Twin Pregnancy Blog - Sept 11, 2010 - Week 15 - "News keeps getting worse"

My wife has been at home on bedrest for the past week since released from the hospital (for the 2nd time). Today's doctor visit was meant to just be a checkup on the progress of how the removed growth was healing.

I had expected to just hear the doctor say something like "Ok, everything's fine. You're good to go back to work but take it easy."

Unfortunately, like I said before, we just can't catch a break...

The babies look ok. But the doctor discovered a space in the placenta (known as chorionic hematoma). The space is filled with blood which is apparently slowly oozing out, causing the daily spotting my wife has been experiencing recently. The space is small enough to not cause distress to the babies at the moment. But it's large enough to be a significant concern. (ie, It has the potential to act as a wedge between the placenta and uterus. If it grows in size, it will completely tear the placenta away, essentially cutting off the babies' nutrient source.)

The tone of the doctor seems to be suggesting that we should prepare for the worst case scenario...

The doctor advised that it's extremely unlikely that my wife can return to work until after the pregnancy. My wife is ordered on bedrest and progesterone treatment. We'll visit the doctor in a week's time to reassess.

There's no proven effective treatment for something like this. All we can do is hope for the best. Fortunately, my wife is not experiencing any pain or cramping (which are common symptoms of an impending miscarriage) and there are plenty of cases where it just natually heals itself.

In these shots, that large black spot shaped like a banana on the left is the site of the chorionic hematoma. Horrifically, it's nearly the size of the baby's head which you can see on the right...