18 Weeks and a HELLP Scare

Over the past week, I’ve been dealing with some upper right quadrant pain.  If you’ve had preeclampsia or HELLP syndrome, you know that upper right quadrant pain is a hallmark of the disease.  If you have preeclampsia, you’re constantly being asked about your upper right quadrant, as that will often indicate an escalation to HELLP.  I made another call to the nurse line, and since I was at a stage where HELLP would’ve been really rare, they suggested alternatives – watching my fat intake (if it was my gallbladder) and trying Zantac (if it was indigestion).  The Zantac did help some other symptoms I’d been having, but the upper right quadrant pain wouldn’t go away.  I called back today, and, due to my medical history, they were able to get me in to the doctor within the hour.  I am so grateful for a care team that takes my concerns seriously.

After an appointment with my OB, she was fairly confident that the pain I was experiencing wasn’t liver or gallbladder related, as the pain I am experiencing is slightly above my liver/gallbladder area.  As a precaution, she ran some labs.  I just got the last result back and all is good.  My liver enzymes are still hovering around 25 (AST and ALT), which is normal.  If you want a terrifying comparison, my AST and ALT were at 2,000 when I had HELLP.  The thought of what happened to my liver on January 15th of last year still elicits some major PSTD.

Other than my first HELLP scare (I’m sure there will be more), these first 18 weeks have gone fairly well.  I am sore, but I think that’s fairly normal when you’re carrying around an extra human being.  Though I’ve gained less weight at this point than I did in my pregnancy with Brady, my stomach is bigger, and I know that puts a strain on the body.  That extra human being is the size of a sweet potato this week, if you’re wondering.  I typically stick with the “fun and games” theme in the Ovia app, but this week it said baby is the size of a slingshot.  Slingshots come in many sizes, so I thought that was a crappy comparison and stuck with veggies instead.  But I digress.

It’s hard to believe our big ultrasound is next Monday already.  When we made that appointment (months ago), it seemed so far away.  I think it helps that I’ve stayed really busy during this pregnancy.  I have a lot more going on this time – including a recent job change!  I’m still at the same great company, but have transitioned into a new, exciting position.

Time might be flying, but there’s a heavy weight hanging over our next appointment.  To everyone else, this is just the “gender ultrasound”, you know, the ultrasound where you just find out if you’re having a boy or a girl.  I envy the people who think that way, because that means they’ve never had something go wrong with a pregnancy.  Jeff and I know this ultrasound is a lot more than gender.  This ultrasound was the one where we found out that Brady was perilously small, that something was going really wrong.  This time, we hope that we get to see a baby growing normally – something that so many people take for granted.  Oh, and if we get to see the baby’s privates, that’ll be pretty cool too, it’s just not our focus.

If you can send some good vibes our way early next Monday morning, we’d really appreciate it.  We are going right to perinatology for a level 2 ultrasound this time, and I managed to book it with our favorite perinatologist – the one that delivered Brady.