Dear Baby: 14

Dear Baby,

We had a bit of a scare with you on Thursday evening. I had been working on that laundry pile diligently all day long, and Grandma Sheila was there helping me. I had some period like cramping the night before and a little throughout the day, but associated it with normal pregnancy growing pains. Then, around 5:30 on Thursday afternoon I started bleeding. This was scary. I knew bleeding was normal, and probably meant nothing, but the fact that I hadn't bled at all so far during the pregnancy coupled with the fact that I had cramping scared me. Luckily Grandma Sheila was there to keep me calm and tell me what to do. So, I called my doctor, the office was closed, so I called Women's Triage which is a special emergency room for pregnant women. I talked to the midwife and she advised it was probably nothing, but that I should come in so they could examine me and confirm there was nothing wrong. Your dad was about an hour away playing volleyball and I didn't want to go without him, but also knew he doesn't answer his phone while he's playing. So, I called him about ten times hoping he would check his phone at some point and get the message that he needed to call me. He did.

He stopped playing and came home right away. Grandma Sheila packed some food for all of us because we all know how the emergency room can be. Once your papa got home, we headed to the hospital. Being able to go to the special Women's Triage was SO much better than normal emergency! We checked in, they brought me back, and we saw a nurse right away. After the nurse took my vitals, the midwife came in and talked to us, and then went to get the doppler so we could listen to your heartbeat. They put the doppler on my belly and it took a few minutes (your papa was a little scared during this time) to find your heartbeat, but they finally did and it was beating 170 beats per minute! Once they found your heartbeat and determined that you were fine, they did an exam and concluded that I had a subchorionic hematoma.

That's a big word, let's break it down: Subchorionic hematoma (also known as subchorionic hemorrhage or subchorionic bleeding) is a pool of blood clot that resides between the membrane of the placenta (chorion) and the wall of the uterus. The clot is typically the result of bleeding that occurs when only the placental margin of the chorion is separated from the uterine wall. You can read more here. The midwife said that this happens, and that I would bleed some more, but that everything was fine. What a relief!