Keeping Tabs: October 2013

Or so that's what the call we received on September 6th, 2013 told us could be a possibility. Before you go thinking we had that dumb, 50% accuracy blood test done that test for these abnormalities, we didn't. Because we would love and carry our children no matter their condition, we have always opted to not get this test done with any pregnancy.

August 27th, 2013 (Chance's 24th Birthday)
We went for our 20 week anatomy scan, where originally we would've found out if there was a hamburger or hot dog, but us being the impatient ones that we are, we already knew there was a hotdog. But this scan/ultrasound isn't only to find out the gender, it's also to make sure your baby is growing properly and there are no abnormalities. Leaving the clinic that day, we had no doubt that our baby boy was "as healthy as an ox" and everything was perfect. Or this is what the tech that performed our scan made us believe. He repeatedly talked about how beautiful he looked and how perfect his heart was.

September 6th, 2013
Chance was at work, the kids and I were at home finishing lunch and I got a call. It was one of the OBGYN's from the clinic. He proceeded to tell me that he was reviewing our 20 week anatomy scan and found a cyst (Choroid Plexus Cyst) that was located on the baby's brain and that he was going to set us up with an Italian specialist at Udine hospital for a more in depth/level 2 ultrasound. I remember thinking to myself while he was talking; this is the quietest you've ever been on the phone Tabitha. As I fought back the tears, he continued and said "after we get the results from Udine we'll know what our next step is". It took everything in me to not let him hear how hard I was sobbing. The only question I could muster or even think of at this time was, "what does the cyst mean/do?" And he responded with, "it’s a red light for Trisomy 18 also known as Down Syndrome but these cyst tend to go away on their own". He also said that everything else looked good on the scan which was good because usually babies with Down Syndrome show multiple abnormalities in a scan and this is why he would be sending us for a more in depth ultrasound to either confirm that it was indeed Down Syndrome by finding more abnormalities or dismiss it in hopes that the cyst goes away on its own. My heart sank even lower. Not because of the Down Syndrome, no...that was the good part. The bad part was depending on the severity, we could very well be burying yet another child before we pass. He then urged it a good idea to go ahead and go to the clinic later that afternoon and get the dumb, 50% accuracy test done so that we would know round about how big of a risk we were at. I hang up and just sit down crying and praying. I didn't want to go through another child loss. But I knew no matter what, we would carry him full term, birth him, and give him the best shot at a normal life as possible! I knew if this was to be, God chose me and Chance for a reason. He felt we were fit enough as parents to care for such a fragile, very special blessing. I called Chance and told him the news to which he was very upset too. Luckily his supervisors let him off work immediately. I went and got the blood test out of the way, but it still didn't do us any good because it would be a few weeks before we got the results back for that. Since I was already at the clinic I made a stop by the OB's office to ask more questions since I had had more time to think about this. I walked up and asked the front desk lady to speak with the doctor (she hadn't went over my chart yet, so she wasn't sure all the details) and she asked me to wait one second while she went and grabbed my chart and grabbed the doctor. On her way back in, she looked up and said "oh, is this about your low lying placenta?" I must've looked at her like she had three heads. You mean something else was wrong?! I said "no, I wasn't even told about that. What does that mean?" She said, "you are border line placenta previa. That means that your placenta that should be up high on your side is only 1.2cm away from covering your cervix where the baby will pass through. If your placenta moves and covers the cervix you are at risk of bleeding to death, losing the baby, and possibly the only way to save your life is a complete hysterectomy...worst case scenario. If it covers the cervix you will be put on high risk status and cannot be more than 30 minutes away from the hospital at all times. But in most cases the placenta will move away from the cervix as your belly gets bigger." Wow, my head was spinning. Never had we had ever had anything wrong with any pregnancy! Maybe this was what we get for being pregnant almost constantly for the past 7 years except for 2010 and 2012. Not to mention my severe underweightness. Maybe my body was finally throwing the towel in. The doctor, who was a different one than the one who I spoke with on the phone, walked in shortly after the front desk lady finished telling me that and I simply told him, "prepare me for the worst." He said, "it's just a cyst, and most of the time it goes away on its own. Considering there were no other abnormalities on the scan, I'm pretty sure it will. As far as the placenta, it is a worry but you're not in dire risk right now. Yes we like for your placenta to be at least 2cm from your cervix but as long as it's not covering it we will just closely monitor you and do a few more scans to see if it’s moving at all. If it stays where it’s at, you can still have a vaginal delivery but we will have to take extra precaution and go over the major risk it could pose when you dilate and begin to push. But I honestly think the more your belly grows the more the placenta will move up and away." I breathed a very light sigh of relief thinking "alright, chances are both of these conditions will go away on their own and all will be well again...hopefully".

Days passed and we constantly thought and prayed for healing or comfort. I remember thinking to myself, "maybe this is what I get for that comment (I can't remember what it was now though) about Down Syndrome people while at Disneyland". And for those that don't know, I have no problem with anyone with a disability. But while we were at Disneyland in July we came across many people with Down Syndrome who were very rude and constantly screaming at people to get out of their way! Maybe this was to make me more understanding of those people and their condition?

I researched both conditions online giving more hope that in most cases these cyst go away on their own and the placenta moves up over time.

Hours turned to days; with no phone call for an appointment in Udine (we were waiting for our insurance to approve the referral). Days turned to weeks and our routine OB appointment came around. The doctor, a different one that the other two I had previously talked too, once again went over everything and assured we should have our Udine appointment soon. She also mentioned how big the cyst was for the first time...7mm. This was almost double the size she had normally seen. But she too thought odds were on our side since no other alarms were detected in the scan. I then asked if they got the results back from the blood test and they had. I had a chance of 1 in 10,000 of passing Down Syndrome to him, but to me this test meant nothing. For one, it wasn't very accurate and two, we've been part of a statistic (SIDS) before and the odds were not in our favor. We left, not knowing what to think or feel. We just knew they needed to hurry up and call us with an appointment date so we could know for sure what was going on.

September 27th, 2013
Finally we were called and our appointment date came. Three weeks of the grueling unknown was about to be known. Chance set outside in the waiting room with the kids while I went in. The specialist was an older Italian, but spoke very fluent English and was highly talked of. He began the scan and he talked a bit about how the cyst are a red light but usually go away on their own and I told him, "well when you get to it, tell me so I can see it" because let’s admit, sometimes you have no clue what they're looking at during an ultrasound. He replies, "well it’s gone. It's not there anymore." I'm surprised Chance didn't hear me in the waiting room! I shouted, "What?! It's gone? Completely?!" He said yep. Emotions flooded my body, but I held it together. To lighten the emotions the specialist said, "doing your ultrasound is easy. Most American women are fat and it’s hard to see their ultrasounds, but you're not fat and it’s easy!" While laughing I watched as our perfect baby boy yawned, made sucking motions, kept his hands in front of face, and squirmed about in my belly. Nothing had ever been so beautiful. The specialist ruled out any abnormalities to our baby then checked his weight. He weighed 1 lb. 8 oz. which had the doctor worried at first that he was on the big side for my size. But when he found out that I birthed regular sized babies, Gavin at almost 8 lbs. and Jayden and Gracie at 7 lbs., he didn't seem too worried. Next he moved on to check the placenta. It had moved up away from the cervix just a smidge. It went from 1.2cm to 1.5cm away from the cervix. So we weren't completely out of the woods there, but it seemed to be getting better which was moving in the right direction! He finished up, handed me a booklet (literally 45) of ultrasound pictures, and I walked out to the waiting room and immediately darted to the bathroom with my sidekick, Gracie. I told her when we walked out she was to hide behind me then jump out and yell "the baby is perfect!" (except she said his actual name) when I told her too. So out we walked, Chance looking and laughing at us, I said now Gracie and she popped out and said it but Chance said "what?" because when she says his name it's hard to catch so you really have to be listening, so she said it again, and he said "who?" then she pointed to my belly and he looked at me teary eyed and said what?! What did he say? I told him and you would've sworn a few years of worry had been shaved off us. We were so excited that we forgot to pay for our parking when leaving the hospital parking lot, so we ended up backing up traffic at the exit gate and making the gate guard a little less fond of Americans.

So with great joy, our baby boy IS as healthy as an ox and we'll know more about the placenta with our next OB appointment. If everything is still moving in the right direction, we will hopefully be coming home for a visit in around a month and a half!! Eeeek!

To celebrate the news, my birthday, and to just get away for a night, we rented an apartment on the beach that Saturday and enjoyed some much needed family time and relaxation. So here are some pictures for you to enjoy of our healthy boy, my growing tummy at 24 weeks (these are not the professional ones I had done, just ones we took ourselves), and our little trip!