Kristie McNealy, MD

I’ve written a lot about my other pregnancies, but  for some reason, I just haven’t had a lot to say about baby #4.  It’s probably a combination of morning sickness and the sheer chaos of taking care of 3 kids, a dog and 2 businesses, but I just haven’t had the energy to put this pregnancy down on “paper”.

Today, I got my third glimpse at the newest member of the McNealy clan.  The week leading up to the appointment was filled with a little bit of drama over my perinatologist’s office and their new H1N1 infections control procedures, which quite frankly suck.

I was a little nervous because the circumstances surrounding all of those fantastic flu control policies left me going to the ultrasound alone.  At this point, we have already seen the little guy twice, and we know he is a boy, and he’s growing right on target.  Everything up until today has looked great.

I’ve been doing my progesterone (17P) injections to help prevent the preterm labor which caused our 2nd daughter to arrive 9 weeks early.  I’ve been feeling good, and all of my appointments have been great.  So, I knew if there were any new news at this appointment, it would be the bad kind.

Thankfully, baby looks great.  He’s growing well, and the perinatologist is 100% positive that he’s a boy (that bottom left US pic is indeed boy parts)    Unfortunately, things didn’t look as good on my end as they did on his.

*Possible TMI warning* Because of my history of preterm labor, once every two or three weeks, the doctor checks the length of my cervix by ultrasound.  My first check had looked great, but today the sonographer told me my cervix was “shortish”.  As it turns out, my cervix is a whole centimeter shorter than it was at my last ultrasound.  For perspective, we’re only starting out around 3.5cm, so a centimeter is a significant change.  With pressure on my belly, I lost even more length.

So, for now, I have been warned to take it as easy as humanly possible.  If I don’t, I could end up hospitalized on bedrest if my next ultrasound shows further shortening.  With three kids at home who won’t be able to visit because of swine flu precautions, the thought of being stuck in the hospital for weeks is pretty much a nightmare.  On top of that, we have 4 more weeks (I’m 20 weeks today) until the baby will be considered viable.

Right now, I am camped out on the couch.  I’m trying to behave myself, so I ordered my groceries online tonight (thank goodness for King Soopers home delivery), and I decided to skip the trip down to the basement to use our scanner.  That’s why you’ll have to settle for the lousy iPhone photo of my ultrasound pictures.  I’m sure you’ll all live 

Similar Posts:

• Ultrasound Update
• Anticipation
• Preterm Labor Warning Signs – Blogging for Prematurity Awareness
• Pregnancy Pointers – The Hospital Bag