My Birthday

I never could have imagined just how my Birthday was going to turn out. I had been anticipating it for some time. NOT because I was turning 32, but because I was having the ultrasound that would tell us if we were having a boy or girl. My ultrasound appointment that day was at 1:15. Chad and I met for lunch at 11:00 at Ted's Montana Grill. We were so excited and just could hardly wait for 1:15 to get here. We got right in when we got to Imaging Center where they do the ultrasounds. Everything seemed great......she was able to tell nearly right away that it was a little GIRL!!! That was incredible to find out and the rest of the ultrasound the baby was measured in every possible angle and many pics were taken. Everything seems perfectly formed:) The ultrasound tech said she was unable to get a good view of my cervix and told me she needed to do an "internal" ultrasound for a better look. I didn't think a thing of it. She seems to get what she needed and said she's be back after I got dressed. When she cam back she said that it appeared my cervix was shorter than it should be and that I needed to go straight to my midwife office to have them physically check it. I wasn't supposed to have an appt for another 2 weeks or so with my midwife. At that point I really wasn't terribly concerned.....but I also really didn't have a clue what a shortened cervix meant. So, when we got to the midwife she explained the concern of a shortened cervix and checked me and found that it was in fact too short. She immediately called their physician at Vanderbilt Hospital for a consult. Then came back and told us we needed to go right away to the High Risk Practice at Vanderbilt Hospital. That's when it kicked in. I was very scared at that moment. She couldn't really reassure us with anything at that moment because they just needed to look more into it to see what was happening. She mentioned the Cerclage procedure, but said that they would need to determine whether I was a good candidate for that. That day I was 18 weeks and 5 days along and that is typically several weeks later than one would normally have that procedure done. So, we made our way to Vanderbilt where they did many test and checks to rule out anything else. Sometimes an infection may cause the baby to want to be born early. I showed no type of infection. Thankfully, I was barely dialated and had no leakage of the uterus and there was just enough cervix for them to work with to feel that I was a candidate for the Cerclage. The Cerclage is a surgery where they literally stitch your cervix closed. By this point it was getting later in the day and so they wanted to wait until morning to determine our solution.

My Birthday night I had a little party in my room:) The picture posted is me holding some little desserts that Tara and Adam brought me and we put a candle in it. Tara and Adam, Jeremy, Greta and Micheal and Karin all came by to hang out and so that was a wonderful distraction from the stress of the day. I'm thankful for a wonderful family and friends!

We had a long night in the hospital with Chad sleeping beside my bed in a funny little pull out recliner chair. They took my vitals every couple hours and came in to listen to the babies heartbeat every so often. That was fun....I got good at being able to tell them about where to find her when they were trying to pinpoint her heartbeat. One time it was picking up all kinds of noise and she must have just been swimming around like crazy in there. So cute to picture:)

The next day we waited for the Dr. to make rounds to talk to us to figure out for sure out plan. I will say, I have a lot of confidence in Vanderbilt Hospital. I had more high risk OB specialists look at my case than I can even count. Our plan was to go ahead with the cerclage as soon as possible (later that day) and to start a weekly shot of progesterone to prevent early labor. I went in to surgery around 1:00. They initially gave me some relaxer drug through my IV, so I was pretty relaxed when they gave me the spinal to deaden me from the waist down. Right after the spinal, I was totally asleep and really remember nothing. They woke me up right after (at 2:00) and let me know that it went great! The scariest risk of all is the possibility that they could break your water during the procedure. So, I was so relieved to wake up and hear that they got a good knot and felt really good about it.

That night I finally got the feeling back in my legs around 5:30 or 6 and we decided to stay another night just so that I felt 100% before we headed home. I had no pain at all from the procedure and was really ready to go home.

The next morning the doctors finally made rounds about 9 and talked with me about what to expect from here. I need to be on bedrest until my followup appointment on February 3rd and then they will determine what I can do. I'm sure hoping to resume life at that point. I'm getting alittle antsy. Plus, I feel fine an that makes it hard to lay down all the time. But I have to keep the weight off the cervix for now. I'm at higher risk for delivering early, but ideally they will take out the stitch at 36 weeks (40 is full term) and then I will hopefully go into labor naturally sometime after that point.

So, the past week has been scary, but I am really thankful for many things.

1. We had the ultrasound early and caught this before it was too late
2. The radiologist caught it and took quick action
3. awesome doctors at Vanderbilt
4. a very healthy and perfect little baby girl
5. family and friends who prayed for us and are being so wonderful and helping out right now

I feel very positive and hopeful and am just taking it easy for this baby right now. My mom came right away to visit and is being such a great help around the house. Plus, we just moved into a new house yesterday (I'll post about that later).

Thank you again for your prayers. It means so much to us!