Health Update

I finally got to talk to the primary doctor who worked with me through the pregnancy yesterday. He clarified for me that what had happened in my case was a partial mole--an abnormality with the placenta--which means two sperm fertilized the same egg, but instead of forming twins, something went wrong, resulting in one baby with an extra set of chromosomes that almost never manages to live to birth. Ours made it almost 8 weeks.

In a way, this is encouraging news, because the prognosis is better, but since I hadn't been sure which sort of problem I had for the last few weeks, it was somewhat comforting to think that perhaps it was a complete mole, because in that case there is no baby to lose--only a cluster of grape-like abnormal placenta cells. The damage was done in that regard already, because I had been mourning one way or the other, but my brain had an easier time sorting out "something went terribly wrong and there was no baby at all" than it did with "something went terribly wrong and instead of twins you got one very unusual baby who couldn't survive." I'm not sure what to mourn, in a way. Twins that failed to form as they ought to have... the single chromosomally abnormal baby that did... the death of my expectations and hopes for this pregnancy?

While I am at increased risk to have another molar pregnancy (1% chance as opposed to .01% in someone who hasn't had one before), there's very little likelihood of malignancy with a partial mole. Cell regrowth after surgery is about 20% with complete moles and less for partial moles. So, the chances that I will need chemo are very low. They are watching me through mid-August as a precaution, but they don't expect any problems. Assuming nothing strange happens in the interim, at that point we're free to try again.

Here's hoping I don't defy the odds yet again. Molar pregnancies usually occur after prior miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies (this was my first, ever), in women who are 40 or older (I've got a few years before I reach that particular milestone) in women who are non-white (that doesn't describe me) and who live in certain geographic regions (in which I don't). Goes to show you that God's will transcends the odds, I guess. Here's also hoping his will has a somewhat more "normal" outcome in mind next time. :D