Baby News

Ok - I've just started this "blog" at the encouragement of a good friend. She had a really good idea of then I can write throughout my pregnancy and family and friends can view it. So, I'm going back and adding some of the e-mails I've sent since we got pregnant. They'll be reverse order just like my future posts will be - 1st posted to last posted. So, if you want to start from the beginning go to the bottom of this post and read up.

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Original date - 06/24/04:

I’ve had three appts in the last week…

First was the ultrasound…when she first turned it on there was an excellent view of the baby but it moved right away. The two pictures we got to keep are fairly decent though - better than any I ever had with the boys. You can plainly see the head, the body and the spine. I didn't even ask about sex because it was early and it's back was to us the whole time so you wouldn't be able to see anyway. She said I was measuring at 12 weeks, 5 days rather than just exactly 12 weeks like we thought which could have changed my due date closer to Christmas. But my doctor isn’t willing to officially change it. She said the original due date of 12/30 is ballpark give or take a week or two anyway. Baby’s heart rate on ultrasound was 169.

The day after the ultrasound we met with her again to talk about scheduled my stitches which is actually called a cervical cerclage. We are set for next Wednesday, June 30th at 7:30 am. Today I had a brief physical at the OB’s office - listened to my heart and lungs and the baby’s heartbeat. This time the heartbeat was 160. The procedure is scheduled for one hour. I’ll be in recovery about a ½ hour and then back at SurgiCare for another hour or so before they send me home.

What they’ll be watching me for there is to make she I don’t start contracting. The procedure, because it irritates the cervix, can cause you to start contracting but they can usually stop that with medication. There are other risks that have got me a little spooked but I’m trying to stay positive. For instance, because of the small amount of cervix to work with, the instrument placing the stitches could rupture the membranes (break my water) and I would more than likely miscarry. The chances of that happening are rare but still they have to warn us. Also, if I get an infection around the stitches that can’t be cleared up with antibiotics, I would more than likely miscarry. So, yes, not without risk but we have to outweigh that against the risks done the road of spontaneously expelling the baby if my cervix opens or delivery the baby too early for the baby to survive.

But we aren’t going to think about that, RIGHT?!!!! We are going to just know that everything will go fine. I’ll be back to work in a little over a week (right now planning on being back on 07/08/04 after I’ve been re-checked by my doctor on the 7th). We’ll be seeing our doctor often to check my stitches. We’ll look forward to our next ultrasound so we can see that’s it a girl (hehe). And then mid-December we’ll have a little Christmas bundle!!!!!

Thank you all for your concern! Remember I won’t be at work from 06/30 – 07/07/04. We’ll keep you posted!!!


Original date - 06/11/04:

Had my 1st pre-natal appt yesterday. Everything is going fine. I’m at just slightly over 11 weeks – she said 11 2/7th’s. The nurse couldn’t find the heartbeat but she said that wasn’t unusual – it’s early – and that she’d have the doctor try after she checked the position of my uterus and stuff. So, she did find it but we didn’t get to hear it very long because it kept moving.

I’m having an ultrasound next Wednesday to double check my dates and see how much cervix length I do have and then I see her again on Thursday and that’s when we’ll schedule the stitches. I’m pretty sure it will be 06/30. They are going to try to get 2 sets of stitches in but that will depend on how relaxed I am during the procedure. Does that procedure sound relaxing? I don’t think so!

She also said there is no question – I’ll be having a scheduled c-section. She said trying for a vaginal delivery is out of the question. That will be kinda weird practically picking your child’s delivery/birthday. She said we’d try to go to 39 weeks which would be Dec. 23rd. I really don’t want to be in the hospital over xmas so I’m hoping we could do it no later that the 20th and then I’d be out for xmas or the Monday after which would be the 27th.

So, I’ll let you know more after my ultrasound. I told the nurse yesterday to check for (2) heartbeats since people keep telling me I’m having twins and she said it would be early to hear (2). Actually she said, “don’t say that. Someone else asked me that and I could only hear one, she later had an ultrasound and she was having twins”. She said she’d die if that happened to me too. HA. So, I guess we’ll have to look for (2) on the ultrasound but it still might be early to see.

Alrighty, we’ll be talking to ya.


Original date - 04/20/04:

Well, we didn’t quite make ‘til April but…..I’M PREGNANT!!! I just found out late yesterday afternoon. Of course the (2) positive home tests over the weekend were kind of a giveaway – hehe. I know, I know some say you are supposed to wait ‘til after the 1st trimester to tell people but that’s just wasn’t going to happen.

I’m very early – only 2 or 3 weeks. I was right on top of tracking that, huh? I haven’t seen my doctor yet or anything, won’t ‘til mid-June, but knowing what they go by for due date - mine will be either December 29th or December 31st. That’s really soooo far away. We are closer to last December than we are to the one when I’ll have the baby – HA. Giving my history and what we already know is in store for us this pregnancy, I probably won’t go that long. They will take my stitches out at 37 weeks and I could go anytime after that or have a scheduled c-section. Dallas’ birthday is December 9th so we’ll probably try to avoid that date so that they can have their own days, their own time to shine.

Anyway, we are happy – ok Ken is still in shock – he didn’t think it would happen on the “1st try” so to speak (who did) but it will all sink in time! I’m hoping for a girl this time having already had the (2) boys but Ken wants a boy to carry on the Fortmann name so I think we are going to try not to find out and be surprised when it comes. Healthy – that’s all that matters in the end!!

Well, I’ll keep ya posted if you want. Won’t be much else to tell ‘til I’m further along. We’ll probably be planning to put the stitches in the 1st or 2nd week of July which is perfect timing between baseball ending and before back to school since I’ll be on bed rest a couple weeks.

Be talking to ya!


Original date - 01/15/04:

Baby News...

NO, I’M NOT PREGNANT!!! Had ya going didn’t I? I did have my follow-up appt today and I thought I’d let you all know at once rather than over and over. We were supposed to be going over the test results from Iowa City which there really weren’t any since they weren’t able to do the test. The IC doctor’s recommendation was a choice of two things…1) we could watch my cervix with trans-vaginal ultrasounds every week or two starting at 16 weeks and as soon as they see it starting to thin out then they’d do the stitches. But his concern with that was that you could have an ultrasound one day and be fine and then be dilated the next day. 2) The other option is to just go ahead and do the stitches after 13 weeks and leave them in ‘til like 37 weeks – which was our preference just to not take any chances. Today my doctor felt the same way. She doesn’t want to risk not knowing that I’m thinning or even if they do catch it but I’ve thinned too much then they wouldn’t be able to stop it even with the stitches.

So, that’s the plan…we’ll do the stitches somewhere between 14-16 weeks. I’ll be on bed rest for 2 or 3 weeks when that is done then I can slowly returned to normal activity (like work) and then I’ll be monitored more closely during the 2nd trimester, like every week or two rather than monthly. The goal is to get as far along in the pregnancy as possible but my cervix is 3 times smaller than normal so we just don’t know. The stitches aren’t a guarantee but what I’ve read there is an 80% success rate with the stitches in getting to at least 36-37 weeks. She also said that the scar tissue that prevented them from doing the tests may actually help because they’ve had been with so much scar tissue that they couldn’t even get the cervix open or dilate for delivery. So, again that could help keeping things intact ‘til it’s time and I’ll more than likely have a c-section anyway since both the boys were.

But that’s a ways down the road because we also found out we can’t start trying ‘til April. I decided to do another month of birth control and you have to wait 2-3 cycles after going off. If I’d know that I wouldn’t have waited in the first place. So, that probably means no 2004 baby for us, unless I got pregnant right away and went early. But April and June are girl months on the Chinese Birth Chart so I can deal with that.

So, when there’s actually a baby on the way I’ll let you all know!!!