Beans...Beans...Beans

We had our 20 week ultrasound this morning with our high risk doctor. The good news is that it looks like the tear or separation has remedied itself, so I should not have any more bleeding. However, it did lead to an excess amount of tissue to grow within the gestational sac. This extra tissue is considered to be a ledge or shelf of tissue (where else is he/she supposed to display their trophies?). It is a bit tricky to visualize, so stay with me. Imagine a jelly bean or kidney bean (gestational sac) lying on its side, horizontally. Imagine a vertical line from top to bottom on the last third of the bean. Although this line (shelf) extends from top to bottom (vertically) it does not extend from front to back. This is what makes it a shelf-like structure with a base and a free edge. Who can blame the baby for compartmentalizing the place?

The baby is currently residing most of its body within the larger two-thirds of the bean and can still make use of the other third of space within the bean. Limbs can reach over the shelf to the other side to stretch out. The problem with this shelf is in the later months it may prevent the baby from flipping around to its “head down” position in preparation for birth. The baby is currently in breech (side lying) position and if the shelf gets in the way of the baby flipping, I may have to have a planned C-Section.

The Doctor spent some time explaining to us that this is different from Amniotic Band Syndrome, which is a wall of tissue that completely cuts off part of the bean. He told me to be careful when researching on the internet because when people do have Amniotic Band Syndrome (which I do not) the baby can get body parts enmeshed or tangled in the tissue which can lead to amputation of that part or limb. It has never happened that a baby has gotten any limbs or body parts caught within shelf-like tissue due to the small size of the shelf. So, I should breathe deep and be careful of what I read.

So, here we are again asking, “What does all that mean?” It means more of my favorite game of “wait and see”! There is nothing we can do in the meantime. The baby may be able to flip around or may not. We see the high risk doctor again on September 8. I swear, this pregnancy is really testing me! Or, maybe our baby is already teaching me life lessons about patience, faith and not sweating the small stuff.