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Pregnancy Update, Second Trimester, Third Trimester, | Jen Gregory | Simple Modest Mom

It’s been such a long time since I have shared any updates about Pregnancy #2 with our sweet baby girl - and boy, are there some updates! So I want to share a few updates about how this pregnancy has been, how I’m feeling, how baby girl is doing, and ways that you can be praying for us!

All in all, this pregnancy has felt drastically different than my first pregnancy with our son. Early on in the first trimester, I was often craving sweets - which is very unusual for me! With my son, I was always craving salty snacks and soda. And I felt way more nauseous during the first trimester, even more than I remember with my first pregnancy. Plus, I was always tired and could barely think straight. I’ll be honest, I had moments where I thought “I don’t know how I’m going to do this” - trying to work from home, care for an active toddler, and get through with such a low level of energy did not seem feasible and looking ahead to another 6 or so months of a pregnancy with that energy level was super overwhelming. Thankfully, the second trimester brought with it a new surge of energy and clearer head (although I still often found myself forgetting silly and simple things - pregnancy brain is real!).

It was also during the second trimester at a follow-up appointment after our first anatomy ultrasound that we found out that my placenta has a velamentous cord insertion. Basically, what this means is that my placenta cord is not attached “normally” and can potentially limit the amount of nutrients that the baby is receiving. Turns out this is super rare (like 1% of singleton pregnancies) and often isn’t diagnosed until birth.

What is Placenta Velamentous?

A velamentous cord insertion is a rare pregnancy complication in which the umbilical cord is abnormally inserted into the placenta. In a normal gestational sac, the umbilical cord is inserted into the middle of the placenta (central insertion) and entirely enclosed in the amniotic sac. The baby's blood vessels travel from the center of the placenta into the baby via their umbilical cord.

In a velamentous insertion, the umbilical cord inserts itself into the amniotic membrane rather than in the placenta. The baby's blood vessels stretch along the membrane between the insertion point and the placenta. As such, the vessels are unprotected because the substance that typically surrounds them, Wharton's jelly, is missing.

Read more about placenta velamentous here.

My OB assured me that while this is very rare, that it also has low risks during the pregnancy, just requires additional growth scans to ensure that baby girl is growing on track and getting the nutrients that she needs. They also made it very clear that they will not be allowing me to go past my due date and if anything, may possibly induce early if they feel the need. Typically, this diagnosis does not get found until after the birth - so in some ways, I’m thankful that they saw it on my ultrasound and are able to keep a closer eye on our baby girl and make sure everything is going well. The greatest concerns at this point are to make sure that she doesn’t get into a position where she could somehow pinch the cord - which will also pose some extra caution during the birth when it comes to that time, mostly in regards to birthing the placenta (lots of info that most of you probably don’t care about, I know).

Since we have needed to do additional growth scans for this little girl, we have been able to see her face and movements more often than we ever did with our son! We’ve had three ultrasounds so far - the last two were also 3D scans, so I got to see a very clear picture of her sweet little face and how similar she already looks to her older brother. Technology is such a precious gift to see such a sweet miracle that God is forming inside of me!

3D Ultrasound Image of a Baby Girl with Placenta Velamentous — Baby Girl’s ultrasound at almost 30 weeks

One thing that HAS been super similar with this pregnancy and my first is how much this little girl is moving around. I thought that my son was a busy little guy in the womb, but baby girl might be even busier! Honestly, while it brings some difficulty in sleeping at night when she decides to have some dance parties, I am thankful to feel all of the movement in there!

So what’s next for the rest of this pregnancy and how can you be praying along with us?

I finally got around to taking my glucose test that I kept forgetting about and failed the 1 hour test (major bummer). So I just went through the 3 hour test, which thankfully wasn’t too bad and the time went by quickly, but it did make me extra tired. I really dislike having my blood drawn and tend to get faint very easily, so I’m thankful that all went well. I also got my results back already and while I’m still waiting to hear from my OB, it seems that my levels were all within range and that I don’t have gestational diabetes (major praise!).
At my last ultrasound, the doctor was glad to see that the cord was close to the baby, but still suggested that I have a non-stress test within a few weeks to make sure that baby girl is continuing to do well in there.
We have one more growth scan (ultrasound) coming up in early March - which will be only a few weeks away from meeting our sweet girl in person! So far, each of our scans have shown baby girl to be growing right on track and at healthy weights and measurements, so we are thankful for that!
Pray that our sweet girl (and this mama!) continues to be healthy and “grow big and strong” (we pray this prayer almost every night with Oliver when he goes to bed or during dinner time) and that no major issues arise for our sweet girl or for this mama.

As of now, our due date is listed as April 5, so we know for sure that come April 6, we will have a new baby to share with all of you - what we don’t know is if she will come earlier than that. Who knows, maybe she’ll end up as a March baby!