Another Call to the Doc...

Okay, back to the spirit of honest reporting. This morning I passed some mucus - enough to show my husband and enough that led us both to decide it was worth a call to the doctor. Dr. C was on-call and offered to see me, but felt that as my pregnancy progresses and in light of my TAC, mucus-like discharge will only be on the rise.

It is hard not to reflect on my first pregnancy when on the Sunday prior to learning my membranes were bulging, I passed something that hindsight tells me was my mucus plug.

This time around many thoughts went through my head. If it was my mucus plug, would I be placed on bed rest, started on antibiotics and told to just wait? If I started contractions or active labor, or if infection were to occur, I would have no choice but to have a c-section and deliver. You see the TAC is so great, you can't deliver vaginally. There is enough room for an early miscarriage (up until about 14 weeks) to pass but beyond that, a Cesarean must be performed.

Dr. C is really starting to know me well. He said if I am going to obsess about what happened, then my peace of mind is his peace of mind and he would like me to come in to be evaluated. He also stated again that there is a very low threshold for admitting me this pregnancy. Then he brought up what I feel like is his favorite topic: bed rest. He admits he's very conservative and that the literature really doesn't support it as a prophylactic measure but still feels I should, perhaps at 20 weeks, go on limited activity.

Dr. Davis told me aside from bungee jumping and sky diving, I can carry on with life as usual. I told Dr. C that this bed rest issue seems to be the biggest discrepancy between the two practitioners. He wants me to run it by Dr. G who I plan on seeing Wednesday.

Getting another opinion from my perinatal group is not the same as getting another opinion from a TAC surgeon. They see these high-risk patients day in and day out. They know the limitations and successes of their work and I am positive they would not advocate for no bed rest if in reality all of us TAC mommies should be reclining for the remainder of our pregnancies.

This reminds me of something else Dr. C said today. He said he does NOT look at me as just a regular pregnant woman. I'm glad to know his opinion of me as a patient and truly appreciate the fact that he takes the time to have these conversations with me, especially on a Saturday morning. I also appreciate that he knows exactly who I am when I call and that I can be an active participant in my care, sharing my opinions with him. That whole relationship as equal partners in my care is working! I am very thrilled that this has been achieved!

The conversation ended with the plan that if anything changes, I will call. If I have any bleeding, watery discharge (leaking membranes), severe cramping or contractions I will go in to be evaluated.

In the mean time, I have been hydrating very well. And, in the spirit of confidence in my doctor and confidence in my intuition, walked around a tree house exhibit with the rest of my family. So far, so good... just don't share this with my doc!