been able to explain/ answer my questions so far, but I definitely still only know the tip of the iceberg.

mrsdrmatney

@MrsN092714  How is your cold? Did you hear back about the bloodwork?  

I have 3 kiddos 17-3
My blood pressure shoots up about 34w and climbs but we always make it to 39w.  Honestly, it's my bodies response saying the kiddo is ready.  PreE induction w/ #2 saved her life.
#1 and #2 had pneumothorax 
#2 mesenteric hernia (emergency surgery/resected at 1 day; she now has Short Bowel Syndrome)
#3 CHD- ASD, PAPVR, PDA (repaired but developed a channel so it's opened)

@Cejiml  My DH and I totally felt our little peanut last night! He's a wiggle worm and is always on my left and is particular about his space; a little pressure makes him move. I've had a few flutters but I was surprised it happened this early. 

MrsN092714

@mrsdrmatney This cold is kicking my ass.  I've got a wicked cough, that gets going and makes me throw up.  I puked all over my bed last night and so many other times.  So gross.  They didn't have results for me at the end of the day yesterday and are closed today, so I'm waiting until Monday.   Sucks but whatever...

Cejiml

@mrsnN092714 & @mrsdrmatney it's literally the best feeling!!! 

JAM85

Why are you considered High Risk?  Lupus and Hypothyroidism 

How far along are you? 16w3d

How are you feeling? good now. Energy was kind of meh last few days just dragging through workouts and the day and feeling like I was moving through mud and randomly threw up when I thought 

Up coming appointments/ results from any previous appointments? Level 2 anatomy scan Feb 1st. Couldn't afford the first trimester screening so this will be out first look since the 8 week confirmation ultrasound 

Questions/ Rants/ Raves. 

GTKY: Favorite alcoholic beverage? haha don't drink pregnant or not. Neither DH nor I have in 4.5 years for separate reasons but my favorite beverage if I'm out and feel fancy is Club Soda with Cranberry and Lime 

TalesOfASocialIntrovert

Why are you considered High Risk?  
Type 1 Diabetic (Dx 20 years ago)

How far along are you?
15 + 6

How are you feeling?
Eh, still tired. My Grandpa passes away a few days ago too so I'm sure that's contributing to the overall downed feeling. Hungry is increasing and nausea has nearly disappeared.

Up coming appointments/ results from any previous appointments?
Endo visit last Wednesday where we continue to tweak insulin rates (this will continue the entire pregnancy). He also found my thyroid was large and firm (I've only seen this Dr twice since my regular endo's schedule was full). And since he's never palpated my thyroid before the last visit, he couldn't say if it was an issue. This was also the morning my Grandfather passed away (just a few hours prior) and he was kind enough to do a quick ultrasound and said my thyroid is large but looks normal. Next OB appt is with the new MFM on the 30th for our anatomy scan. They said to expect a 2 hour scan!

Questions/ Rants/ Raves.
None really, just tired. Wishing for the return of some regularity in life and less emotionally draining situations.

GTKY: Favorite alcoholic beverage?
I'd nearly kill for a good Mojito or Bloody Mary!! I had just started drinking Mojitos this summer so they were still new and amazing

MrsN092714

@talesofasocialintrovert Sorry to hear about your grandpa.  Sending hugs...