Pretty, Pretty Buster

*Warning: Despite its harmless beginning, the words cervix, placenta, and uterus are used with abandon in the following post.
**Reassurance: I will not be making a habit of continuing weekly posts that contain these words. It's getting pretty redundant.

On Thursday the ultrasound technician said that Buster is "such a pretty baby." She said this several times, but I remain convinced that Buster is a boy. Who else would announce his presence so emphatically to us and the world at large? And if he is a boy, I agree with the technician. He is a pretty baby.


Of course, having never envisioned myself raising girls, I thought that Millie was a boy until the midwife stretched out baby-laden arms to me and pronounced, "It's a girl!" I think that my women's intuition must have been given to someone else. Some lady's walking around out there with twice her fair share, but I'm not complaining. It's kind of fun to be convinced of something, and because I'm convinced of something, assume that the actuality is the opposite. So, yes, I think Buster's a boy. (Which means he's probably a girl.)

I had mixed news at Thursday's appointment. The fluid level is up to 14. Hurrah! After slipping from 12 to 8 in two weeks time, it rose to 14 in one week, which is wonderful considering it had been only 4 points away from when most doctors begin discussing c-section.

Also, my placenta had risen a bit, leaving part of my cervix uncovered. The doctor to whom my midwife transferred me, however, told me that though the placenta previa may change, the more concerning vasa previa I also have is less likely to change. As the uterus expands, it can move the placenta upward and out of the way, but blood vessels from vasa previa "don't really stretch" (which my doctor phrased so technically). Unless these blood vessels somehow become unneeded and wither, they will probably stay put. I have weekly ultrasounds from here on out, and if I begin to bleed from the vasa previa, I'll have to go on hospital bedrest at least temporarily because the blood vessels, though not umbilical cord vessels, are fetal blood vessels carrying life that Buster needs. They'd have to determine if the blood was maternal or Buster's, and, either way, make sure it stopped. So things are about the same, though I was encouraged to see the amniotic fluid levels so high. (And, yes, I continue to hope and pray that God does the unexpected!)


Thanks for your offers of help and, most of all, for your prayers! Buster is one pretty baby. Anything that keeps him pretty inside of me instead of outside me right now makes me happy, even when I get grumpy.