Take a deep breath..but not too deep......

We had our appointment this morning with the Perinatologist, Dr. McCulloch. First, we had an Ultrasound which looked great. The baby was moving around and the heartbeat was strong. The growth is fantastic and the baby is measuring a day ahead of schedule (what a little go-getter we have). This ultrasound was special because we got to see the entire spinal cord, the brain and even the individual toes and fingers. What a sense of relief! Once the Doc came in he did another quick Ultrasound to measure the "tear". What we thought was a tear is actually more of a separation of layers. A small separating of the chorion (the outermost of the two fetal membranes) and the amnion (the innermost), which together surround the fetus. The chorion develops villi (vascular fingers) and gives rise to the placenta. Think of the layers of an onion, but much thicker, almost leather-like. When women have a CVS (chorion villus sampling) test done during their pregnancy, the Doctor inserts a needle through the abdomen to gather the villi which can tell the mother-to-be of any genetic complications. I did not get this done, but thought I would mention it since you may be familiar with the term chorian.

So, where does this leave us? The Doctor could not tell if there was blood pooling in the area in between the two layers. The only way to know would be to poke around and see for himself, which he was not willing to do because that could cause major complications. He felt that since I was not bleeding or cramping and the baby was growing ahead of schedule that these positives outweigh the small separation of layers issue. He suggested that I stop Pilates, not lift anything over 10 lbs and take it easy. I will see him again on the 29th of July for another Ultrasound and we will go from there.

For now he told us to breathe easy and relax. I'll breathe, but I won't take too deep of a breath (the forever pessimist)! Brian, of course, feels that we are out of the woods and good to go (the forever optimist). Although this is good news, I am unsure of how I feel. I am a very black and white person and this seems to have gray all over it. I wanted to go in and come out with a definitive answer, "Yes, Lindsay the tear has gone away and you have nothing to worry about", or "No, the tear is larger and this is what we are going to do to fix it." So, we continue to play my least favorite game of "wait and see."

Thank you so much for your love, support, prayers and positive thoughts! We appreciate it immensely.

Love,
Linds and Brian