Back from the doctor...

Warning...this post may definitely be TMI...it's all about a pregnancy scare from yesterday/today, and the associated anatomy. And blood.

So, last night after I started having the spotting, we came home and I put my feet up, Justin put on Big Fish, I fell asleep praying, and I actually had the best night's sleep I'd had in a LONG time. I knew that brown spotting, especially without cramping, typically isn't too concerning, and I was feeling really positive about the whole situation.

By morning, the spotting had stopped altogether...which made me feel even better. Until I went to the bathroom one more time before I left for work, and things had definitely escalated from spotting to full on bleeding bright red blood. Lots of blood. I still wasn't having any cramping, but the amount of blood was pretty alarming.

I called the doctor's office, and they fit me in within the hour. J came with me for the ultrasound (seriously...his bosses get SO MANY props from me for letting him come along to all my appointments!), where they quickly found the heartbeat, which was a bit higher than what we normally see for this baby, but still within normal limits. The u/s tech did a quick anatomy survey, and said that from what she could see, everything looked fine--growth of the body, skull, arm, and thigh were all right at 18 weeks (measuring a few days ahead as I have been almost the entire time), and the baby was moving all of its limbs.

She checked for placenta previa, which can cause painless bleeding. I actually have an anterior placenta, which means that the placenta is right in between the baby and my stomach, and also explains why I haven't felt any movement yet.

They checked my cervix through an ultrasound and exam, and said that it is closed, and the appropriate width/length/thickness, but that it's clearly irritated from the outside and still bleeding.

Basically, they can rule out any of the reasons that would cause them to be concerned about the bleeding, but they weren't able to identify a cause. So, the doctor sent me home and said that I'm to be on bed rest for at least a day...possibly longer. I told him that Wednesday at work, I'm supposed to be at a conference all day, which would basically entail sitting around from 8am-5pm. He said that should be fine as long as the bleeding stays the same or decreases.

So, yeah...baby looks good, no major concerns from the doctor, bed rest for the day. I have to say though, when I mentioned that I could use a few more days of vacation, this wasn't exactly what I meant!!