Terrifying Morning

patchen30 · July 2011

I went in for my growth scan this a.m. The u/s tech was great and guided me through it - she did a mini anatomy scan and measured everything, then told me the baby's weight (1 lb. 10 oz.). She said the baby's growth was great and everything looked good, but that the Dr. likes to sign off on everything.

She goes to get the Dr.'s sign-off, comes back and tells me the Dr. isn't in yet but wants to review things herself so I should wait for her and she should be in in a half hour. I tell her I have an OB appt. in a few minutes, and she says the Dr. talked to my OB and told her I'd be late.

I'm not worried at this point, but they had me wait in the waiting room for an hour. Then someone else comes and gets me and says "the Dr. would like to talk to you" and sits me at another bench for another 15 minutes. Now I'm starting to think this is weird and get nervous.

The Dr. calls me into her office and says all looked good except that they think there's some fluid around the baby's heart, tells me the various things that could cause it (structural problems w/ the heart, Downs, etc.), and tells me she set me up for an emergency fetal echo in an hour, hands me a script that says "fetal pericardial effusion" and tells me to go down and see my OB in the meantime.

At this point I'm freaking out. I call DH and he leaves work and comes meet me. We meet w/ my OB who goes through all the possible scenarios - talking about whether we would want an amnio, possible viruses that could cause this, problems with the heart, delivering early, etc. She says go get the fetal echo and we'll reconvene.

We go for the fetal echo and wait another half hour, stressing out the whole time. We have the fetal echo and the u/s tech is silent through the whole thing. A few minutes later the pediatric cardiologist comes in and says she thinks everything looks normal. She said the position the baby was in could cause the viewer to think there was fluid around the heart, but they looked at all angles, and there's actually a normal amount of fluid around the heart. I start bawling just from being so strung out. By this time 4 hours had passsed since my first u/s.

My OB called me an hour later and apologized for scaring the sh*t out of us and said that she's really relieved and everything's fine and just schedule another growth scan in a month. DH and I were so exhausted that we called into work the rest of the day and now I'm home taking it easy.

About the contrax, Dr. still wants me on modified bedrest but said that cervix length is just as accurate a predictor of pre-term labor as the fFN (sp?) test and if it's long, the chances of going into pre-term labor in the next 2 weeks are very slim. Today mine was long and closed.

Man, my nerves are shot!

Echloe · July 2011

You poor thing. So glad that the heart is fine. And for what it is worth, when I did my first ffn they ended up tossing the swab in the trash since my cervix looked great. So your doctor and mine agree that cervical length speaks volumes.

MrsVo · July 2011

How scary!! I'm so glad it turned out to be ok! {{hugs}}

LaneCA · July 2011

fetal echos are terrifying. I threw up during my first one. Glad to hear everything looks good!

Sunshine05 · July 2011

I'm sorry you had such a stressful day, but glad to hear that all looks normal with you and the baby!

firewife9278 · July 2011

YIKES! I'm so sorry you had such a scary, eventful morning! I'm glad to hear that both you and baby are fine though!!!

halo_tx · July 2011

I'm so sorry you had such a scary day but glad everything turned out OK!

jb2rn · July 2011

How scary! I felt scared even reading that. I am so sorry your day was so emotional, but so glad it ended with good news.

etoyama · July 2011

Ugh how scary! I'm really sorry! I'm very glad though that everything turned out ok. They sure didn't make it easy for you, huh?

flycka · July 2011

Oh man, that's a though morning. I'm glad everything turned out fine though.I hope you can get a cool bath or a back rub from your husband.

kkdavie15 · July 2011

I can't imagine how scary that must have been for you! I'm so glad that everything turned out good though. Go home and get some rest... you deserve it

leecrystalwed08 · July 2011

I would be exhausted too! So sorry!

sterpstra10 · July 2011

What a day! I'm so glad everything turned out good. ((hugs))

LCS040209 · July 2011

I'm sorry that happened, but I'm glad it's ok! This happened to my sister and she had to wait 2 weeks to get the fetal echo...so that was very nice they did it so quickly.

MyHusbandMyHero · July 2011

Im so glad everythings ok! ((BIG HUGS)) for having to go through that this morning!!

babylove0511 · July 2011

wow! that is so scary =( i am sorry you had to go through all that. so glad everything turned out ok.

Mrs. Mo · July 2011

I am so sorry you had to go through all that !!!! Thankfully, everything is ok with the baby. {{{hugs}}}

KYRN · July 2011

What an awful day, I'm sorry that you had to go through all that but happy everything looks good. Good for you guys for taking the day off to recover.

jcath · July 2011

That sounds like a horrifying experience...I'm so glad it had a happy ending.

lckcdc3 · July 2011

Oh my goodness. I can't imagin how scares you must of been. I am so sorry you had to deal with that but I'm so happy everything was ok!

brandywine2010 · July 2011

WOW! What a terrifying experience. I would have to ask for some anti-anxiety meds after that. I am glad that everything worked out to be okay.

EDIT: Wording

vanessagorc · July 2011

Hugs patchen, how scary for u and DH. So glad it was ok.

amamommy · July 2011

Oh my goodness what a day. So sorry you had to go thru that, but so glad to hear that everything looks good with your baby!

JenCW · July 2011

That is so scary. I can only imagine that those hours felt like an eternity.

So glad to hear that baby's heart looks OK. Hope you are able to de-stress during the rest of your day.

ashonkwiler09 · July 2011

That sounds horrible. I'm so sorry you had to go through that. Glad to hear everything is okay.

siewekesgirl · July 2011

geez how scary! please get some rest :-) *hugs*

illinigal · July 2011

Yikes! I'm so sorry you had to go through all that, but I'm so glad that the outcome was good. Definitely take at easy the rest of the day.

mikeandangie · July 2011

Oh, sweetie, these doctors just love freaking us out, don't they? (((hugs))). I am so glad everything looks ok.

Bella2u07 · July 2011

So sorry you had to go through that. BIG HUGS

Glad everything turned out to be ok!

MSaksa · July 2011

what a roller coaster day!! That would be mentally/emotionally exhausting!! Glad to know all is ok though!

bbakersgirl75 · July 2011

I am so sorry you had to go through this, that amount of stress is completely uneeded and unnecessary. ((Hugs)) I'm glad everything turned out ok in the end!

JM1977 · July 2011

I'm so sorry you had to go through that!

ashleyann82 · July 2011

That's awful that they put you through all of that. And all for nothing really. I would have been terrified and exhausted too. Good for you for taking the day off to relax. I hope your next growth scan goes much better for you!