The past month...

•  July 19th (18 weeks) I experienced some bleeding.  I freaked out, called Ben.  We had an ultrasound to check on baby and everything me.  (They even checked to see if he was a boy or girl...he was being stubborn).  I was then seen by my ob and examined.  Both the ultrasound and exam checked out.  They couldn't determine the bleeding and I was told I needed to slow down a bit.  At this visit, the cervix measured 3 cm. I explained my job and she told me I could go on as normal with work, just use my head.  She wanted to see us in 2 weeks for our scheduled 20 week ultrasound.
• August 3rd we went in for our 20 week ultrasound.  The ultrasound itself was great!  He was very proud from the beginning of the ultrasound and showed us in fact he was a HE.  They took all kinds of pictures and measurements.  He was 13 ounces at this visit.  We got done and went down the hall for our doctor visit.  And that's when our ob called us in to her office to discuss the ultrasound.  She saw some things that concerned her.  So she was referring me to a specialist.  And we'd hopefully be seen in the next week or so.
• My cervix is a cm or less closed...which it should be 3 to 5 cm closed.
• Baby has a calcium deposit on his heart. 
• Baby has ascites (fluid) in his abdomen around his liver.
• August 6th (21 weeks) I got a call at work telling me that the specialist wanted to see me right away and to bring a bag in case they admitted me.  We got there, they did two types of ultrasounds.  From the ultrasounds they saw the issue with my cervix and also the ascites.  So then that's when all the "WHAT IF'S" started.  Basically the state my cervix is in, I could go in to labor at any point. So that is when I learned I was officially now on bed rest.  Then the calcium deposit on the baby's heart.  They didn't see it.  So to be sure they scheduled a fetal echo for the next day.  Then the ascites...is a bigger issue than what we thought from our August 3rd visit.  Basically a lot of reasons could be causing it so we then had to undergo lots of tests.  Our doctor is very open and she told us about every possibility.  From miscarriage, delivering early, genetic disorder, going full term, etc.  We decided to do an amniocentesis to run a few tests.  They took blood and ran all kinds of tests.  So they decided to admit me at University Hospital (on IUPUI's campus) for monitoring and to do a few things the next day.
• August 7th We had the fetal echo at Riley Children's Hospital, the pediatric cardiologist came in and went through the pictures and took some more.  Baby's heart is just over 2 cm, WOW!  The doctor said that he does NOT see the calcium deposit or anything that would be causing the ascites in the abdomen.  Heart looks and is functioning as it should! After that we went back to my room and waited.  Finally saw my doctor and she said that the NICU team was dealing with a difficult case and couldn't meet with us until tomorrow or we could meet with them when we came back in next week for our next appointment.  We decided to go home and rest in our home.  
• We got the test results back during the week. So...we continued to cross things off the list that could be the cause of ascites, they still do not know the cause at this point in time. The doctors tested several possible reasons for the ascities that include viral, genetic & toxins.  These all resulted in normal results for the genetic makeup and negative for viruses and toxins.  We still do not know why the fluid is there.
• August 14th (22 weeks - 6 months) Had ultrasound, we got to see the baby have hiccups. The placenta is in the front, so I can hardly feel the baby when he moves.  I watch him kick, punch, roll over, etc on the screen and I maybe feel 1 out of every 20 kicks.  His heartbeat was 151.  We saw that the ascites was still there from the ultrasound.  The doctor came in and talked with us and did another ultrasound to get an exact measurement of the ascites.  It has grown in size.  It was roughly .7 cm and is now 1.15 cm wide.  Which wasn't something we wanted to hear.  She also said there was now an abnormality next to the baby's stomach...which could be anything from a blocked bowel to lymphnomatic fluid.  She also talked to us about Cystic Fibrosis.  Ben and I both gave blood yesterday and they still had amnio fluid so they will be testing for cf.  That will be 7 to 10 days before we know those results.  Our doctor had also talked about draining some of the fluid off the baby to see if the fluid would come back and also to test the fluid to see what it is we are dealing with.  However, after talking with the NICU person, we decided against that at this time.  She said that developmentally right now, the fluid isn't causing harm to the baby.  Now, if it were around the lungs then yes, we'd want to drain to relieve pressure.  The NICU also talked about premature babies in general, with no ascites.  She said at 24 weeks a baby has a 40% chance of survival, and with each week it increases.  Even to 28 weeks the baby now has a 85% chance of survival.  But with any premature baby, there are developmental and cognitive issues that range from severe to mild.  So the longer he stays developing in utero, the better chance Baby Murray has.  So the goal is for him to stay right where he is for right now.  We were also informed we would in fact deliver at University Hospital.  That way Baby Murray has immediate access to Riley Hospital NICU.  My doctor said I'm not a candidate to have surgery to stitch up my cervix, but I am a candidate to take progesterone, which is a steroid hormone, to help my cervix stay as is for as long as possible.  They also want to do a fetal mri to get a better picture at the abnormality, however with as active as our baby is they aren't sure they'd get the picture they'd need until the baby has less room to move around.  We will be making a weekly trip to University Hospital to monitor the fluid.  At this point, there are still a lot of unknowns.  But Ben and I believe we are in the best care possible.  We may only see our doctor, but she is working with a team of specialists to give us the best care possible. Our next visit is next Tuesday morning at 8am:)