The Diagnosis

This whole pregnancy has been a mix of emotions. We knew we were pregnant very early on in the pregnancy and were so excited! At our first appointment they did an ultrasound which is routine...that is when we went thru the first round of emotions. They told us that they thought it was an etopic pregnancy. We went through a round of blood work and 2 more ultrasounds and the doctor determined everything was fine. We were so relevied and at that time decided to switch doctors to the Marietta Associates next to Kennestone Hospital. I am so thankful that we did. I love this group of doctors. We went to our first appointment and everything seemed great. At our 2nd appointment they did an ultrasound and determined that the baby was extremely small at that the amniotic fluid was very low. That was a hard appointment, we had taken the kids with us to find out what the baby is. It was hard to keep composure around them. At this appointment they also referred us to a high risk specialist to under go which ended up to be many test. After all of the tests came back they found that I have a condition that has gone undiagnosed for many years. They were shocked that we have had 2 sucessful pregnancies to this point. I have a lupus anticoangulant...not lupus but realted to it. Most people miscarry before they get to the third month. We didn't really know what the tests had found but we were def. shocked to find this out. My health has now changed also. I am at risk for blood clots, heart attatck and stroke. Dave has to give me a shot of blood thinner every night and a baby asprin every day. I am on strict bed rest until they feel that the baby is in danger.
What this means for the baby.....the placenta is not working properly...it has a long name that neither Dave or I can pronounce. It is much easier to try and explain. B/c of the lupus anticoangulant/blood clotting problem it has made the placenta not work properly. B/c of that the fluid is not continuing to rebuild which means the baby is not getting all the nutrients it needs. The baby at this point only weighs a little over 10 ounces and is 3 weeks behind dev. They are having a hard time seeing the baby b/c the fluid is so low...so we will not know if there is any permanent damage until the baby gets here. They are not giving us much hope of the baby surving but we def. are holding onto all of the hope we can. I am at 23 weeks which means the baby is at 20 weeks development. When the fluid is determined to be so low that the baby can not surive any longer inside they will do a C-section. We are nervous of this also b/c I am on a high dose of blood thinner every day. We will overcome that obstacle when it gets here. I see the doctor once a week and the high risk doctor once every two weeks as long as we can make it. Because of all of this we will not know that we are going to the hospital in advance. They will send us immed. over to the hospital from an appointment where they have already told us that there is a high chance they will end up doing an "emergency c-section" where I am completely under and Dave will not be able to be in there. This is due in part to my condition.
I know that this is a lot of information and probably doesn't make a lot of sense. We have just had a lot of questions from people and it seems to be easier to just write it all down and not have to talk about it. Sometimes I feel like I am just sitting in the doctors room and they are talking about another patient. I am hoping that this helps other people understand what is going on. We will try and post on the blog each week.