Relief

Originally posted April 9, 2012

The last three weeks have been a little stressful, but now we know a lot more, we can share things with you.

The important thing is that we’re all healthy, and that includes “Boo 2” <-- the name by which our forthcoming addition shall be known, and no hints as to the sex either, because Jessica has decided she wants to play the game her way!

Onto the story.  Jessica found out that though Boo 2 was doing well, there were potential complications, in addition to her placenta previa which has yet to resolve itself.  These complications were noted as an “amniotic band”. 

Google search is often your friend, and sometimes your enemy..... a quick search told us what it was:  A rupture of the inner liner of the amniotic sac, which can lead to thin amnio strands floating in the fluid, and often getting caught around important baby parts, such as fingers, toes, ankles, face.  In a worst case, it can even impede the umbilical cord, the consequences of that are most often fatal for the baby.

So as you can tell, we were stressed, concerned, panicky & plenty of other negative emotions.  We weren’t helped by having to wait 2 weeks for the first available appointment.

Jessica managed to get another slot in a different location 3 days prior to the originally scheduled slot.  That came up this time last week.

We got good news! Healthy baby, no sign of amniotic band syndrome and everything was where it should be, though the baby was uncooperative and made the process a long one.  Yes, we did find out the sex, no you can’t know.... even now. 

The only downside of the visit was that the heart scan hadn’t been completed due to the gymnast inside Jessica.  Which meant that keeping the appointment on Thursday was a bonus. But on Monday night, we both slept well for the first time in a fortnight or so.

Thursday got a little more in-depth, turns out the baby does have a slight “marker” on his/her heart (ha, bet you thought I’d slip up there!) but it’s a common - 1 in 20 overall, and 1 in 3 if we were asian - marker so nothing to panic about.  There in fact IS an amniotic band, but it’s off to the side of the sac and appears to be complete with no floating threads.  Baby is a good size and all is looking good.

As for Ryan, he’s been moving along nicely, enjoying his Easter candy & chocolate.  Beating Mom at Angry Birds, and even attempting to say “Bye Bye” on one occasion.  Wonder how he’ll react to being the big brother?

PS: We also learnt that Habitus is hospital speak.  Not going into further details, but it’s quite funny!