Okay, don’t panic and nobody call us all worried that the sky is falling. I’ve had enough “Chicken Little” syndrome for all of us over the past couple weeks. A few weeks ago, the same day as Tri for the Cure, actually, I was going to bed and noticed that I was having some bleeding. Now, as most of you probably know, it is a commonly held belief that pregnant women are not supposed to bleed. Fearing the worst, I immediately called and left a message for Karin, our midwife. She called me back about 10 minutes later, from a wedding that she was at, and we talked about what I was experiencing. Since I wasn’t having any cramping, it was Karin’s opinion that I probably over did it a little during the triathlon and just burst a blood vessel in my cervical area. She told me to just take it easy over the next couple days and keep her informed on the situation. Ben and I went to bed, both a little worried. The next day, Ben, my hero, stayed home from work so that I could take it a little easier than I normally can with a two year old. I got some herbs from Carol, our acupuncturist, to help stop the bleeding. The bleeding tapered off but I was still worried. That Friday I had had enough worrying and called Karin. I asked if I could come in to check the baby’s heartbeat to give both Ben and I some peace of mind. She told me to come on over, even though she doesn’t normally see clients on Friday’s, because she was getting ready to go on vacation. The baby had a nice strong heart rate of 152 bpm. Whew, what a relief.
Fast forward to two Sundays ago, exactly 2 weeks after Tri for the Cure. Ben and I were running some errands in Boulder. I was in the car with Tana because she had fallen asleep. I got kicked by the baby! We aren’t talking the little butterfly feeling, we are talking a kick strong enough that when I put my hand on the spot, the baby kicked again and I could feel it from the outside. Pretty cool! That night, I was getting ready to go to bed and noticed that I was having some bleeding. It wasn’t as heavy as the previous time, but this time it just didn’t seem to be stopping. I still wasn’t having any cramping so I decided to hold off on calling Karin. When I was still bleeding on Tuesday, I decided it was time to go check the heart beat, yet again. I had been feeling the baby move on a fairly regular basis, but every little unusual sensation in my abdomen made me fear the worst. This is when I really started feeling like Chicken Little. Karin checked the heart beat and it was 140 bpm. Everything sounded fine. Karin said if I still needed some peace of mind, we could order an ultrasound, but I didn’t think we needed to do that. However, when yesterday rolled around and I was still bleeding, Ben and I decided that maybe it was time to see if we could get a little more information and try to get a better idea of what is going on with my body. I called Karin and told her that we wanted to get an ultrasound. Her first comment was “You’re still bleeding?!?!?” Umm, yea… She got what info she needed from me so that she could fax in an order to the place she uses for ultrasounds. I waited a little while to make sure the order had time to get there and called to schedule the ultrasound. Of course, as soon as I schedule the ultrasound, the bleeding stops.
Our ultrasound was today. What we found out is that I have a hematoma (think bruise) inside my uterus, right by my cervix, hence the bleeding. The hematoma should eventually be reabsorbed by my body, much like how a bruise heals. After the general look and finding of the hematoma, the tech started taking a good look at the baby. Everything looked good with the baby. Arms, legs, hands and feet are all well formed. The spine looks good, as do the kidneys which have good blood flow. Brain looks good, heart rate was 146 bpm, and there is good blood flow through the umbilical cord. The tech gave us a huge pile of pictures, including 2 pictures of the baby’s little feet prints. We were pretty sure that everything is fine. Ben went back to work and Tana and I went home.
Karin called later on in the afternoon, after talking to the MD that analyzed the ultrasound. Karin said that he said that I have a small hematoma in a location that will not affect the placenta or the baby. The “tyke”, as he apparently put it, looks good and healthy and is developing right on track. Now I just need the hematoma to reabsorb. I must admit, as unflattering as ultrasounds can be, I think this is going to be one cute baby. What a huge relief!!! Anyhow, here are a couple of profile pictures of the little little one.
It’s funny, all the pictures we have from Tana’s 20 week ultrasound look like ET. This little one, we have a picture of it that kind of looks like the “Crypt Keeper” from “Tales from the Crypt.” We’ll save that picture for October. ![]()











