A Very Rough Morning

Today has been a rough day in the Reimer household. It all started at 4 a.m. when I woke up and realized I was bleeding. I went into the bathroom to check on things and started sobbing uncontrollably. How could this be happening to us again?

Greg awoke when he heard me crying and once the reason invaded his senses, he was rendered completely awake. We called our doctor and left a message on their pager. Dr. Bachus himself called us back and tried to reassure me that things would most likely be okay since I wasn’t having any cramping. We were already heading to his office for our second ultrasound in the morning, so we decided to continue forward with that plan. But neither Greg or I could get rid of the anxiousness or stress. Greg held me as I cried myself to sleep. I proceeded to drift in and out of a light and uneasy sleep until the alarm went off at 7.

After dropping Adrianna off at Janette’s, we made the trip up to Fort Collins. We are so thankful that the ultrasound showed the baby’s heartbeat, still going strong. The baby’s growth is right on target too. But I cannot help remembering that was the case with the last pregnancy also.

The ultrasound also showed that I have another blood clot near the placenta. Dr. Bachus said it wasn’t a subchorionic hemorrhage this time and that the position of this clot isn’t as dangerous as what we had last time. While I feel a little relieved at that, I am still very emotional and stressed. He also told us that there would most likely be more bleeding due to this clot being there. Finally, he reassured us that we are doing everything possible to ensure the health of this pregnancy, including the taking of baby aspirin and progesterone. I was also given a rhogam shot since I am RH- and Greg is RH+. Greg was quick to point out the large size of the needle, but thankfully he waited until AFTER the shot was administered.

We also had an appointment with our new OBGYN this afternoon. Did I mention that Dr. Austin and Dr. Bachus went to med school together? So cool. We really liked the new doctor. He confirmed much of what Dr. Bachus had told us, which was very reassuring. There were a few slight differences, such as when I would quit taking my progesterone supplements, but it was in such minor details that it was more comforting to us that they weren’t just reading off textbook answers and both seem to be knowledgeable and in general agreement with a treatment plan.

Dr. Austin said that he would like to see us again in 2 weeks instead of a month and we’ll get another ultrasound then. He knew we would need that extra reassurance given the circumstances. So this means that we can get the ultrasound with him instead of making a final appointment with Dr. Bachus in Fort Collins, an hour away.

Tonight, I am feeling a little relieved but still very anxious. I was hoping that once we’d past the 8.5 week mark that it would be smooth sailing the rest of the way. Oh, how quickly things can change.

As if that weren’t enough to make a rough day for us though…

When I let the dogs out this morning, Chloe was acting very strangely. More barky than usual. She just stood at the edge of the deck and barked continuously. After I finally got her to come inside, she continued to bark and whine anxiously by the back door.

I thought I could see some object in our yard, so I sent Greg out to investigate. It was a dead cat. From the looks of things, some predator jumped our back fence and the struggle happened in our yard. It wasn’t pretty. Greg called animal control and they guessed that it was a fox that did it, even though a large coyote was seen in our neighborhood last week. Did you know that a fox can jump a fence that is up to 6 feet high? I didn’t. We had animal control come take care of the body since it was pretty messed up.

Our fear is that the cat belonged to our next door neighbor. We aren’t 100% sure since the body was so mangled, but the fur color looks like it might be the same cat. I worry how to break the news to our neighbor, since this cat was her life and she has mentioned before just how much she would be lost without her. We weren’t emotionally up to the task today, but I know that we need to go over there very soon to inquire if one of their cats is missing and gently break the news if the answer is yes.