Huge sigh of Relief

So the past few months have been quite an emotional rollercoaster. We started out with bleeding from 8-13 weeks of the pregnancy. That finally cleared up and things were looking normal, except for the giant fibroids. At 8 weeks I was measuring 21 weeks, with the largest of the fibroids at 10X10 cm. So much for my plan of not showing until I was 4 or 5 months pregnant.

We did our quad screen around week 16, which came back with an elevated AFP (alpha fetoprotein) which can be indicative of a neural tube defect. We retested a week later, and that came back normal, but our doctor had already set us up to see a specialist for an ultrasound to detect spinal abnormalities. So off we went to the specialist at East Jefferson. The first ultrasound with the specialist looked good, but there was a small area around the baby's pelvic bones that she couldn't see. On our followup, we got the all clear for the neural tube defect --- everything looked good with the spine. Unfortunately, the doctor saw what looked like a heart defect, specifically a VSD (Ventricular Septum Defect). So she referred us to a pedatric cardiologist, and our tour of the areas hospitals and specialists continued with Children's Hospital as our next stop. At 21 weeks I was measuring 33 weeks, but the largest fibroid was down to around 8.5X10 cm. At least it's not growing anymore. But all the other fibroids have grown together to form a continuous area of fibroids, which will likely cause issues during delivery, and perhaps preterm labor.

Today was our appointment with the Pediatric Cardiologist. He said the baby's heart looks good! He couldn't see any defect, and thought that the image that the other specialist had taken probably looked like a defect because of the way the picture was taken.

So we've been averaging an ultrasound every 3 weeks or so with all of the early complications and trips to see various doctors. I guess that's not so bad since it's really reassuring to see the baby moving, but I'm ready for some normal pregnancy stuff and a break from all the scares.

For now ... a huge sigh of relief .... and hoping for shrinking fibroids and no new issues.