Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Pregnant Leanne: Week 31 - Growing pains

January 6, 2010: Week 31 of pregnancy

Drama, drama, drama (and that's without the added hormones!).

Back at our 20-week scan, we learned that the placenta was lying low, not covering the cervix, but very close. We were told that in 90 percent of this type of case, the placenta pulls itself up with the growing uterus. The other 10 percent required a c-section. While my friend referred to the news as a potential "get out of jail free card," it’s not what I wanted. For the next 10 weeks it was all I could think about.

The 30-week judgement day arrived and we had the chattiest, most inappropriate ultrasound technician I’ve ever encountered. All we wanted to do was look at the images of our baby and she was all 'blah-blah-blah'-ing about her children, grandchildren, brother, brother’s fitness level. In between stories, she told us that the placenta had moved and is now out of the way for a vaginal birth. Yay! However in the next breath she let a bomb drop: "the baby seemed a bit small for this stage of pregnancy." What? Upon finding out that I’m a personal trainer, she asked me if I am over-exercising and whether I’m eating properly. She is so completely beyond her scope of practice but I’m so stunned by the news that I don’t even know how to respond. She says she’d like to schedule us for another scan in two weeks to see if the baby grows. If the baby grows?! Oh Lord. There goes my sleep for the next two weeks.

Our midwife is great and told us that the baby is small but symmetrically small and that we likely caught it just before a growth spurt. Sometimes no information is better. How stress-free would pregnancy be if we didn’t have ultrasounds and measurements? Sure, no cute print-outs of baby profiles but there’s comfort in blissful ignorance. Between bouts of worrying and feeling like a failure and many tearful nights, I told myself that in every way, my pregnancy is normal. I’m gaining weight, I have all the symptoms listed in my book, and the baby is moving around like a maniac. I’m not freaking "over-exercising."

Today, we had our scan and the baby is growing! Right on track: 3 lbs, 11 oz and two months of fattening up to do. Head is in position (right on my bladder I think). What a relief.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Leanne, as a retired RN I agree it was very inappropriate for that Technician to make those remarks. So much so that you might consider making a complaint with her boss. You may not want to rock the boat or get her fired, but she won't change without it and other Moms don't need to be frightened like that. I'm glad all is well.