More Bad News

We went and saw our Midwife on Thursday. Since we're only about 8 weeks away appointments are more often. Darlene said this is when we would really get to talking about our birth plan. So, it's getting very exciting.
Well, that's not what was in store for this appointment.
Darlene sat us down and said "So, I received the letter and report from Eastside Maternal Fetal Medicine (EMFM)". She then paused and looked at us as if we knew where this was going. She then cautiously proceeded, "So, I guess I will not be able to see you anymore. They won't allow you to labor with me. They won't allow you to give birth outside of a hospital".
It took me a second to register that these words were even coming out of her mouth. I looked at Jeremy and he was turning bright red. We moved closer together and he wrapped his arms around me as I began to sob.
According to Darlene the letter Dr. Direct (which I now know is Dr. de Regt but, who cares) indicated that we were already aware of this. Darlene thought she was telling us something that we already knew! I mentioned the umbilical vein in the last blog. Well, in that appointment the Dr said it was nothing.. nothing, blew it off. But, in her report she makes it out to be a big problem. The medical term for it is Persistent Right Umbilical Vein. It is a rare anomaly that causes the umbilical vein to connect with the right portal vein and the portal sinus therefore curves towards the stomach rather that away from it. The fetal gallbladder thus is placed between the umbilical vein and the stomach. PRUV may be due to teratogens, thrombosis, syndromic anomalies, and chromosomal anomalies in only about 20% of reported cases. In the remaining 80% it appears to be an isolated finding with no significance. But, if you lined up 100 pregnant ladies and told 20 there would be complications with there baby, that's pretty high odds. That's why we are now being labeled "high risk".
Her report went on to say "She also has not had a fetal echo cardiogram which we could arrange, mostly because she wouldn't be a candidate for out of hospital birth. I will plan echo at the time of scheduled 36 week appt next visit or if we should do it earlier to help arrange delivery plan, then she can be seen earlier."
Well, I called EMFM to tell them how I felt about Dr. de Regt and to make an earlier appointment for the echo. And guess what. The receptionist wouldn't reschedule it because the Dr wasn't there and she needed her permission! Was I not holding the report from the Dr that said we could do it earlier so I can arrange a new birth plan?
So, now I am stuck in this limbo. It's the weekend but, as soon as Monday rolls back around it's back to making phone calls. Back to researching hospitals, and who has the lowest c-section rate so my baby isn't yanked out through my belly. Back to worrying about things we won't even know until baby gets here like, if the hand is okay, and the heart, and if the baby has circulation issues. Back to trying to schedule an earlier echo somewhere else. Back to madness.

What Now?

We had another appointment with the specialists at Eastside Maternal Fetal Medicine at around our 30 week mark. This time my mommy came along to see the little Wonky one on the screen herself. It was so nice to have her along.
We got a different doctor then last time and a different ultrasound tech as well. At first the tech was saying he could only really see the clubfoot on the left foot. Couldn't confirm the right. I also noticed he kept looking at the stomach. It was somewhat of an alarm to me because I remember at the very first ultrasound how they kept looking at the feet. Trying to get better views and better shots. And we know how that turned out. Then the Dr. came in. Dr. Direct. She was this flowy, hippy lady with a long purple scarf draped over her shoulder. She had a very gentle demeanor to her. Almost too gentle. She hardly even pressed down on my belly with the ultrasound wand, causing the picture to be kinda misty and gray.
I pointed out to her that the tech didn't really take a look at the hands at all, which had been a concern at our previous appointment. When she started to look at the hands the left one was just fine, even grabbing and pulling at the left foot which was funny. But every time she tried to look at the right hand, the wrist was cocked in a downward position fingers pointing down, with no movement in the wrist or fingers. She went back to the hand several times, always with the same result. The doctor also pointed out that yes, even thou the tech couldn't see it the clubfoot was present on both feet. I noticed she was going to the stomach a lot too. So, I just asked. "Why are we looking at the stomach so much?" because.."something was off with the blood vessels" she said. She ran a few different blood flow tests to see the color and hear the sound. We were all waiting anxiously with our breath held. She spent forever.. it seemed like 10 mins just looking at the stomach alone. Only to tell us that all fetuses start off with 2 umbilical veins and then as they grow one dissipates and then after they're born the other one goes away as well. But, that our baby still had 2 umbilical veins which was "Unusual but, not life threatening and would there be a problem with blood flow or anything? No. It's just an indicator that something else could be wrong with the baby, but in this case we already know it has clubfoot." How frustrating! Keeping us all in suspense.. for what? She said in her light airy voice "Sorry to raise the anxiety level in here. Haha. Just wanted to check it out."
Then back to the hands. Same thing. Left one fine, clenching, opening, moving around. Right one totally absent of movement. Fingers still pointed downward. She said something about it being more than clubfoot. About, how the baby could have a skeletal problem. But, we wouldn't really know more until after the baby was born.

Later Jeremy told me he was proud of me for how I reacted to the news at the appointment. "About the hand?" I asked. "Yes.." he said "..you didn't cry or anything.." "Well, the way I see it is no matter what it's our baby. And it already has to be fixed right? So, whaddya gonna do?"