Jenna's Story - the Diagnosis

Continued from this post.

The Diagnosis

Tuesday morning couldn't come quickly enough.

I had an ultrasound prior to my appointment with the doctor to check on how baby was doing since the possibility of these new complications. The doctor was also concerned at the previous appointment that I wasn't quite measuring where I should be and wanted to make sure baby was still growing adequately.

I watched on the screen as the ultrasound lady looked around for all of baby's little parts and told me they appeared to be functioning well. She made a few measurements to estimate her weight/size. I watched the white circle trace around my precious little one's head.

"5 lbs 6 oz," the ultrasound technician told me. With an adjusted estimated due date based on this size of March 3rd.

My tiny baby.

I could not stop thinking of that number in my head. What if she had to be born soon? That was so small. "I think genetics are at play here," the technician had said when I told her mine and my husband's birth weights, "and you also have a small frame." Okayyyyy... I am 5'6''. That is taller than the average American woman. And I am no bean pole.

Moving on. I headed over for the rest of my appointment.

"So you've got the itches?" said the Doc upon his entry. Yes, EVERYWHERE.
"Did the medications help?"
Well, I can't put a corticosteroid (anti-itch) cream all over my body - I can't bathe in it - and I was already taking the other one for my cold anyway. So, nada.
Okay, he said, and told me there was a condition I could have but that was pretty rare. If I had that, we would talk about early induction.
"But, you probably don't have it, we'll just see."
"I would be surprised if I didn't have it," I told him with some firmness to my voice. I had seen the list of symptoms, and it was telltale.

The doctor checked me and basically said I hadn't progressed toward labor, and sent me out for blood work. The prick barely bothered me this time. I'd come a long way since passing out three times at my first OB panel blood draw (now that is a funny story...) - well, I'd been super sick that time and they'd taken all the blood I had left in me. Ha. I'm still miffed about it.

The nurse taking my blood made me an online account on the spot so I would be able to see the results as soon as they posted. It would be that evening to maybe two days later. So within 48 hours max.
I checked my account at least every hour that day. Nothing. I would just have to wait.

The next morning, Wednesday, I got up and went to work as usual. I always open my laptop first thing at work to check emails and schedule for the day, so I decided to check my medical account just in case. My heart was beating a little fast.

There it was. A measure of liver function, of normal chemicals released by the liver.
In the column on the left, the typical range.
In the column on the right, my reading - almost four times higher than it should be.

I completely lost my shiz. I was at work, but I lost it. My baby was in this toxic environment?!?!?!? Right this minute????
My fingers were shaking as I tried looking up how severe my level was.
A diagnosis of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, for certain. 

I called the doctor's office immediately. Since it was only 8:30 at that point I had to leave a message. I called Bryan, and my Mom. Just trying to calm down. I missed picking up some clients, but I couldn't face work, not at that moment. I went into a classroom around 10:15, but then my phone buzzed and I had to step out. It was the doctor.
He hadn't heard my message, but he had seen my results and called.
"You were right," he said. ICP. He said he didn't see cases of this more than every few years or so and he'd had to consult some literature to figure out what course of action to recommend.

It sure is something to be on the phone with your doctor and have him ask you what day you would like your baby's birthday to be.

"You could come in tonight," he said.
Mental. break. down.

February 1st, we decided. So I would go in four days later - Sunday night to start the process, and Monday the 1st to be the actual induction date. If it was even a couple days later than that, I would have to go to a specialist to make sure everything was okay for baby.
Better sooner than later, we decided.
I made all the arrangements with work to go out on leave a full two weeks sooner than planned.

On Sunday afternoon, Bryan took the picture in the lower right. My last pregnancy picture, at 37 weeks and two days. As ready as I would ever get a chance to be.

We are ready to hold this precious girl in our arms and give her all of our love. (instagram, 37 weeks)

I can't wait to write about the actual birth,  and this little joy I have in my arms,
but for those of you wondering why baby had to come early, there's a brief explanation.

Be back soon!
Love, Becca

Jenna's Story - Winter Showers

Continued from this post

The 22nd (Friday) I had work off for grade transmittal (I LOVE MY JOB!!) - so I could focus on getting better from the cold symptoms that were still hanging on - I mean, a speech therapist with no voice?
No bueno.

Our stroller and car seat arrived that morning. I'm obsessed with them and how I was able to find such a good deal on them! Thanks Mom for the Christmas money that paid for them! :)

Saturday morning was my Baby Shower!! Thank you to Dena, Emily, and Kristalyn, and my Mom for all your hard work, making the amazing food, and just the love you showed to us. It means the world.

Hot chocolate bar? My childhood dream come true. Wish I had this in my kitchen every single day.

Guess how big around for the tummy.. Hilarious. Kudos to Maralee for getting it spot on.

Some of my graduate cohort! Love them!

Work it, Chels.

I am so blown away by how generous everyone was. And it was so great to see so many people come and want to give love to the still-in-tummy little lady. I still had a croaky-cold voice and I was super itchy all day long (see previous post) but I got to catch up with so many good friends.

The most meaningful part of the whole shower was when I opened my Mom's gift last. She gave some baby clothes, but they were wrapped in..... a blanket from Bethlehem. My parents had bought it for me when we lived there 22 years ago and saved it for my baby.

Waterworks.
I was so emotional about this gift. It was like a gift to my child from my father.
It was such a special moment, I'm so glad I saved it for last--not even knowing what was inside.

All my coworkers threw me a baby shower the following Friday - my last day of work! I didn't really get pictures, but it was so sweet of them and once again baby was spoiled by all of the great people I work with. I was so elated going through baby's things and looking at the toys, well, playing with the toys... and reading her books! Thank you thank you everyone!

Continued here.

Jenna's Story - the End of the Pregnancy Road

Jenna Elizabeth Mansfield was born on February 1, 2016 at 5:17pm. 5 lbs, 5 oz and 17 1/2 inches of pure heaven. Our daughter, our world, our everything. She was born at 37 weeks and 3 days gestation.

This is her story.

Part I - The End of the Pregnancy Road

I remember Bryan's face as he opened the package and saw the positive. We were going to be parents!
"Are you serious?" he asked.
"You can't fake that!" I said gleefully. We were filled with wonder and joy at the prospect of our little expanding family.

Little did I know how challenging the next 8 months would be.
Both Bryan and I were excited about the little body growing inside me, but the hyperimesis gravidarum which obliterated everything in my life (see last post) and made me feel like I might not ever feel normal again -- that made pregnancy harder than I thought I could bear. We made it through one day at a time. I used to lie in a pile of blankets on the floor and watch the video of the first ultrasound, with my baby waving her sweet fingers at us - to encourage myself to keep positive and remember the reason for all the trials. And after the first trimester I tried a medication that was my miracle pill and it stopped the vomiting - still didn't take away the other symptoms - but it was my miracle. I don't like taking medication, but after weighing the options (like IVs e'rry other day vs. these pills), I knew I had to start getting adequate nutritional intake for baby to grow.

At the first ultrasound around 18 weeks, we found out (although I already "knew" from everything I had felt) that our baby was a GIRL!! I was also told I had low-lying placenta and this put me at risk for placenta previa (hemorrhaging at delivery, not being able to deliver vaginally because the placenta is basically in the way...) but we needed another ultrasound a few weeks later to check on this again.

The first time I had an appointment with my OB (up til' halfway through my prenatal care I saw a nurse practitioner/nurse midwife), I knew he was one of the most genuine people I'd ever met. He went out of his way to do an extra two ultrasounds for me before the Christmas break to see if we could clear the placenta previa. And this was at the end of the day when he could have just said he'd see me later and headed home. When he said the risk of PP was cleared, I didn't even realize how much I was worried about it until that worry was lifted.

We had a GREAT time in Idaho with Bryan's family. Especially at the cabin in McCall. I couldn't do everything like hot tubbing and snowmobiling, but just being in the Narnia of a gorgeous White Christmas setting was enough for me. I did go sledding, since the hill was mild enough.

We hung up a stocking for Baby (my stocking was "pregnant") and loved getting some things for  Christmas for her. Bryan's sister Stephanie took some maternity pictures for us! I'm so glad she did, and that it was informal and fun (no nakey belly photos for me, please...) - she did a smashingly good job with our little winter shoot.

 Yeah, I was a full seven months pregnant and well into my third trimester. By then I was used to having people tell me my bump was "too small" or I looked like I wasn't that far along. But I didn't care. People think they can make whatever assessment they want to, but I would just say, "Baby is doing great and measuring right along where she should be, thanks."

When we got back from Idaho, Bryan went to training for his new job in California and I started having more appointments since baby's due date was getting closer! And of course I doubled my efforts on collecting baby stuff - nesting is real, folks.
I was managing pretty well and counting my blessings that the medication was still working for HG and I felt night-and-day better than the first half of pregnancy.

The days kept passing, and then I had an appointment on January 19th. A Tuesday. I remember asking questions about third-trimester symptoms I knew were normal. By that point, I was a waddling duck :) and out of the blue I got this cold from Hades and couldn't sleep for days, so a lot of the discussion at that appointment was how to get the cough from the Underworld to go away and fix the debilitating sinus congestion and pressure. Ugh! I had never drank so much herbal tea and steamed my face over a pot of boiling water so many times in my entire life. I even got a sinus pressure toothache (who even knew that was a thing???) - which stressed me out because I did NOT want to have one more pain during labor. Luckily the toothache went away with the cold symptoms.

Back to the appointment on the 19th. I left there with just a general "everything seems to be going well, the symptoms of the third trimester are worth it because we're excited to be so close to having our baby!" I set up my next appointment for the 28th and skipped - okay, waddled - out of there, happy.

Almost two days later, so that next Wednesday night to Thursday morning-ish, I started having this intense itching all over. Especially on my feet, like I wanted to rub my feet right off me. I remember having a little itching in the couple weeks prior, but I'd looked it up and found it was normal from hormones, nothing to worry about. But this was not normal. I couldn't see any visible signs of a rash or anything at all that would tell me why my skin was so uncomfortable. I tried to think of everything I'd eaten or used in the past 24 hours in case it was an allergic reaction. I looked it up again and basically read that I should call the doctor - so I did. I finally got through to a nurse, who got back to me with the doc's advice to use a couple of over-the-counter type medications and to move my appointment to sooner - the following Tuesday - to check things out.

Over the weekend I had the same symptoms and from the research I was pretty sure I knew what it was.. so I was just so anxious to get to the doctor's to confirm what I thought it might be.

Continued here.
I'm breaking this up so it's not one long-winded novel, you're welcome.