Ultrasounds = Love/Hate

Ultrasounds are a tricky thing. It's so sweet to see your growing little one inside of you.  Those sweet moments have you embracing modern technology.  However, when they find something that needs follow-up, you almost wish they didn't exist. 

I had an ultrasound earlier in pregnancy because I was bleeding.  I then needed a follow-up ultrasound because a hematoma was found on my uterus.  It may or may not have been the cause of some bleeding I had.  Turned out to be insignifant.

Today, I had my anatomy ultrasound.  While I see a midwife in my own home once a month, I scheduled this "big" ultrasound to make sure there were no heart defects, spina bifida, etc.  The baby looked great and I'm measuring perfectly.

However, the ultrasound doctor found that my placenta is low-lying.  He said it's not placenta previa, nor will I need a c-section.  He did not put me on any restrictions.  He is almost positive it will move as the baby and uterus grows.  I had this same "problem" when I was pregnant with Lila and it resolved itself early on.  I think we found it, due to bleeding, at 16-weeks and it was resolved by 20-weeks. However, it may have been 24 or 26 weeks before it resolved. I'd have to look at my chart.

I'm not in the least bit concerned and if I was not planning a home birth, I wouldn't even care much at all.  It would be fairly insignificant.  I have also read that it can be overly-diagnosed at this point in the pregnancy and only 1 in 600 (according to some studies), who are diagnosed mid-pregnancy, go on to have a true problem with it later on.  Further good news is that other studies state that if the placenta is not covering the cervix (mine is not) at the 20-week ultrasound and is just close to it, no further ultrasound is needed because it will definitively move away. So, I can ignore it and not go back for another scan or keep an eye on it.  Since I'm planning a home birth, I feel that I have to be sure it has resolved prior to birth - just to be on the safer side. We do not want any excessive bleeding because I was overly-confident and ignored recommended follow-up!

So, that's that. I'm really not concerned - but, this is the kind of crap that sometimes happens when you have ultrasounds and one reason why some of my friends don't get them at all!!  If only I were that brave!