13 Weeks, 2 Days

I had my first visit with my obstetrician today, and we hired a sitter so K could tag along and meet her formally. They had crossed paths in the business world, and he thought I would like her, so there I was. It was funny how helpful he tried to be to me during the appointment, asking if he could help me with this or that, and whether he could get me things. As soon as we were out the door, it was back to normal!

Nothing unusual about this visit, except that I had a lot of questions about placenta previa (see previous entry.) She agreed with K that it was too early to worry, but humored me with answers to all of my what-if questions anyway. If there is still a complete previa when I go for my 20-week scan, nothing will happen except that there's less chance of it moving and they'll want to check again around 28 weeks. If there is still a complete previa at 28 weeks, it isn't going to move, and I will automatically be scheduled for a C-section. Most complete previas are sectioned at 36 weeks due to the risk of heavy bleeding and emergency sections if the mother should start to dilate on her own. If I have any bleeding at all before then, I will probably be kept in the hospital for observation, and depending on the severity of the bleeding, may be sectioned even earlier. The risks and scariness get even worse if you read too much online, but she prudently reminded me that it was too early to worry, and what we would plan for at the moment was that I would only be a partial previa when I am scanned at 20 weeks and will have no previa at all when they check again at 28 weeks. That would be great, because I can't imagine trying to recover from a C-section with the "no heavy lifting" rule with four little ones at home! My abdomen is hurting just thinking about it.