Vasa Previa and Our Plan

Hey everyone! I haven't posted in awhile and between Facebook and Instagram don't really feel a need to anymore, but I do want to document this vasa previa stuff we're going through for three reasons:

1. To be able to keep anyone who's interested updated on everything, but with more info than I would do on Facebook.
2. I've appreciated reading other women's blogs who have experienced this, so I want to share my experience (it's so rare that it's hard to find much info at all). 
3. To document all of this for myself. 

Our blog seems like the best place to accomplish these things.

This first post will be a general overview of what it is. In the future I might do more posts about my emotions with it, more facts I've found, what I'm thinking, etc. Who knows. But for now I'll just give this explanation (that way family and friends who are curious about it can find out what it is, but then won't need to come back to read until baby actually comes, but those who are going through this and want all the details - like I have been wanting - can have that).

So, for those who don't already know, at my 20 week ultra sound appointment (I'm currently 21 1/2 weeks) I was diagnosed with a condition called vasa previa. 

Since I've researched this for hours and hours, I feel I have a pretty good handle on what it is, but let's see if I can actually explain it correctly.


Vasa Previa
(I realize a lot of you know what these different medical terms mean, but I'll explain them for those who don't.)

First of all, a normal placenta (the baby gets nourishment through this) and umbilical cord insertion looks like the picture to the right. It is on the upper back of the uterus (where the baby is) and the umbilical cord goes right into the middle of it. The perinatologist (baby expert) said to think of the placenta as a mushroom top and the umbilical cord should go right into the middle of it like the mushroom stem. Mine doesn't look like that.

 

I have what is called velamentous cord insertion. The umbilical cord inserted into the side of the placenta instead of the middle and the blood vessels that are usually fully protected within the umbilical cord are going crazy all over. They are within the fetal membranes (basically what makes up the amniotic sac - what ruptures when the "water breaks").

This wouldn't be a huge problem and happens in 1 out of 100 pregnancies, but my placenta is also lying low, close to the cervix (opening where baby will come out) and so those unprotected blood vessels are between the cervix and the baby, as it shows in the image below. 

What that means is that if the baby were to be born vaginally, his body would break the blood vessels (which contain his blood) and he would bleed out in a matter of minutes. That could also happen if I were just to go into labor and the blood vessels were severed. 

 

Another possible complication is that as he grows bigger he could compress those blood vessels and cut off his circulation and nutrients.

 

The Plan

 

Because of these things there is a plan in place. The plan is that I will be on hospital bed rest at 32 weeks and deliver via c-section by 34 weeks (my due date is July 2 and 32 weeks is May 2). I'll need to be in the hospital for constant monitoring of the baby to make sure he's not compressing the blood vessels and in case I go into early labor. 

 

I also need to "take it easy" this pregnancy, which I will, but in reality there isn't any research saying that this is necessary this early on. It's just being extra cautious. As my OB said, I'm still a mom and have to take care of my kids, but if there's ever someone else around to lift and hold Emma (17 months old), they'll need to do it.

I will be working with both the perinatologist and my regluar OB. They will keep in contact with each other to make the best plan. Luckily, both of them have had experience with vasa previa. From my research I've learned that many have never dealt with this before. It's quite rare. Depending on where you look they say it's 1 in every 2500-3000 pregnancies. So we got lucky ;). One perinatologist on a forum was saying that he sees about 6000 women a year for ultrasounds and such and he sees about one case of this every other year. Crazy! So yeah, I'm extremely grateful that both doctors have experience with this.

I'll be going in for extra monitoring to make sure I don't need to go in to the hospital earlier and to check on the baby's growth. Around 28 weeks they'll do steroid shots to get his lungs growing. Even with this they say to still plan on the baby being in the NICU for at least a week, perhaps longer, who knows. I'm hoping that since my other babies have been so big and healthy that he will be bigger and stronger than the average 34 week old :). I'm also hoping that the doctor will end up deciding that I'll be okay to wait till 35 weeks.

Obviously, things could change as time goes on, but that's the plan for now.

 

As difficult as this is we're mostly feeling extremely grateful for the ultra sound techs who spotted this! It's not a routine thing to check (since it's so rare) and it was barely caught.  If anyone has great ideas for thank you gifts to give them, let me know! So even though things will be a bit complicated/stressful during the month of May and we'll have a sweet little preemie, this is the best outcome for our little boy and we're feeling extremely blessed to have discovered it. 

 

If you have any questions about any of it, feel free to ask! I'm finding it therapeutic to talk about it (especially since it's consuming my thoughts at the moment).

Everything really should work out, but we could still use prayers. :)

Playing Catch-up

Since I haven’t updated since Emma’s birth (which was Sept. 27, not 26… I need this reminder because I was telling people the wrong date for a few months. Whoops. Glad Joel’s mom is better with dates than I am and corrected me. Now I need to change it at the doctor’s office…) and Emma is almost 6 months old, I figure it’s about time I let those of you who care know what’s going on.

First, an update on my family members because holy smokes a ton is going on with them! (I’m going to update on their kids, spouses, everything for those high school and college friends who know my family, but haven’t heard much in awhile.)

• In January my parents moved to London. Crazy, I know. Pretty awesome, though. It’s for work and they’ll be there 1-2 years. We miss them, but are so happy they get to have this adventure. Yay for Skype! And for blogs.
• Kim doesn’t have any big changes happening to her, but that’s okay. Living in Chile with your family for 6 years as an ex-pat gets you off the hook for awhile. Her and Dave now live in Minnesota (gorgeous!) and have 4 darling kids.
• Brooke and Shaun just had their 5th child, Shaun is graduating from BYU in a few months and they’ll be moving to Texas for his job!!! Crazy, huh? New baby and moving within two months of each other. Exciting stuff! Emma and her new baby, Kenzie, are about 6 months apart. Love that .
• For those who don’t know, this is where I fit in. We had a baby in September, so that’s pretty exciting.
• Ryan and Rosa Lee have a cute 2 1/2 year old, Liam. Ryan’s graduating with his masters next month and they’ll be moving to St. George for his job. He’s doing landscape architecture. If you ever want to see some of his work, visit my parents backyard. Amazing!
• Nathan is a science teacher in St. George. Seriously, how crazy is that?! His students love him and Kaylee loves being able to tell everyone that her uncle teaches science (she’s obsessed with science and wants to be a scientist when she grows up).
• Paige and Colton had their first baby, Lillia, in January! She has Paige’s eyes and is absolutely adorable. Emma likes to eat her. I do too. Can’t help it when babies are so cute and yummy. They’re living in my parents house while my parents are in London.
• Kelsi is engaged! Her and Colby will be getting married at the end of April. We really like Colby and are so happy for them. Helping her plan her wedding while my parents are away has been a lot of work, but it is fun. I’m glad to finally be able to get the wedding planning bug out (I was majoring in recreation management with the plan to be a wedding planner for a few months. After a short internship at Thanksgiving Point I changed my mind and did recreation management youth leadership with an emphasis in therapeutic recreation).

Now on to my little family (and this one comes with pictures):

Emma is almost 6 months and as cute as can be! She is a really sweet baby. She just likes to be held all. the. time. Makes it hard to get much done. Good thing she’s adorable! She’s rolling around and getting close to sitting up on her own. She absolutely adores Kaylee and Logan and they feel the same way about her. They even like sharing their stuffed animals with her:

Kaylee and Logan love going to the library. Logan’s favorite books are the graphic novels (comic books). Joel loves when we get them, as well.

Note: This is the first (and only) time we’ve put curlers in Kaylee’s hair. We put underwear on her head to keep them in place. She thought that was awesome. (The curls turned out cute… we just haven’t had time to do it since).

We went to St. George for our anniversary in February. Emma wore her first swimsuit! It was my swimsuit as a baby. My mom made it . (BTW, we went swimming indoors. It SNOWED that weekend in St. George and the wind was FREEZING! It was still fun, though.)   

The kids were thrilled to visit Nathan’s classroom! Especially Kaylee, since she wants to be a scientist when she grows up (Kaylee wanted Logan to be her science assistant, but he wants to be a detective, so now her cousin, Connor, is going to be her assistant. Hope he’s okay with that…). 

They’re all going to be good students someday.  

And so is “The Other Dave.”  

Logan had a hard time figuring out the microscope. 

We hiked on the red rocks at Pioneer Park (love that place!). 

I stayed back with Emma while Nate and Joel took Kaylee and Logan up “the narrows.” The guys couldn’t make it (it’s really, really tight), but the kids were already way ahead of them… so they went up without any of us and Joel and Nate ran around and met them at the top. There were some nice girls in front of them that helped them through. The kids thought it was the coolest thing! 

They loved just climbing all over the rock, too. 

I was taking pictures on valentine’s day and the kids asked me to take this picture to show that they love each other.

Emma LOVED food the first time she had it. Ate it easily, no faces, no spitting it back out.

Kaylee is weird like her Uncle Dave and a sleep mask doesn’t bother her. Also, check out the book next to her: she’s reading Junie B. Jones. Smarty pants.

Isn’t he handsome?

Just like his daddy

Besides the things from above, and the big events from the past 6 months (Christmas, Halloween, birthdays, etc) we’ve been keeping busy with every day life. I knew three kids would be busy, but it seems really busy. Not harder or anything. Just much busier! There seems to be at least one kid always needing my attention. It’s good though. They’re good kids.

Kaylee and Logan are in joy school and loving that and the new friends they’ve met there I’m loving it too. Darling kids, good values taught, and awesome new mom friends for me. Joel is keeping busy with work, his calling (elder’s quorum counselor), and Quick Wits. I’ve been running a produce co-op every other week, I teach the 7 year olds in primary (fun calling, especially since I have an awesome team-teacher), planning Kelsi’s wedding with her, and trying to figure out health stuff (if anyone has any favorite paleo recipes, please share!).

Life is good!

Emma’s Birth

Name: Emma Nicole
We chose Emma 1- because we think it’s cute and 2- because we accidentally started a little pattern and decided to sort of keep it going. Joel, Kaylee, Logan, EMma. We tried to come up with “M” names, but Joel’s sister already has a bunch, so we came up with the “Em” sound instead.
Both Joel and I have sisters with the middle name of Nicole (Paige and Jenn) and since Emma Nicole sounds cute, we went with that.

Height: 21.5 inches

Weight: 7.9 lbs (one day after her due date)
Kaylee was 8.8 lbs on her due date and Logan was 8.3 lbs, 2 weeks early. Emma is my small baby.

Labor/delivery details:

Believe it or not, this is the quick version. If you’d like more details (especially if you’re interested in unmedicated childbirth) feel free to ask me.

I had my doctor strip the membranes during my appointment on my due date. I was barely dilated to a 3 at that point. I figured the cramping and contractions would start within a few hours, but they didn’t. Around 8:00 pm I started wondering if maybe I was having contractions, but I wasn’t sure. There were just a few an hour and it felt more like Emma was stretching out, causing my stomach to be firm from her pushing against it and causing a little pain that I figured was from her kicking an organ while she stretched.

Joel and I went to bed around midnight (not smart when a baby is coming, I know). I didn’t sleep great and then at 1:00 I woke up from a contraction. It wasn’t very painful, but it was enough to wake me up. I continued to have random contractions for the next hour. They weren’t painful, but I wasn’t able to get back to sleep.

At 2:00 they started to hurt more, so I searched for and downloaded a contraction tracker app for my phone. I started tracking the contractions at about 2:15 am. Each contraction was around 45 seconds and at first were between 3 and 5 minutes apart. I figured we needed to follow the 411 guide of contractions meaning they are 4 minutes apart, lasting at least 1 minute, for 1 hour (give or take on each of them). At 2:30ish I woke Joel up and told him we should probably call his mom since it would have been an hour of contraction tracking by the time she got here. He called and we started preparing to go to the hospital. By the time we left the contractions were between 2 and 2 1/2 minutes apart and were more painful.

We got to the hospital around 3:50 am. The contractions were worse, but still bearable. Turns out I talk a lot when I’m in pain. They got me up to triage to check me and monitor the contractions. I was at a 6 1/2.

They got me into the birthing room (I was so happy I got it – the hospital only has one) about 30 minutes after we got there. The birthing room is reserved for those hoping to do an unmedicated delivery and is really nice. It is very calming with dimmed lighting and has a big tub in it. I got in the tub for 30-40 minutes. As I laid back, eating a sucker (to help with nausea during contractions), Joel commented that it felt like we were at a spa (the lights were nicely dimmed too). In-between contractions I was actually really relaxed, so I agreed with him during those times. But then the contractions got closer together.

The nurse had me get out when I felt even a slight urge to push. I got on the bed and the contractions started coming one right after the other. I was not prepared for that pain. I’d read books and knew I needed to try to relax, but nothing I did helped. I’d think that maybe changing positions would help, but when I’d move the pain would intensify. Nurses were up on the bed massaging my back while Joel gave me ice chips and honey sticks. I quickly progressed to a 9 (20-30 minutes?) at which time my doctor came in and broke my water. I laid down after he did so and immediately needed to push. I yelled something about how I was going to push and I hoped I was at a 10 because I was pushing no matter what.

The doctor was calmly, but quickly trying to get all suited up and ready. He always had one hand ready to catch her in case he needed to. Luckily, he was ready in time. Then suddenly the contractions and the urge to push stopped. I was still in pain, but it was different. I did feel some burning (“ring of fire” for anyone who has heard of that). It took one or two more pushes and she was out. From water breaking to Emma’s birth it was maybe 3 minutes. Thankfully! I don’t know how anyone can do hours and hours of pushing without an epidural. Emma was born at 5:28 am. Less than 2 hours after we got to the hospital and less than 4 hours from the time I consider I was in active labor. Yay for fast (but not too fast)!

So, I was able to do unmedicated. I keep being asked if I’ll do it again. Here’s my answer. If I had to do it again this month then no. The memory of the transition period (the time I was on the bed) is still too vivid. If I was going to do it again in a year or two, then yes, I think so. I figure the memory will dull a lot by then.   Plus, I loved how alert I was during the pushing stage and right after (“alert,” not necessarily “with it”). 

 

I actually wrote this a week ago, but didn’t post it because I hadn’t loaded the pictures onto the computer yet. Here’s what I have to add now:

I for sure want to do unmedicated again next time. It was a really neat experience. Really painful, but cool too. I liked knowing what was going on and not being hooked up to any IV’s. One thing I’ll do differently next time is I’ll have the doctor break my water sooner. Probably right after I’m in transition. Transition was definitely the hardest part and hopefully having the water broken earlier will help that part go faster.

Emma is an amazing baby! She’s really calm and sweet and seriously beautiful! Joel was able to take the week following her birth off of work and it felt like a vacation. I was able to snuggle with Emma the whole time and have been really enjoying this newborn stage.

PICTURE TIME!

 
I realized I hadn’t taken any belly pictures the whole pregnancy, so we took this right before leaving for the hospital (in-between contractions, of course).

First pictures of Emma (this was after we were moved from labor/delivery (everything from right after birth is on video).

First bath. They did it the next day and it was in my room. I loved that!

She loved getting her hair washed!

Being held by Great-Grandma Wilkey. Emma is her 92nd great-grandbaby!

This one is blurry, but I have to post it because it shows how Logan looked most of the time he was at the hospital meeting Emma. The kids were really cute with her and kept commenting on how little she was.

First family picture

Holding her little sister for the first time.  

Logan wanted to touch her and give her kisses, but he wouldn’t actually hold her because her belly button was “gross.” He was asking to see her hands, feet, and then tummy. He was grossed out by the umbilical cord. (Don’t worry, now that it’s fallen off he loves to hold her.)

Ready to go home!

She is seriously so beautiful!

Whose Kid is This?

I’ve got to do some bragging about Kaylee for a bit.

Kaylee is 4 1/2 years old. She’ll be 5 on November 14.

This is her “journal.”

She’ll spend a few hours each day writing and drawing in it. It’s quite adorable.

Today she wrote this (don’t worry… I asked her permission to share it with you. It is her journal after all ):

In case you can’t tell what that says, here it is (it goes from the left page to right for three lines then just down the right page. Then it switches back to the left page):

TTODAY I EM FFRITTIN BBI A SPIDDR SO I EM RITEG (stay on right page and go down) BEECUS THAT IS NNOT SCAREE (go back to left page) AND THAT SPIDR IS BLACK AND YELO

Translation:

T-today I am f-frightened b-by a spi-d-der so I am writing because that is n-not scary. And that spider is black and yellow.

(She purposefully put double letters on some words to make it sound like she was stuttering since she was “f-frightened.”)

How adorable is that?! She’s self-taught, too. She just started writing on her own. I don’t practice with her or anything. For someone who hasn’t done any schooling (not even preschool), that’s impressive to Joel and I!

The only things I helped her with was when she asked me if ‘scary’ had a ‘c’ or ‘k’ in it, except she asked it like this: “does ‘scary’ have a ‘c’ like in ‘cat’ or a ‘k’ like in ‘kite’?” And whether ‘black’ had a “c, k, or both?”

Yeah. She’s a smart one. And she still has a full year before kindergarten. I have the feeling she’s going to get bored.

Ok, I’m done bragging now.

Quick Update from Past 4 Months

Edited to add: all of the pictures were formatted nicely before I hit publish. I don't know what happened after that. It'll be too hard to fix, so please forgive the awful picture layout.

Life has been so busy, so I’ve completely neglected blogging and since life is only going to get busier (#3 is due Sept. 26… it’s a girl, btw. I don’t think I ever announced that) I figured I’d do a real quick update of some highlights from the past few months. This is going to be long, so don’t feel bad if you don’t look at it. Except immediate family. I expect you to look at it all .
In May we drove to Minnesota to visit my sister, Kim, and her family. It was a ton of driving, but it went really smoothly! On the way there we visited Mt. Rushmore. On the way back we visited my cousin, Heidi, and her adorable new baby in North Dakota. It was all so fun and really deserves multiple posts of its own, but this’ll have to do.

The morning after we got back from Minnesota (where I’d love to live, btw!) the kids started two weeks of swimming lessons. They loved it!

Kaylee had her Joy School graduation.
Then Kim and Dave came to Utah to visit, so we did a lot of partying with family.
Which included a Wilkey Family Reunion (camping at Payson Lakes). Joel wasn’t able to take off work, so I took the kids up. Even with cleaning Logan up every 20 minutes or so, he still looked like this the majority of the time:

We had cousins Connor and Cambree stay with us for a few days.

We (well, Joel and the kids) dressed up in Spider-man outfits to get some free food from Carl’s Jr.
 
We had the 4th of July party at the Burgener’s.

And then another one with the Hilton’s.

And the Hilton 4th party meant Joel’s sister, Jenn, and her family were visiting!
Since we like free food, we again dressed up for some. This time as cows for free meals at Chic-fil-A. I even participated this time.

We did a fireworks show on the 24th. I have to add, I HATE the newly legal fireworks!!!  Of the 3 different times I’ve watched them there has been one that has malfunctioned and shot into the crowd. SCARY! The kids liked them, but thought they were a bit loud.
Joel took me and the kids to our first ever drive-in! We saw Ice Age 4 and Brave. Both mediocre movies, but we had a blast, nonetheless. Seriously. I loved it (for some reason I didn’t think I would).
We went with friends to visit the Brigham City Temple and have a little family home evening up there. Our stake wants each family to have a picture in front of the temple and to do a bunch of other things in preparation for the dedication.

We celebrated Logan’s 3rd birthday with a big superhero party. He’s obsessed (even more so since the party). That took a ton of my time to plan, but I loved doing it.

On Logan’s actual birthday he chose to go to Chic-fil-A for dinner and then bowling/arcading (because we went bowling for Kaylee’s bday). He also got a fun rollercoaster that he’s enjoying.
I’ve also been working on projects, running a produce co-op every other week, and trying to get the nursery ready for our sweet girl. Joel’s been working hard on the yard (man it’s been hot outside!), with work (he got a promotion and is an editor!) and with young men/scouts. The kids have been playing hard and relaxing a lot.

Wow. And life is just going to get busier here in a few weeks with both kids doing Joy School and a new baby coming. Phew! I’m tired just thinking about it.