Link to EMail and Author Information
 
Maureen and Andrew's
Website Baby Album
Back to Previous Page
September 29,
21 Weeks, 5 Days
Forward to Next Page
Fasten your seat belts & Hang on. 
It's going to be a bumpy ride!
Well, no one said it was going to be easy, and it isn't. First let me say that everything is currently all right, but the road ahead looks bumpy.
We had our "regular" appointment today. Maureen has been feeling sick for the whole week so hasn't been taking in a lot of food or liquids, because she would just throw it all back up! She was feeling fine, but our internist decided that she was a little dehydrated and could use some fluids. So she walked us down to the day unit, where they hooked Maureen up to an intravenous to give here 2 litres of saline solution. Think of it, 2 litres, dripping directly into a vein. That is a lot of fluid. They had a hard time finding a good vein to use because her veins had collapsed (they were working, just not full and plump!).

Then, with Maureen connected to her pole, we walked down for the ultra-sound. All seemed okay, but the nurse was doing a lot more scanning than we expected for our "regular" check-up. Finally she asked the dreaded question: "Which Doctor in the unit do you know the best?". You just know that question is being asked because they want to call in that doctor and have him break the bad news!

Dr. Windrom came in and did a few more scans, then told us that there was not as much amniotic fluid as he would have expected. He said that he was the most pessimistic when it came to estimating fluid, but even so, it was low. 
That can mean a few things. 
1) It could be related to Maureen's dehydration, but he said that even if the mothers body is doing poorly, the babies are generally sheltered and kept in the best environment.
2) So the other, and more likely problem, is that the placenta is not working as well as it should, and the baby therefore is not  peeing as much as it would and thus there isn't as much fluid.
Not a lot can be done at this point. We have to get the babies to 24 weeks at least and as far past that as possible. They are still a pretty good size, though Abigail is now doing a bit better than Boris.
The Doctor did say, STOP WORKING. Maureen asked if she could finish the week, and he said sure, but the nurse chimed in, don't work a full day!
So, as of this weekend, Maureen will officially be on bed rest. This is very much the same as what happened when we were pregnant with Laura, except Maureen does not currently have pre-eclampsia. Her blood pressure, and blood work is fine.

Soooooo, next week we have our regular visit on Tuesday with the internist and the Heparin doctor. And Wednesday we have an appt. with Dr Kingdom, the "Placenta doctor" to see if he can recommend anything.

PS. 2 weeks in a row I have asked for images, and the nurse acknowledges me, but something always seems to come up, and I don't get any. They look good on screen though, so I will try again.

Back to Previous Page
Next Appt. October 6, 1998
Forward to Next Page