My Rose Among Thorns

Today's Ultrasound...

After Monday's ultrasound I was certain today's was only for peace of mind...certainty...

You would think I would have learned...like one of those life lessons kinda things: when things can go bad they will, or expect the worst but hope for the best...

Anyway, turns out, Monday's ultrasound gave us a little bit of false security.  

I want to make sure I'm clear: the doctor who found the supposed cyst was a perinatologist, not my OB, Dr. Wonderful.  The perinatologist herself thought things looked fishy and immediately wanted another set of eyes on it.  There was some confusion which is why this ultrasound, today, took place now as oppose to three weeks ago...

The specialist I'm now seeing, is the head of maternal fetal medicine and specializes in genetics.  

Today I had a fetal echocardiagram mixed in with some regular anatomy, as well as lots of looks at the brain.  The diagnosis from today is that this is a blood clot, not a cyst.  Blood clots have a cycle-blood, clot, reabsorb (as long as it's within the ventricles, which it is, and not in brain tissue, it won't, say cause a stroke or brain damage.)

So, the baby has a blood clot-why?

Most likely answer is-pregnancy related.  So I have to be checked for antibodies, and honestly not sure what else so see if it's something from me causing this.  

If it is, I don't know what we do, if it isn't, I don't know the answer to that either.  

I do know that there are a couple more questions: will the blood stay in the ventricle?  Will there be another bleed?  If there is another bleed, will the blood go into the tissue?  If the blood makes it into the tissue, now or later, will there be any problems?

We don't know...

This is the 'to do' list:

Blood work- tomorrow

Follow up next Friday with Dr. High Risk-he wants to see the baby's head through transvaginal ultrasound because that way, he can see much closer.  However, the baby needs to be head down at the time, he will not move the baby because of the bleed-so it's possible I'll go on Friday and we won't accomplish anything.  He will be looking closely for proper head formation.  

Monthly monitoring with ultrasound to monitor current bleed and watch for new ones-it will have to be determined how this baby is being delivered-at this point we're not talking when, just how...

I'm thankful that at my next ultrasound I'll be 24 weeks, viability...

Overall the prognosis is good, he said that most babies do exceptionally well with this.  For now, there are questions and unknowns that we need to try our best to answer and move forward from there.  

It wasn't the news I was hoping for, and I don't think it was what anyone expected, but I'm trying to stay positive.