So this past weekend Hubby and I went on a mini-vacation to my aunt's beach condo. It's about a 3 hour drive north from where we live. We wanted to get away to relax for a few days before the fall semester starts next week. Needless to say that the trip was anything but relaxing for me.
The evening after we got there, I noticed dark spots of old-looking blood on the tissue paper when I used the restroom before bed. I thought that it was a little strange, but I didn't concern myself about it too much. The following morning I woke up to the horrified sight of bright pink/red blood when I used the toilet. I was shocked and terrified and I didn't know what was going on. I went back to bed and woke up Hubby and told him that I thought that I might be having a miscarriage. We both cried for an hour in fear of what might actually be happening. It was Saturday, and my doctor's office was closed for the weekend so I couldn't call to get advice. And since I was out of town, I didn't know where to go to seek medical care. So all I could do was wait and see what happened. Throughout the day, though, I never experienced any flow of blood or sudden loss of my pregnancy symptoms. The spotting also went back to the old-blood/brown-looking color, and became inconsistent (meaning that I didn't see it with every trip to the bathroom). I never experienced any cramping or back pain, either.
By Monday morning things were still pretty much the same as they had been all day Saturday and Sunday, but I had passed a clot about the size of half of my pinky finger. Of course I went ahead and called my doctor to get advice on what I should do. I explained everything to the nurse who relayed the information to the nurse practitioner. I was advised to rest as much as possible and go to the office on Wednesday (today) to check hCG levels and have an ultrasound done to rule out any possible complications. I was ridiculously anxious from Monday until this morning, and honestly I was expecting the worst. Thankfully, though, the ultrasound showed that I am indeed pregnant (with only one) and that it is growing in the uterus where it should be. My tubes and ovaries and the rest of my uterus all look normal, and the little bean is measuring a little smaller than expected, just 2 days behind my estimated due date based on my last period. The ultrasound tech explained that the first little dot at the top of image is the fetal pole, and the other small dot is the yolk sac. She told me that at this size the heartbeat is not detectable on the ultrasound, but by September when I go in for my first official visit I should be able to see it on the screen and possibly even hear it. If the little bean is still measuring a little bit behind, they may change my due date, but there is still plenty of time for the little one to grow and catch up.
Honestly, this is such a relief to me. I truly am thankful for the medical team that I have. They are so responsive and so sensitive to the patient's concerns. I am glad that they took my concerns seriously and had me go in to ease my fears rather than telling me that I am fine and to go to the hospital if I were really worried. Throughout all of this, though, I did not get an explanation for what exactly caused the bleeding. However, the ultrasound tech suspected that it could have been due to the corpus luteum left behind from ovulation. She said that sometimes it causes bleeding for no reason, but that it isn't dangerous to the fetus.
Now that my fears have been put to rest, I think that I am able to finally relax a little more. I will definitely be staring at this photo for the next two weeks until we can get another one. Little bean is a determined little fighter, and already causing mama and papa a lot of trouble<3
