One Very Long Night...

Before I get started on this post, let me warn you that the majority of it will be about our most recent medical adventure. For those of you who are either bored or squeamish with medical talk, I'd just skip this post, or at least jump down to the bottom. I'm writing it more as a way to record the major events of this pregnancy for my own reference later.


Last Friday, when (I thought) I was 12 weeks and 4 days into this pregnancy, I started bleeding pretty heavily. I was giving Juliet her bath when I first noticed it. At first, I handled it, but pushed it to the back of my mind and finished Juliet up in the tub, and while I was doing that, Matt's grandma got home from work. As soon as I started to mention to her what was happening, I broke down. I was so scared I could be losing this baby. She got Juliet dressed and in bed for me while I tried to get ahold of my doctor. Of course, I got a recording, and had no other phone number to reach them with. About half an hour later, about 8pm, I decided to go down to the emergency room to have the baby checked and find out where the bleeding was coming from. It had mostly stopped by that point, but I knew that I would drive myself insane with worry if I waited until Monday morning to see my regular OB.

I drove myself to the hospital, and got there at about 8:30pm on a Friday night. Not something I would recommend. Once I got checked in and registered, I waited until about 9:30pm to see a triage nurse. I should have known then that it would be a long night. After triage, it was back to the waiting room for another two hours I think. Thankfully, Matt's mom met me down there to keep me company!

Being pregnant, I need to eat every 2 hours at least or I start getting a horrible headache. I had just started feeling like I should eat something around 11pm, and Kathi went and found me some chips from a vending machine. After handing me the bag, she went to ask the receptionist where she could find some water. She came right over and told me I wouldn't be allowed to eat until the doctor saw me, as I was seconds away from pulling the bag of chips open. Talk about frustrating!

Thankfully, shortly after this, they called me back to see the doctor. I thought for sure the end of this crazy night was near. After all, when I was pregnant with Juliet and had bleeding, I would go in, they'd run blood work and do a quick ultrasound to check things out, and I'd be on my way. Apparently, the ER I was at did things very differently from the hospital in Hawaii. I had to get into a gown, and wait for what felt like an hour for someone to come in. When the doctor finally did come in, she told me that I would be having an ultrasound that night, and afterwards, a pelvic exam. At this hospital, you can't have an ultrasound without having a catheter put in, so that they can inflate your bladder in order to get a better image. Fantastic. I wanted to beg not to have the catheter. I had to pee so bad as it was, it just didn't make sense to drain everything, just to fill it right back up. I was also hooked up to an IV. After yet another long wait, the nurse came in to put in my catheter. Then more waiting, and finally the ultrasound tech showed up and took us down to the ultrasound room.

I was expecting a quick ultrasound, looking for a heartbeat and possibly the source of the bleeding. Instead we were in there for at least half an hour, although it felt like much longer to me, since my bladder had been blown up twice as full as it had ever been in my life. First, she found the heartbeat, which was beating strongly at 154bpm. I was so happy! She wanted to measure the size of the baby to determine how far along I was. First, she measured the circumference of the baby's head, which was at 13 weeks and 6 days. My mother in law and I both said at the same time, "big head!" Then she checked the diameter of the head, which measured at 14 weeks and 1 day. We both said "really big head!!" and got a laugh! After this, she continued to measure different parts of the baby's body, the abdomen, legs, and so on, and kept getting dates right around 14 weeks. Even after measuring each body part several times, the average age was 14 weeks and 1 day. I trust this date more than the first date that was given to me, because the ultrasound was so detailed and triple-checked every measurement. At 7 weeks, the crown-to-rump length was measured just once. So, Hello Trimester Two!! :) The ultrasound was also fun to watch (aside from having to pee so bad it hurt and having someone mash on my belly) because the baby was very, very active! We were watching him or her flip around and look all over and kick and wave. The tech was a little annoyed because it took her longer to get her measurements, but I thought it was fun!

After the ultrasound, I was wheeled back to my exam room, where we waited on my nurse to disconnect the catheter and IV, and then for the doctor to finish with the pelvic exam. Everything checked out fine, even though they never found out why I was bleeding to begin with. I was just happy to know my baby was safe! It was around 3:30am when I finally got home, and I was exhausted. Thankfully again, Matt's grandma woke up with Juliet the next morning and let me sleep in. It's so comforting to have family to help out in these situations!

Since that horribly long night one week ago, all issues have resolved, and I've been feeling just fine! The baby has been kicking a little, but mostly rolling and stretching. I'm loving every minute of it. It's an amazing feeling to have a tiny 4 inch baby playing around inside of you. We're now a couple days into the 15th week, and our new due date is July 8th, a week or two before Matt is due home from Afghanistan. I'm hoping he'll be able to make it home for the birth somehow, but we'll have to wait and see!

Speaking of Matt coming home, I'm pretty sure we've decided that Juliet and I (and my belly) will be moving back to Hawaii early, before he gets back. I hate that our extended family wont be able to see the new baby right after the birth, but it seems like the best choice for us. Hopefully we'll have visitors after the baby gets here (hint, hint!).


Before I wrap up this post, I want to congratulate my baby sister, Sarah, on the birth of her son, Liam Alexander Hutcherson. He was born on January 12th, 2011 at 12:49am, weighing in at 7lb4oz and 19in long! He's perfect in every way!