Baby X

EDD: April 7, 2010 (actually coming closer to March 10, 2010)

Hopefully in a not-to-distant update I will be able to include a name for this baby. I'm always joking that she will not have a name and we will just call her Three. We just haven't found the right name yet. Other than the naming process, everything else is coming along nicely. We have started stocking up on baby items so hopefully we will be prepared when the time comes.

If you followed my last pregnancy you probably know about my ultra rare condition. When I was pregnant with Maddox I was diagnosed with Cholestasis of Pregnancy in my first trimester. It occurs in about one in a million pregnancies and is generally a late pregnancy thing. It is THAT much MORE rare to have it present in the first trimester. This condition becomes dangerous to the baby after the 38th week. Generally they will induce labor by the end of the 37th week because of it. However, my condition was so extremely severe with Maddox that they gave me the steroid shots (for lung development) at 32 and 33 weeks. At 34 weeks I went in to check lung maturity with an amnio. The original plan was to send me home and call me back the next day if the lungs tested mature. Well, when he pulled the fluid my perinatologist was really uncomfortable with the color. He kept me there and started my induction immediately. Thus, Maddox was born at 34 weeks.

This time around they tested for the Cholestasis at my intake appointment and the tests show that it is present again. The only thing ... I'm completely symptom free. With Maddox I itched from the inside out throughout the entire pregnancy. This time around I feel absolutely fantastic. The only itching I'm doing is my dry skin and stretcing belly. I am still shocked that my blood test is showed the bile acids again. The big bummer is that although I'm symptom free I still have to have an early induction. I'm not happy about it. This is our last baby and I will really hoping to have as natural of a delivery as possible. In the end I will just be happy to come home with a healthy baby. And at 36 weeks she should come home right away. (Maddox had an 8 day NICU hold because he was born before 35 weeks.)

Well - that's what is happening. More updates to come as things progress!