Our Little Baby

Mike and I found out I was pregnant on Aug 31st 2015 and we were so excited!! There are always many things that go through your mind like miscarriage and if baby is developing ok and so on.. We decided to wait until we had our 12 week appointment to spill the beans to everyone. We had our 12 week appointment and everything looked good with baby so on Halloween we told our family and friends and it was an exciting time. The worst secret ever was keeping from them that I was pregnant, so we were very excited to tell them.

Time went on and at about 15 weeks I had a belly, like you could tell I was pregnant it wasn't really questionable, which I thought was a little interesting since this is my first pregnancy and I wasn't that far along. Everyone else thought it was weird too..many comments on how I look bigger then I should be and things like that. Honestly the comments didn't really bug me at first but after a while I started feeling like I may just be weird and just get huge quickly. I started feeling a little insecure about my baby bump and I tried to just brush it off and keep going, I was just happy baby was healthy and growing. I asked my Dr at my 16 week appointment if I looked huge. He said no to not worry about it, everyone is different and carries differently. He said I am just a small girl and the bump is just showing. I knew my 20 week appointment I would have an ultrasound that would look over the anatomy of baby and would measure him and then they would be able to see if I was measuring further along or if everything was normal. At my 16 week visit we also decided to do testing for spina bifida, hydrocephalus, and down syndrome.

About a week after I got the blood work done, the nurse called and said some of my tests were a little high for down syndrome so they wanted me to be seen by maternal fetal medicine. She said sometimes the test comes back high if you are having twins, you are further along then what you think, or the baby is in fact down syndrome. So we set up an appointment with the perinatologist and luckily they got us right in so we didn't have to wait for a long time to get some answers.

The day of the appointment came and I was a little nervous about what they were going to tell us, but knew that it was better to know what was going on then not. First thing they did was take my weight and blood pressure. My blood pressure was pretty high which was weird for me because my blood pressure has never been high so that worried me but I was pretty nervous as well so I think that may have something to do with it. Then we went and had an ultrasound. The Tech looked at baby and measured everything it was fun to see our little guy, he is always so active and moving all over the whole time. After about 30 mins of that the Dr then came in to discuss with us our lab results and the measurements of the baby. She said that the baby looked perfect and was measuring right and no sign of down syndrome. She then told us that the reason why my blood work was so weird and came back abnormal is because I have a Complete molar pregnancy with a coexisting live fetus. So what does that mean? Well I have a normal little baby growing, and then I have another placenta, with this growth of tissue pretty much. That other placenta is keeping this tissue or mole alive. So what happened essentially is that sometime during the fertilization process, the egg could have split and one placenta and fetus grew normally and then this other placenta formed but the little fetus never formed so now we are just left with this big ball of tissue. Yeah, Its weird. The Dr said that she has been practicing for 15 years and has never seen this, she has only read about it in textbooks, thats how rare this is. This placenta thinks it is keeping a little fetus a live, when its not really a fetus its what they call a mole. This situation is pretty risky and this is why we were given the option to end the pregnancy and we didn't hesitate to decline. We just saw our little healthy baby, how could we just end that. Why not give him a chance at life. The worst thing that will come from this situation is we will lose our baby and thats what we would be doing if we ended this pregnancy, so why not try and make it?

So what does this mean for me and the baby and what are some risks?  Well The molar pregnancy grows a lot faster then our little baby so when that gets too big my body will say, "oh it is time to deliver" and could start going into labor which when it does that our little baby will not be full term and not really ready to come out. Another thing that can happen is that I can get preeclampsia, or hemorrhage which is obviously dangerous for me and we could lose the baby if it is too early.  The mole could actually miscarry really at any point and then we would have to take the baby.  So really we are wanting this Mole to keep growing and to keep living for as long as possible. The mole also can be cancerous and so after this pregnancy I will have to be on some mild chemotherapy for preventative measures.

The Dr told us that the studies have shown that about 45% of women with this usually will make it to 28 weeks and then the baby has to be delivered. Either my body will go into labor, or its getting too dangerous to go any further.  The babies who were delivered at 28 weeks, about 70% of them lived and were fine. These are also old statistics since this is a rare case, they don't have much information on it.  So our goal is to make it to at least 28 weeks. She feels very confident that if we make it at least to 28 weeks the baby will be fine especially because how great modern medicine is. He will have to be in the NICU for 2-3 months to keep growing and to make sure he is healthy but in the end he will be great. Obviously if I can go longer then 28 weeks then that would be great as well we just have to see how everything is going.

 I am being monitored pretty closely at this point, I will be visiting with the perinatologist every 2 weeks to make sure things are looking ok and baby is still doing ok, as well as my normal visits with my OB, and with an Gyn oncologist because the mole can potentially be cancerous. I am also going to take my blood pressure daily to make sure it is normal, but other than that all we can really do is wait and pray that this mole will stay in a grow and not want to come out.  The perinatologist told me to continue doing my normal daily routines because it will help me get my mind off of things a little more and help time go faster.  She also said that this is why I do look a lot bigger than a normal 19 week pregnant lady, especially because this mole does grow a lot quicker. The top of my uterus is way above my belly button, where at this point normally, it would be either right at my belly button or a little under. So now we have the answer to why Im growing at such a fast rate.

This is a lot of information to take in and to understand, trust me we feel a little overwhelmed and kind of in shock that this is what is happening. Especially because my pregnancy has been very smooth and I feel completely normal. I have had no problems and barely any sickness.  We can only hope for the best and we feel very calm and at ease with the situation and the decision we have made to go as long as we can and keep this baby and we feel like things will all be ok. There is a lot to learn still and there will be many questions that we will have.

We wanted to post this so that all of our family and friends would be able to know what is happening and hopefully we can keep everyone updated a little easier this way. We know that it is all in Gods hands and we trust him 100% and have complete faith in him. We are so blessed to have this little boy doing so well. He is so loved and we want more than anything for him to be apart of our little family. We ask that those of you who would like, if you could keep our little baby in your prayers. We believe strongly in the power of prayer. In advance, thank you all for the support that will be given, we are very blessed with amazing family and friends.  We are grateful for modern medicine and the ability we have to know what is going on and that we can mentally and physically prepare ourselves for what is to come.

If you see me and I look huge, its because well, I am huge!! :) Growing a human and a Mole really makes things interesting.
Pray we can make it another 9 weeks at least!! :)

Mike & Amy