Sunday, January 27, 2013

Time to enjoy

I had my appointment with my OBGYN.  I brought my hubby with me in case I felt pressure to do something I wasn't 100% sure about doing, he could be my back-up.  My hubby is a joking kind of guy, but my OB is a little too Asian and doesn't quite get the subtly of his jokes.  Mind you, the last time he came with me to the OB was after I fell down the stairs, twice, while pregnant with my son.  My husband made a terrible joke about swearing he wasn't involved, so my OB sent him out of the room to ask me directly if my husband pushed me.  No, of course not.  My husband just thinks he's funny.  This time, my husband promised to try and not be funny.

After waiting an hour for my results to be faxed through, I finally got called into the office.  The OB basically confirmed everything that the ultrasound tech told me.  He said that the IUD is soft plastic and is laying flat between the sac and the placenta.  He confirmed that the placenta is soft and squishy and will take the impact of the IUD, even if the baby gets big enough to start kicking it.  It was explained that the IUD is not likely to move from where it is placed right now, especially as the pregnancy progresses because the baby and placenta will only get bigger and just press the IUD deeper into the placenta.  This is usually when you hear stories about the IUD coming out with the placenta during birth.  He said that I can't make it move if I sit in a funny position, which is good, because I like to sit funny sometimes.  There are a lot of ways that the IUD could have ended up inside with the baby.  It could be half embedded in one of my body parts, causing it to stick out in a pointy manner.  It could be free in my uterus next to the sac with the ability to move around and butt up against the placenta.  Worse yet, it could have ended up between my placenta and uterus, causing potential abruption.  There are a million other things that could have gone wrong, but haven't.  He told me that he is not worried right now.  He's so not worried that he isn't even considering me a high risk pregnancy, just an unusual pregnancy.  He still wants me to have monthly ultrasounds, and to see him more often than usual.

The craziest thing he told me is that he considers the riskiest part of the pregnancy to already be over.  The IUD is meant to prevent the sperm from reaching the egg.  The secondary use is to prevent implantation.  The last use it to generally make the uterus an inhospitable place for a baby to start growing.  I am already past all of those benchmarks.  The egg fertilized, implanted, and grew into an embryo, ignoring the IUD completely.

I told him something my mom told me.  How in the 80s, if a woman became pregnant with an IUD, the doctor basically told her, "Hey, it failed.  It's in there too.  So...you're pregnant!  See you for your next regular check up."  She said that it wasn't considered a big deal.  I woman either carried a baby to term, or she had a miscarriage.  The IUD was never treated like a big deal, and a woman just went about being pregnant.  The OB laughed and said he agrees.  He's not a holistic kind of person, but he told me that if a person is stressed out and acting like a dinosaur is chasing them, then the body reacts by rejecting a baby since it thinks the world is not a safe place for a baby right now.  But relaxed people who have all the food and no dinosaurs are best able to sustain healthy pregnancies because their bodies know it's a great time to have a baby.  He talked a lot about how the world today is far too "cerebral" since we have all of the information in the world at our fingertips.  He said it's time to relax and enjoy being pregnant again.  But, it's not a good idea to pretend the IUD isn't a factor, because I should be aware of miscarriage and early labour.  I got to hear what a miscarriage feels like, and if before 24 weeks I'm to go to the ER.  If after 24 weeks I have labour cramping or if I'm leaking water, I am to go to L&D at the hospital.

In the meantime, he gave me all of the paperwork needed to have my IPS test done at 12 weeks, and to start the regular testing done on my blood because of my borderline IPT.  We talked about having a medication-free birth this time because of my epidural headache/spinal injury last time.  He said that may pose a small problem because he might need to - ick - fish around inside after birth to find the IUD if it doesn't come out right away, and that might hurt.  But, he said if that's the case, we can worry about it after the baby is born.  He never much liked me having an epidural anyways because of my IPT blood condition.  

Anyhow.  I am doing as he said and I am just being pregnant now.  I'm still not telling anyone outside of my close family and best friends.  The OB suggested waiting until 16 weeks before doing that.  But he suggests 16 weeks for everyone, just to be on the safe side. Oh boy.  That's 5 more weeks!  It's so hard to stay quiet when you're so happy!

And that's where I am now.  My next ultrasound isn't for another week.  I don't like having to wait so long to see if the baby is doing well.  But I'm 99% sure I can already feel the baby moving!  It's my 3rd pregnancy and I can feel something that is certainly not gas.  This is also my first pregnancy where my placenta is in the back and the baby implanted in the front.  I don't have to wait until the baby is strong enough to kick into the placenta in order to feel it.  It's great, and it's my only saving grace.  Now, I can't feel it all day every day, just after sweet or cold food/drink.  And it's mostly just a tickle, not a kick.  Like if a walnut was rolling around in circles.  You can't really help but feel something weird like that!  I'm also starting to show.  It's going to be hard to hide that from nosier people.  Lastly, my morning sickness is starting to subside.  I still need to sleep a little more than usual, and enjoy my afternoon nap, but at least I don't feel like I'm going to wretch any time I get even remotely hungry.  This is my most symptom-full pregnancy.  I love it.

The last thing I want to say is that I finally found a baby forum where I feel welcome.  It's still fraught with drama, but I don't mind.  I'm pretty good at holding my own on the internet.  I've even been invited to a few Facebook baby groups.  Hey, why not?  I'm supposed to be enjoying this pregnancy, right?  

I hope to start adding entries here about thing not IUD pregnancy related.  I've already wanted to add a few, but having two needy kids, one in the throws of being 3 1/2 year old, and the other who is not even 2 but already in the throws of being 3 1/2.  Needless to say, I have little time, and what time I do have, I'm using to watch old episodes of Bones and sleeeeeeping.

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