Follow-up with Dr. Walton

Rus and I had a follow-up with Dr. Walton yesterday. I have to say that I don't really remember what was said well because I got upset at one point. Once again he apologized for . . . well, he has said ruining our lives in the past, but basically just the way things turned out. He said he knew Wyatt was still in the hospital because he had been discussed during the "significant cases" review between NICU and perinatology. Actually, maybe the other OBs attend, I didn't think to ask. Basically, all premies are significant.

He mentioned Wyatt's breathing problems and said that he might be prone to asthma later on. Having asthma as a kid really sucks, but I am prepared to deal with that. What I am more worried about is brain damage. He doesn't expect any brain damage because Wyatt's decels were self-resolving. Dr. Jennis thought that the APGARs are very reassuring.

I seem to have had five problems during my pregnancy. There was the two vessel cord, which probably won't happen again. (Although I think he thought it might be related to my other issues.) I had placental calcification, which we did not discuss at this appointment. I had a filamentous insertion of the umbilical cord in to the placenta. Also, I had a perfusion problem where the placenta wasn't working properly. I think that the term I glanced on the report was hypoplasia, which is the incomplete formation of an organ. This was totally new information. If I was to get pregnant again, I might have the perfusion problem and I would need to be followed by a peri again. He also mentioned antiphospholipid syndrome in relationship, although the labs weren't concerning at the time. The last problem was low amniotic fluid which was likely caused by the placental hypoplasia.

He said if he had to put a percent on me having the hypoplasia problem again, which he didn't want to do, there is a 40-60% chance it would happen again. And this is where I started to cry because I just feel like my body is incapable of doing anything correctly. It's a miracle I can breathe. Dr. Walton tried to be reassuring by telling me that wasn't true that I was able to have a pregnancy. He told me there is no reason why I can't get pregnant again. In some cases they do not recommend that patients become pregnant again, but he wouldn't make that recommendation to us.

He asked if I had been taking baby aspirin from the beginning of my pregnancy. I couldn't remember, I thought I was at least on it by the 10th week, but maybe it was earlier. He told me I should be on it right away. In fact, it wouldn't hurt to be on it everyday from here forward. Heparin doesn't cross the placenta so it might not be that helpful, but baby aspirin would help with clotting. Anyway, I should contact him right away if I become pregnant again.

I am supposed to wait at least 8 months before trying to get pregnant again. He talked about trying to get pregnant without assistance and that in a lot of cases being pregnant somehow helps the body figure out how to get pregnant later and we might not need any help. He said we still have time to try naturally.

We discussed what we could have done differently. He wouldn't have done anything differently than what we did. And if I become pregnant again he wouldn't do anything differently. He said it was lucky I got sent to him. I have to agree. He could have sent me back to the regular OB and this all could have ended very differently. I even think that had I seen Dr. Newman, the other peri, things would have turned out really differently. Dr. Newman would have sent me home instead of doing the OCT. I know because he was the peri on call that day. Dr. Walton was off, but he still called in and insisted they do the test. Rus and I will be forever grateful to Dr. Walton for our son.