Bed Rest

Feet up, relax and bed rest

The doctor couldn't give us a definitive reason to why Spud was born at 20 weeks, but they did offer some ideas.  A blood clot on the placenta caused Factor V Leiden, an infection or a weak cervix.  I relation to the latter, we were told that if Clare was pregnant again in the future and nearing the 20 week mark, they would look to put in a stitch to help strengthen and support the cervix from shortening.

Due to this suggestion we had a scan to check the cervix length and scan every 2 weeks after to regularly check variances in length.

The first scan measured at 3.7cm, which was very good news.  The normal standard is anywhere between 3 and 4 centimeters, so we fell at the positive end of the scale.  This gave us a great feeling as the pregnancy was looking perfect.

Our second scan a couple of weeks later revealed that the cervix length had shortened.  It had reduced to 2.9 cm.  On any normal person, this would be acceptable, but due to the 0.8 cm loss we were not happy to just walk away.  With us so close to the 20 weeks checkpoint and the thought that we could lose another baby around the same stage we could not sit and wait two weeks to check.  Thankfully, we were told to come back in 1 weeks time for another scan to which we can ascertain if a stitch is needed, but in the interim Clare is on absolute strict bed rest.

With her feet raised with extra pillows, Netflix at the ready and me at beckon call, the bed rest week began.

Understanding how stressful Clare's pregnancy is for her is something I cannot perceive, but I know I have to do everything I possibly can to support her.  Our friends have just had a beautiful baby girl and one starts to think, how can it be so easy? Why can we not have a straight run of confirmation, 12 week scan and 20 week scan?  Every new day is a step closer to our dream, but it also brings so much more worry, stress and anxiety and the closer we get to the 20 weeks stage the more increased this is.   I don't begrudge anyone who has a straightforward pregnancy, in fact completely the opposite, any mother who goes through 9 months of increasing joy to the inevitable bundle of love is amazing, and so is my Clare.  She is putting up with so much at the moment and seemingly coping so well.

We are now waiting for the next appointment to see where we go next...

Scenario 1 (The Good): The Cervix has either increased (due to bed rest or slight margin of error on scans) and no further action is needed until the next scan at 20 weeks.

Scenario 2 (The Bad): The Cervix has decreased further meaning a surgical stitch is needed to help strengthen

Thankfully there is no Ugly, which ever way the scan goes we get a positive result, that is how I see it any way.  I can't really see Clare doing much for the next few weeks though.