7/29/11

I had a little bit of discomfort on Saturday which I shared at my appointment on Tuesday and the Nurse Practitioner jumped all over it. She did an exam and ordered a bunch of tests and kinda freaked me out a little bit. 

She was worried that at worst I may be in danger of preterm birth! Anything before 37 weeks is considered preterm and there are lots of complications that go along with preterm birth so you really want to do everything in your power to prevent it.

I researched some of the causes of preterm birth so I know what to be on the lookout for. Here are some of those causes:

• Infection. Certain sexually transmitted infections, urinary tract infections, and bacterial vaginosis. Every pregnant woman at least at Saint Michael's is tested for the STIs before they become pregnant so they didn't retest me for that, but they did run the tests for the other infections and they came back clean.
• Problems with the placenta which would show up in an ultrasound and there were no problems with mine.
• Having an excessively large uterus which I don't.
• Structural abnormalities of the uterus or cervix. I was sent in for an ultrasound to specifically look at the shape of my cervix to make sure everything there was good. It was. After the ultrasound tech checked that out she let us check in on our baby girl again. It was so cool to see her kick and feel her kick at the same time. She's so much bigger than last time and she has more meat on her bones so you can see her features much better now.
• Having abdominal surgery during pregnancy like an appendix removal. Which I obviously didn't have.

So after she scared me half to death thinking this this thing I thought was no big deal could really be a big deal I learned my lesson. The next time I have any discomfort or unexplained pain I'm going to get on the phone and call the doctor immediately. It's better to be safe than sorry. 

Did you have any scares during your pregnancy, during or after delivery?