The First "Bad News"

Today we went for our consult and our doctor gave us some not-so-great-news. He explained that the baby is not measuring correctly and my placenta is too thick. For those of you who, like me, have no idea why this is so crucial, apparently the placenta is where the baby receives all of his/her nutrients. A thick, or “thickened placenta” does not share the nutrients with the baby as it should. With the baby not getting the nutrients, he/she is not growing properly. I am 21 weeks, but the baby is measuring 18/19 weeks. This lag in growth is diagnosed as IUGR, a term we have googled and found to mean Intrauterine Growth Retardation/Restriction. (I like Restriction better than the other “R”, so we will just go with that one). The doctor also suggested that we get an amniocentesis done. With a thickened placenta and IUGR, the cause is usually due to a chromosomal abnormality. An amniocentisis will tell us more about what we are really dealing with. We have scheduled the amnio for tomorrow, but it takes 10-14 days to receive the results.

We are definitely worried, but staying positive and hopeful that no chromosomal abnormalities will be found and that we will just have a small but healthy baby. I naively have come up with my own goofy theory liking the baby to a goldfish. You know how if you put a goldfish in a little bowl, it stays little, and if you put it in a big bowl, it grows bigger to fill its habitat. Maybe our baby is just like a goldfish, growing to fill its habitat… little womb = little baby! Makes sense to me! I guess that is why I am not a doctor!

One good thing about having an amnio is that we will get to definitely find out the sex of the baby. It seems that even with all of these sonograms, she/he always seems to censors her own pictures by way of a foot conveniently placed or by standing on her head. J My mom and I distracted ourselves after the appointment by meandering in to Babies-R-Us. Seeing as we have thought this baby is a girl from the beginning, and we only have a girl name picked out so far, we were squealing and being complete girls gushing at all of the little pink things and outfits. It was a good distraction.

Please pray for tomorrow’s test!

Love to all,
The Balabanski’s