Sunday, October 7

High Risk

We had our first high risk appointment at the end of September along with our genetic testing.  The NT scan came back at 1.7 and overall the genetic tests were all good.

But high risk... with the boys we saw the evil Dr. C.  He's gone from the practice- though still around somewhere because we've seen him at the hospital- and from the beginning Dr. K has had very strong negative feelings about him.

Then with the girls we saw Dr. R- the one we had to constantly remind her of everything about why we were there and had to fight her for the cerclage with the girls.  (We went 7 weeks longer- I'm thinking we did the right thing despite her textbook opinions)  She's gone from the practice as well.

So, with pregnancy #3 we're still seeing high risk, but we were a little hesitant to meet another doctor.  This time we were hooked up with Dr. A- the head of the MFM practice and also the head of something big at Harvard.  He's kind of a big deal.  And, well, third time is a charm.  We love him.  Not only did he agree with Dr. K that the cerclage was the way to go, but he obviously read our chart and talked to Dr. K about us before we got there.  He had us run down our history, but he already knew it and was able to ask about important things.  We just felt so comfortable with him and really felt that, for once, we were in the best high risk care.

Now, I'm all but convinced that Dr. K combined with Dr. A puts me in the best possible position we could be in.  Full term baby?  For the first time, I am finding myself daydreaming about having this baby and holding it in the recovery room and keeping it in my room and nursing from the start.  I really think that they will both do their best in to keeping this baby where it belongs as long as possible.  And this is the first time I've felt that way.  :)

Saturday, October 6

Tied Up

Thursday morning I went in for my cerclage.  I went in incredibly nervous- but only for the spinal.  I know I've mentioned it before, but I love my doctor.  He just seems to really care about what happens with this baby and me and our family.  And he was able to calm me down enough, so the spinal ended up going perfectly.

After I was already all IV'd up and numbed up from the spinal Dr. K decided to have me dopplered to check the heartbeat.  Beth Israel is a Harvard teaching hospital so he had a resident with him who set about getting the heartbeat while he got all set.  The resident tried for 5 minutes to get the heartbeat.  5 MINUTES.  And couldn't do it, so then Dr. K came over and tried helping her listen while she still moved the wand.  After a minute Dr. K took over the doppler and tried his hand at finding the heartbeat.  After a few minutes on his own- and me panicking- he sent the resident to find an ultrasound to check.  Almost as soon as she left Dr. K was able to find the heartbeat.  Turns out it was a lot higher than expected- thanks to being so stretched from 2 sets of twins.  :)  But he found it and it was strong and that was all that mattered.  I did tell him it wasn't funny at all.

In the end, the stitch went on well and almost exactly in the same place as last time.  He said things looked good and it's nice to have this hurdle done.  Next time I'm in the hospital I'm hoping I'm there to have a baby.  :)

When I was leaving the OR he offered to call Johnny and let him know how it went.  Have I mentioned how much I love him?

Anyways, recovery went well.  I was just uncomfortable from the tingling and my back was hurting so I was just itching to get un-numb and out of there as soon as possible.  Almost 4 hours later I was finally ready to go home.

All in all, I've felt pretty good the past few days.  A little sore all around, but good.

But about my doctor.  I wonder sometimes (a lot lately) what would have happened with Connor & Colby had I used him with them.  Instead I had another doctor who went on maternity leave just months into the pregnancy and I was sent to see Dr. C- the evil high risk.  I know there is no use in wondering.  And there is no use in playing "what if".  But knowing how Dr. K has been from the beginning of the girls pregnancy and on I just feel like it would have all be different.

But for now I guess I can just be happy that he's here to care for this baby and he was there to help get the girls to 34 weeks.    :)