Blogger ate my Part 2 that I typed up last night. I'm going to try again this morning, but I'm seriously considering Typepad with everyone else that has fled.
If you are reading this, you may want to go to Part 1 first.
We decided to do amneocentisis. They said they wanted to check the AFP level in the amniotic fluid. If the AFP level was fine there, then the baby should be fine. If it was fine, they would need to screen me for cancer. Apparently a high MSAFP level can be attributed to cancer in females. They never told me what kind of cancers.
The AFP level in the amniotic fluid was normal. No problems. Baby should be fine. Then they did MRIs (had to be open, I'm terribly claustrophobic) and ultrasounds looking for cancer. They didn't find anything. They gave me and baby a clean bill of health and said they wanted me to come in for Level 2 ultrasounds every month just to check things out. Apparently, there's a correlation out there with unexplained high MSAFPs with the amniotic fluid getting low or the placenta degrading early later in the pregnancy. They said I should be able to go at least 36 weeks, so no worries. They just wanted to monitor us and classified it as a high-risk pregnancy.
We went in for the first Level 2 ultrasound, and things went south again. The ultrasound tech came back with the doctor who repeated the ultrasound and showed us what appeared to be a mass on the baby's lung. They said it looked like a cyst, and wanted me to come in every other week and sometimes every week to monitor it for any growth and to make sure it wasn't moving the baby's heart and affecting bloodflow. It seemed we couldn't get a break, just when everything was going OK, it went downhill again.
We decided to find out what the sex of the baby was from the amniocentisis based on this information. We wanted to be able to name the baby in case anything happened, she would at least have a name. We found out we were having a girl and named her Phoebe. We go this name not from friends, but from Charmed another TV show that apparently only tween girls know about. We wanted a unique name that would fit her personality. We found out in Greek that Phoebe means "bright, shining," and that made it even more perfect.
So at around 22 weeks, we knew we were having a girl named Phoebe, and we didn't know what her fate was going to be. We had fetal MRIs to look closer at her lung. We had to take these MRIs to the surgeons at a fabulous children's hospital here in Delaware. We discussed with the doctors there that she would need surgery either immediately after birth or a few days afterward. We met with neonatalogists as she would be in the NICU most likely after birth, and had weekly Level 2 ultrasounds and doppler scans of her bloodflow with the perinatalogists. This pregnancy sucked with anxiety.
If you are reading this, you may want to go to Part 1 first.
We decided to do amneocentisis. They said they wanted to check the AFP level in the amniotic fluid. If the AFP level was fine there, then the baby should be fine. If it was fine, they would need to screen me for cancer. Apparently a high MSAFP level can be attributed to cancer in females. They never told me what kind of cancers.
The AFP level in the amniotic fluid was normal. No problems. Baby should be fine. Then they did MRIs (had to be open, I'm terribly claustrophobic) and ultrasounds looking for cancer. They didn't find anything. They gave me and baby a clean bill of health and said they wanted me to come in for Level 2 ultrasounds every month just to check things out. Apparently, there's a correlation out there with unexplained high MSAFPs with the amniotic fluid getting low or the placenta degrading early later in the pregnancy. They said I should be able to go at least 36 weeks, so no worries. They just wanted to monitor us and classified it as a high-risk pregnancy.
We went in for the first Level 2 ultrasound, and things went south again. The ultrasound tech came back with the doctor who repeated the ultrasound and showed us what appeared to be a mass on the baby's lung. They said it looked like a cyst, and wanted me to come in every other week and sometimes every week to monitor it for any growth and to make sure it wasn't moving the baby's heart and affecting bloodflow. It seemed we couldn't get a break, just when everything was going OK, it went downhill again.
We decided to find out what the sex of the baby was from the amniocentisis based on this information. We wanted to be able to name the baby in case anything happened, she would at least have a name. We found out we were having a girl and named her Phoebe. We go this name not from friends, but from Charmed another TV show that apparently only tween girls know about. We wanted a unique name that would fit her personality. We found out in Greek that Phoebe means "bright, shining," and that made it even more perfect.
So at around 22 weeks, we knew we were having a girl named Phoebe, and we didn't know what her fate was going to be. We had fetal MRIs to look closer at her lung. We had to take these MRIs to the surgeons at a fabulous children's hospital here in Delaware. We discussed with the doctors there that she would need surgery either immediately after birth or a few days afterward. We met with neonatalogists as she would be in the NICU most likely after birth, and had weekly Level 2 ultrasounds and doppler scans of her bloodflow with the perinatalogists. This pregnancy sucked with anxiety.
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