Back with GOOD NEWS

Marginal placenta previa.

Which means that a portion of my placenta is covering my cervix. If that gets irritated for any reason, it can easily bleed. This can be a potentially dangerous thing, but in our case, the OB is not concerned.

He said that it is a small portion covering the os, and that given the placement of the rest of the placenta, he feels confident that this will correct itself as most previas do - growing upwards with the uterus. When that happens, the bleeding will stop and there should be no more issues.

I do not need to go on bed rest, he doesn't think it would help much anyway, given that the episodes have occurred while I was not doing anything restricted. But to rest with my feet up as much as possible and to rest if I have more bleeding. Otherwise, total pelvic rest continues until the placenta moves, I can't lift anything heavier than 10 pounds, no vigorous exercise and try not to worry too much when bleeding occurs (it can continue until the placenta moves).

He thinks that what prompted the latest issue is what we saw on u/s. Chickadee is feet down, jumping on my placenta - the piece that is right over the cervix! Little monkey!

This was honestly the best possible news for us. We got an explanation of the bleeding (and no, no one knows why this wasn't picked up/diagnosed/mentioned in any of the other FOUR u/s that I've had), and it is a minor issue that is not a threat to the baby or pregnancy at this time and should correct itself. If it doesn't move, I'll have to have seriously monitored labor/delivery and likely a c-section, but the OB is so confident that it will move on its own that he said I can continue to see my mw and plan for out of hospital birth! We just need to follow up later in the pregnancy to verify that it has moved far enough to allow for a low risk delivery.

Other stats:

-Cervix is long and thick and closed - woohooo!
-Chickie is measuring nearly a full week ahead of my ovulation based due date and the nurse said she thought I'd go in December.
-OB said that he can't predict the future, that other things might interfere, but that he feels confident I will have a full term pregnancy and normal labor and delivery!
-Chickie giving up the goods for an early sex peek - lol, not really. To be precise, the nurse and I both thought we saw indications for one sex. But Jason saw indications for the other sex. The doc said he leaned one way, but he really couldn't tell and wouldn't bet on it at all, that he's seen it go either way. In fact, he printed out a picture of a between the legs shot that shows seriously nothing clear and labelled it '??????' - LOL

On that note - this OB was the best OB I've ever met. I've never had the pleasure of being a patient of a good OB, but he and his staff were friendly, kind, patient, compassionate and just completely wonderful. Totally understanding of our fears, very reassuring, and very kind to an out of hospital midwivery patient. He said that I was in good hands in my mw's care, but that if anything untoward arose, just call and he'll take care of me. How nice is that?!

So, I'm feeling completely over the moon with relief and happiness. The doc's office was just down from my mw's office and so we stopped in to see her and give her the news and she nearly cried with relief. I love how much she cares about her clients and how happy she was to hear that things are going to be ok.

Great day, all things considered!