A lot has happened in the last 5 months.

My first big announcement is that I’m pregnant again! My son will have a baby sister expecting to arrive in December. We are so excited and it will be so perfect having an older boy and younger girl. Although saving all of my sons clothes will not help me at all!

With this pregnancy comes a whole new set of complications. Due to me being hospitalized my last pregnancy at 28 weeks they decided to place a Cerclage in my cervix. This is pretty much a stitch to keep my cervix closed. Since I have a 2 year old they thought it was the best option to keep me off hospital bed rest. This doesn’t guarantee that I won’t be on bed rest at home but hopefully out of the hospital. I am on “very limited activity” though. The Cerclage procedure was awful to be honest. Due to the location of my fibroids and the way my cervix was positioned they had to do a ton of internal manipulation to place the stitch. I had a spinal but could feel pretty much everything except sharp pains. I felt all the manipulation they had to do and patiently counted down the minutes until this hour and a half procedure was over! Due to the amount of manipulation they had to do my recovery was longer and it took me a few weeks to feel “normal” again.

At my Anatomy Scan at 18 weeks they found two abnormalities. One of them is Choroid Plexus Cysts on the baby’s brain. This is a soft marker for Down Syndrome. My son also had a soft marker. He had a bright spot on his heart. My genetic testing was normal and at low risk so they told me not to worry but of course I still am. I worried with my son and he is so smart and amazing and I will worry with my daughter.

The second abnormality they found was MCI (Marginal Cord Insertion). This means that my umbilical cord didn’t attach in the center of my placenta. It attached on the edge and part of the cord is unprotected. There are risks with having MCI but I could also have a normal pregnancy. The biggest risks are the baby not getting enough nourishment. Since the cord is unprotected, when the baby grows bigger she can put pressure on the cord cutting off her supply. This is why they monitor her growth so frequently. As soon as she shows signs of not growing then they will take her out. I know 4 “friends of friends” that have had this and all of they had their baby taken 6 weeks early due to lack of growth. Another risk is bleeding with delivery. Since the cord is unprotected and attached in the wrong part of the placenta the doctors need to be careful about pulling it so that it doesn’t disconnect. I am having a Cesarean so that is a little safer with MCI. I’ve read and researched why this happens and they don’t know. There are some theories, but I don’t fall under any of them except “Advanced Maternal Age”. I am old. I am 38 this pregnancy and even though I would love to have 3 children, my body is not great at being pregnant and 2 will have to be ok for me.

Because of these two abnormalities and my Cerclage I am monitored a lot. I was already high risk before all this so I spend a lot of time at the hospital getting internal and external ultrasounds, baby growth measurements, and Cerclage measurements.

I really don’t want her to have to have a NICU stay and I pray everything will be ok and she will come in December healthy and happy.

My favorite midwife that I drive over an hour to see is moving. I was upset initially because we have been through a lot together but I have accepted it. I will still drive to my same Boston hospital. I like my high risk surgeon and MFM doctor and the new OB I chose was there for me my last pregnancy when I was hospitalized when my midwife was off. She is very nice and knowledgeable and I’m excited about my new team of doctors.

The good news is that on my last scan my fibroids are not growing like last pregnancy. They are about 4-5 inches which is a lot smaller then they were. I hope they continue to stay at a standstill.

The second big announcement is that my son is potty trained! He did amazing! It took 5 days for him to potty train. The 5th day he came to me asking for the potty when he had to pee and poop. We do use pull ups for naps and a diaper for bedtime but he is in underwear all day accident free. My goal was 2 and a half years old and he is a month early! It will also be nice that he is potty trained before baby sister arrives.

The third big announcement is that we bought a house! We were looking for years! When we found out I was pregnant again we wanted to make sure we found something before the baby came. We close in 2 weeks but will update the kitchen and other things before we move in. We are so excited for all our new adventures.