Scary Day Yesterday

Yesterday was the scariest day of this pregnancy. Started out normally (sick as usual). Before lunch, I went to the bathroom and just like I do every time I wipe, I looked at the TP. This time, unlike every other time, there was red blood. I didn't even know what to think. I was terrified, but told myself I had to hold it together and see what happened. So I gave myself an hour--ate lunch, drank some water, surfed the web, and promptly at the hour mark went back to the bathroom. I saw lots more red blood, went back to my office, and called the midwife. I don't know if it's a good thing that the nurse who answered remembered me from my last miscarriage, but she did, and she was able to schedule me for an appointment an hour later with one of the midwives. She also was able to send an asap ultrasound referral to the hospital, with the hope I'd get the call to schedule it while on the way to their office for my appointment.

Then I called Mr. Magnolia Bud, and just started sobbing on the phone. I think he only heard "blood" "appointment" "coming to get you." Looking back, I'm sure he was terrified getting that call from me. But he was great about everything. After I picked him up, we went to the birth center. On the way, we got a call from ultrasound scheduling, and we scheduled one for 8am today.

At the birth center, I had a couple vials of blood drawn, gave a urine sample, and then got called back to meet with the midwife. We talked for a little while about my history, and then she pulled out the doppler. We were a little surprised, since we're still considered borderline early for doppler, but went with it...and she surprised us again when she immediately was able to find a strong heartbeat at 160. We listened for a little while, and Mr. Magnolia Bud started to tear up. I was still in shock that there was an audible heartbeat! She did a quick pelvic, during which she didn't see the cause of the bleeding, and then we talked for a while longer. We talked about some homeopathic remedies for nausea and insomnia, including nux vomica (nausea), calms forte, coffea cruda, calcarea, passiflora, pulsatilla, and aconite (all for sleep). She gave me a sample of nux vomica and calms forte--I tried the nux yesterday, and it kept me nausea-free for a couple of hours, it was great!

Anyway, back to yesterday's tale. After she finished checking me out, she said she didn't see any reason to worry. She said it was up to us whether to keep the ultrasound appointment, and she told me that oftentimes, stress can cause obscure reactions in women--including bleeding. I told her what had been going on with my job (promotion, awkward work situation with the former director now working for me, etc), and she said to minimize my stress and delegate wherever I could.

We ended up keeping the ultrasound appointment for another fistful of reassurance. Bright and early this morning, we headed in to the hospital for our appointment. The tech was one of the ones I had had during my miscarriage, though she didn't remember us. She too was able to find a strong heartbeat right away at 174, and the baby was measuring 10w1d. The doctor said at this point, they'll keep my EDD the same, and my risk of miscarriage has dropped to minuscule percentages since we've seen the heartbeat twice and are able to hear it on the doppler. He didn't see anything that could explain the bleeding, so to be safe, put me on pelvic rest and gym restriction for a week after the bleeding stops. Since it's tapered off to brownish-red spotting, I'm hoping the restriction will be lifted at my appointment next Friday. So today, I remain at 9w3d, with an EDD of September 19.

I also got the bloodwork back--all normal, except I'm Vitamin D deficient. So as soon as I get home from my work trip tomorrow night, I'll be kicking back and relaxing at home for the weekend...with my new friends, Vitamin D supplements.

As a prize for reading the saga, here's a pretty picture of our little baby from today! (Head to the right, arm sticking up, legs toward the left):