Oct 11, 2005: A perfect pregnancy with a bit of a surprise...

We got the most unexpected news regarding our pregnancy. I was diagnosed with a condition called Vasa Previa, which put the baby at high risk if I went into preterm labor, or my water broke too early and I started to bleed. Vasa Previa, as it was explained to us, is a condition in which the vessels to the umbilical cord do not develop within the placenta as they are expected to do so. Instead the vessels are free flowing, and in my case, one of them was crossing my cervix. The doctor advised us that I would have to have a scheduled C-Section, unless the vessel moved out of the way--chances of that happening are very slim--and I needed to be admitted the hospital immediately to keep baby and I under 24hr medical supervision. Neither my husband or I had ever heard of the condition, nor had many of our friends. We learned more about this condition and came to terms that we were in the right place and under the right supervision should anything have gone wrong as we waited. You can get more information about vasa previa, and read personal stories of other families who have had this condition, at http://www.vasaprevia.com. The more I read and learned about vasa previa, the more I hoped there was more testing upfront to diagnose the condition in time, as was our case. Often times, this condition is not found until it is too late.

Throughout the pregnancy I tried to take pictures of my expanding belly every week; this picture is one of the last ones that I took of myself before being admitted to the hospital. I cradled my belly and looked forward to meeting baby. Little did I know that we would be in the hospital for 7 weeks and 1 day before her delivery.

The following few entries are straight from a journal that I kept while in the hospital as we waited for our little angel to come into this world. I was admitted to the hospital at 28weeks, on Oct 11, 2005.