Steroid Shots

Today's appointment went well. The baby "passed" the non-stress test, not with flying colors, but good enough. They like to see 3 good sponaneous movement/heart accels, and we only got 2... But we didn't need to use the buzzer this time, so my Doctor was really happy with that. He said the baby is fine. He thinks that one reason we have a problem with the NST is because of my extra fluid - the baby has so much more swimming room than normal babies, so he/she can swim around, making it harder to track the heatbeat.

I'm still 1-2 cm dialated, which is good that I haven't progressed further since Monday!

At the last appointment and this one, I had sugar in my urine. They did a blood sugar test on me and it was low, so they said they weren't really concerned. But that sort of makes sense, an inability to process sugar goes hand in and with the polyhydramnios... I told them that before the last appointment I ate a fruit rollup and before this one I drank some Dr Pepper to wake the baby up and get it kicking, so they said that the sugar could just be spilling over for whatever reason.

At the end of my appointment, my Doctor says, "Well, I'd like to get another week to week and a half out of this pregnancy." I asked, "Meaning what, you think I'll go into labor?" And he said yes, he thinks there's a fair chance I could go into labor or my water could break soon! Yikes! So he said in case something happens in the next few days, he would want to try to slow the contractions or try to stop them, just for a few more days. If I can make it 1 more week he won't try to stop anything. And also just as a precaution he gave the ever-fun steroid shot to help the baby's lungs. I go in tomorrow for another one. He sent me home and told me to take it easy especially in these next few days, (the steroid should be in your system for a full 48 hours for optimal lung maturation) but he'll have no problem if we can get another week or so under our belts.

So.... Yikes! I'm really excited, but also trying to remember that this isn't a guarantee... I could still go all the way to 40 weeks theoretically, then I'd be upset! ha! That's all I know for now, we'll take it one day at a time! Looks like this could be an April baby though!

Appointment Update

We have one uncooperative baby on our hands!

Well first of all, as the nurse calls me back she says "Well, you're still pregnant, that's good!" ha! You think?

I'm down 1.5 pounds from a week ago! Woohoo! I was afraid of the crazy weight gain I'd been having. Maybe that means too that the amniotic fluid isn't increasing?? Because if the baby is supposed to gain 0.5 pounds a week, then that means I'm sort of down 2 pounds!

Anyway, they hooked me up to the non-stress test, and just the same as last week, baby didn't cooperate. Heart rate was pretty high, resting in the 160's, and baby wasn't kicking or moving around much. And when he/she did, the heart rate didn't jump like they want it to, it pretty much just sat there. I even ate a fruit rollup before the appointment to give it a little sugar high! Even the buzzer didn't get much response this time. The doctor seemed mildly concerned, but not to the point of immediate action. He wants to repeat the test in 48 hours, and said in the mean time, if I notice a decrease in baby's "normal" activity at home, load up on sugar, give the baby a bit to get active again, but if it still seems sluggish, to call him immediately. So far baby has been really active at home, so let's hope it stays that way. It just seems like as soon as I'm lying on that table at the doctor's office, baby just goes into stunned silence! Baby kicked like crazy the whole drive home. Figures.

I did make some progression over the weekend... I'm dialated 1-2 cm!

I think that's all we got out of this appointment. They're keeping a close eye on me... So that's good!

35 Week Picture

Here is 35 Weeks!



I feel like my face filled out a little bit this week. Boo. Over the weekend I was feeling a bit of on and off possible contractions (in addition to the nearly constant Braxton Hicks) but they never lasted long, nor formed a pattern. Starting to feel more and more pressure.

We got our carseat installed on Saturday! Yay! That was fun. It was very easy to do... Surprisingly easy. Thankfully Steve (our brother-in-law) showed Jeff how to do it when they were in town last month, so it was a breeze! It's fun to drive around, look in the backseat, and see the infant carrier sitting there! Bizarre.

Last night I stayed up late working on my iTunes Labor playlists! I have three different playlists going, dependent on my mood and mental status at the time. :) I have one playlist of calming and relaxing music, one of music that I like, but isn't quite calm yet isn't totally upbeat, and the one of really fun, energetic songs (for post-epidural, I'm sure!) I must have had too much stimulation last night or something, because it ended up being an awful night of sleep. I went to bed around 11 pm, but the last time I remember looking at the clock before I went to bed, it was 2 am. I finally did fall asleep, but didn't sleep particularly well, and had to get up at 6:00 this morning to get ready for my doctor appointment.

I was supposed to have a doctor appointment this morning, but when I got in, they told me that Dr. Rovner had been called out on emergency, and they didn't know when he'd be back in. So we made a tentative appointment for this afternoon, hopefully he's in by then. I'm anxious to get checked out!

35 Weeks!

Well here I am at 35 weeks! I still can't believe how quickly this is going. I think all the "excitement" and doctor appointments make things seem to go faster.

I'm hitting new levels of discomfort lately. Fun stuff. I can't imagine how much bigger I'm going to get in the next 5 weeks. Right now my most comfortable position is leaning over, on anything. A countertop, back of the couch, the bed, etc etc. I'm not sure why it feels so good, I guess because it takes away the downward pull on all my muscles and stuff. I'm starting to get minor back pain too. I love going to bed every night, it's the only time I'm truly comfortable!

One of the funniest things for me is seeing Jeff and me trade places in terms of our body temperature. This baby sure generates a lot of heat! I think next time I want to deliver in the middle of winter, so I'm nice and warm all throughout the cold season! I get SO HOT at night. For instance I woke up last night 3 times just drenched in sweat! We have 2 fans running in our room. In the mean time, I look over at Jeff and he has pulled an extra blanket over his side of the bed. HAHA! We have completely traded places. Hopefully I'll go back to normal after the baby is born. I hate being so hot and wet at night! It's gross! Either that or our A/C bill is going to skyrocket. :)

I told Jeff we had better get serious about packing our hospital bags this weekend. I KNOW I could very well (and probably will) go completely full term without a problem, but I just want to be prepared. I don't want my water to break or go into labor and feel completely panicked, like "I'm not ready for this..." It'll be a lot better for my mental health if we can just have a plan of action and have our bags ready to go. So if something does happen before we counted on, I'll at least be prepared.

Yesterday I did some reading up on polyhdramnios (extra amniotic fluid.) It seems that poly patients tend to deliver a bit early. And it turns out my friend in Houston had polyhydramnios with her son born a few months ago... Sure enough her water broke at 35 weeks and she had her baby boy! Thankfully he didn't even need a NICU stay! That gives me a lot of hope! Reading anything medical online is dangerous though, it's way too easy to scare yourself. Among poly patients, there is also a higher incidence of c-section delivery. Some of the reasons being umbilical cord prolapse, putting distress on the baby, early placenta abruption, and umbilical cord accidents in the womb because the baby has more room to move around, bringing the need for an emergency c-section. For the mother, increased bleeding and/or hemorrhaging is possible because of an over-stretched uterus. For that reason, sometimes they consider induction early, around 37 weeks or so.

So anyway, I guess just be praying for us. It would be great to keep the baby "cooking" for at least another 1-2 weeks, the longer the better. Also be praying for a complication-free delivery!

No Bedrest!

I had another doctor appointment this morning. The best news is, I'm not on bedrest! I think I'll sort of just self-impose some rules on myself and take it easy a bit though, but it's nice to not have any official restriction.

I got the results back from the fFN test from Monday, and it was negative! So that's good! It means that I have a low risk of going into labor in the next 7 days.

The doctor ran another fetal non-stress test, and Baby's heart rate was good, actually a little too lazy! It was resting in the 140's to lower 150's, and they like to see a good 20 bpm (or more) jump when the baby kicks. We were only getting readings of about 160 bpm when Baby would kick, which was somewhat infrequent. He/she was sleepy this morning! So my Dr came in with this buzzer and buzzed my belly... The baby sure reacted to that!! Scared the crap out of the poor thing!!! Heart rate went to 179 bpm!! My dr says they like to call it "stimulation" so they don't feel mean. ha!

Some other good news - I was DOWN a pound and a half since Monday! Woohoo! I'm sure it's just scale reader difference, but I was glad to not see an increase for once, especially in 3 days. :)

The most interesting news of all - on Monday, my cervix was long, hard, and closed. Today, he said that my cervix is soft and about a finger tip dialated!!! Yikes!

So we're keeping my appointment for Monday, he just wants to keep a close eye on me for the next little bit and see how it goes. So that's all I've got for now!

34 Week Ultrasound Photos

Here are baby's pictures from yesterday!

Cute little foot! (Actually it looks pretty big!)



Baby's profile. Look at that adorable nose!



Looking at Baby's face straight-on.



In other news, my first stretch marks appeared overnight, about 5 of them, over the lower half of my belly. I'm not amused.

Afternoon Update

All is well, so far. As of this afternoon, the baby's heart rate had come down to an acceptable level, so that's good! They zoomed in on the heart during the ultrasound, and the doctor said that it looks perfectly healthy, no defects, etc. So that's great. The problem at this point is the extra amniotic fluid, they said it could either be just a fluke... They draw these lines of what "normal" is, and he said that there's always going to be people below and above that. He said it's likely I'm just one of the "above normal" people. The alternate cause he said are some genetic abnormalities in which the baby can't swallow effectively, but he doesn't think that's what it is. First of all, because I watched the baby take 3 gulps of fluid on ultrasound this morning, plus he said in the case of these abnormalities, there would be a large excess of fluid (because they're not drinking any), he said he would consider mine a mild excess.

So, he talked to my regular doctor, and he recommended I "be careful" for the next couple days and he wants to see me again on Thursday (and Monday!) and then go from there. I will go back to the perinatologist next Thursday for another Level II ultrasound, to check on the fluid levels, see if it has increased/decreased, etc.

So that's the update for now!