Pregnancy #2

Wow, sometimes I am so busy chasing Sophie around that I forget I am pregnant again! It's hard to imagine that we will have a second little one in early May but sure enough, my belly keeps growing and the doctors appointments keep coming.

During our 18 week ultrasound the technician discovered that the baby has what is called Single Umbilical Artery or SUA. This means that the umbilical cord only has one artery connecting it to the placenta rather than two. A third of the time, when this is discovered it is a sign of other developmental problems, usually in the development of the central nervous system, heart and/or digestive system. Our tech couldn't find the bladder so we scheduled a second ultrasound for the next day. The next day they couldn't find the bladder at first and after 10 minutes and two techs the bladder finally started filling up so they could see it. The baby was perfect development wise other than the umbilical cord which means that we just have to monitor the babies growth to make sure it is getting enough nutrients.

I was so thankful that everything was ok, but I have to admit, not a day goes by that I don't worry about the baby getting enough food. We go in this week for another ultrasound just to be extra sure that everything is developing on schedule. Then starting at 32 weeks, I will go in weekly and they will monitor the baby for 30 minutes to make sure that it isn't strained. In all likely hood they will induce labor or if they don't think the baby can handle the stress of labor, they will perform a cesarian. Either way, as long as we get our baby at the end we will be happy.