We had our ultrasound yesterday. I won’t say that it was a magical experience because it was far from that. As always, I love seeing little Charlie. However, not all the news was good at this ultrasound. (let me also tell you that Dr. GOOGLE is evil. It is 4am and I have been up and on the computer half the night researching and everything sounds HORRIBLE and freakishly scary to me!!)
So let’s go over what the ultrasound tech saw and expressed, and what we saw while we were there. We’ll try to not include any of the info that Dr. Google gave me because, as stated above, it’s just too damn scary to mention!
We’ll start with the good things: Charlotte’s estimated weight is 5 pounds! YAY! And she is also head down (something that earlier in the pregnancy I could tell, but recently haven’t been able to…so I was wondering.) Vaginal birth–HERE WE COME!!!
Now, on to the not so great results: Charlie is measuring behind now. This has been a concern for quite sometime and this is one of the reasons why we have frequent ultrasounds. This may sound confusing, but bear with me…
Due date calculated from last period: October 5th
Due date calculated at Nuchal Translucency Test: September 24th (I think that’s right)
Due date calculated by this ultrasound: October 14th
On paper this LOOKS like Charlie’s overall growth is about 3 weeks behind (From first ultrasound to this one). However, I know when I ovulated, I know that October 5th is the correct due date. So, technically she is only 9 days behind. Still behind, but not as much as they want to think I am….
I hope that the doctor recognizes this because if they think Charlie is 3 weeks behind, then I’m just about positive that they will induce to get her out of there before it gets worse. We’ll have to wait til Wednesday for my doctor’s appointment to see what she has to say about all of this. The ultrasound tech was pretty worried and all up in arms about it. Frankly, it freaked her out–which did nothing for my mental health today.
Also–I noticed that there were some large whitish spots in the placenta. I knew what it was immediately, but I asked the tech to verify what I was seeing. There is some definite calcification in the placenta. I don’t know how bad it is, but if it’s bad enough that means that the placenta is aging too fast and failing prematurely. However, some level of calcification can be normal at this point in pregnancy too. So, we’ll have to wait for the radiologist to determine what “grade” the calcification is.
And the ugliest news of all (and I didn’t really realize that this was ugly news til Dr. Google told me it was): Charlie’s head measured significantly behind her abdomen. I didn’t take much stock during the ultrasound–figured it was just “normal”. Well, apparently, at no time is a smaller head deemed “normal” and will be taken heavily into consideration as it could have a heavy impact on Charlie’s health. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK FUCK FUCK.
I was not undone initially by the results. It wasn’t til we got home. Paul and I talked about things. Paul reminded me how Charlie’s growth looks on paper (being 3 weeks behind), then that got me thinking about everything else that was said and seen….and then I went on my journey through google….and it only got worse from there. So, I’m worried for sure. My worry about delivering a preterm baby is high. My worry about delivering a baby that might have health problems is moderate. My worry that there is something MAJOR wrong is pretty low (which surprises even me!).
So, a few days and we’ll see the doc and get to take a look at the official report from the radiologist. I’m scared. I won’t lie. I think ultrasounds are pretty unreliable for weight measurements and I don’t trust that she’s big enough to be on the outside just yet. It’s too early….way too early.