24 week baby scan

I have written two blog posts today so be sure to read the one below this about Barneys first day at school. A big day for him.

That was yesterday. Today I had another appointment at the hospital to see the doctor in charge of my pregnancy. (It seems my consultant has gone and retired on me, so this doctor seems to be taking charge for the time being). Dan came with me for the appointment and I was glad because so much was discussed and decided. First of all they wanted to talk about the results of mine and Dan's blood tests. If you read the blog post a few weeks ago about them finding antibodies in my blood then you will know what I'm talking about.

The doctor raced so fast into medical jargon about antibodies and D's and E's, that I had no idea what he was talking about. I had to tell him that I was clueless and so he started drawing me diagrams and graphs. I already knew that I was Rhesus D negative blood group, and that Dan was positive. But this is something new apparently. It's hard to explain and I don't fully understand it myself, but genetically Dan is 'Ee' blood and I am 'ee' blood. The E stands for some sort of antibody. Dan has the big E in his blood and I don't. But somewhere my blood has been contaminated either with his or with one of my children who share his blood, which has resulted in me developing anti E antibodies. Now the problem arises if my baby shares Dans blood. The baby has a 50/50 chance of getting either Dan's blood, or mine. But since my blood is fighting Dan's blood type we have to hope that the baby has my blood type. So basically theres no way of knowing which blood the baby has until after birth. If the baby has Dan's blood my body will attack the red cells in baby's body, causing baby to become very anaemic. (At this point the doctor asked if I'd had steroids to mature the babies lungs in case it needs to be born early. That was a bit horrifying. Anyway they didn't give me any) So if baby has my blood it will be fine. Dan asked what to expect if baby has his blood, and the doctor told us that baby could suffer from heart failure. Well this was a bit of a shock. He muttered other things like fluid around the lungs, swelling around the skull - things that he would look out for on the scan.

At this point he decided to do a scan. We had an extremely long scan because the doctor was training a junior doctor in the art of baby scanning. So we got to hear a lot of technical jargon that is usually not mentioned to the observing parents. We discovered that our baby is big. At this point it weighs about 1lb 12 oz, when it should only weigh a pound. A lot of measurements were taken and doctor decided that baby was still due on 19th December, but that its gonna be a bruiser. Oh joy! I was pleased that baby is growing healthily and that it was so energetic on the scan. I asked him if he could tell the sex of the baby, and he asked me "what do you think you're having?" To this I replied, "a girl". So he said he'd take a look. A few moments passed before he said "I think you're right, it does look like a girl to me". So that was great news as we all wanted a girl to even things out in the house!

So far on the scan the baby seems extremely healthy and there are no signs of anaemia or heart failure, so that's great news, although she will be monitored more closely. At this point I asked the doctor about the birth plan. Last time I went to see him I had mentioned the possibility of a C section. Three years ago I underwent some major surgery and was told not to have any more children naturally. So I had mentioned this to him and had presumed I'd be having a section. Without knowing much about my operation he had told me that there was no need for a section and that I could have a natural birth. I wasn't convinced this was a good idea so I spoke to my GP and my midwife who both seemed horrified at the thought of me giving birth naturally again. They said that I'd certainly need more surgery if I had the baby naturally. So I nervously mentioned this to him again this time and the response I got was totally different. I said to him "Ive been talking to my GP and midwife about the birth and I really would like a C Section this time". I explained my reasons why and to my surprise he said that a c section under the circumstances was a perfectly viable option. He has ordered my medical notes to look over but he thinks there will be no problem, considering the damage that would be caused by birthing naturally. Well, it just goes to show! If I hadn't pushed it then I'd have gone through a terribly birth and needed a lot of surgery afterwards. Not that a c section is easy, but I definitely think its the safer option in this instance.