doctor's appt #23...

I had another ultrasound with Wilmington Maternal on Thursday morning.  Just a standard appt to check the fluid levels around the baby which they said were really good.  Once again, they did a biophysical profile on the baby and he got great scores.  His breathing is still really great and because I drank orange juice before this appt (his fave :), he was moving all around for Melissa, the u/s tech.  We got to see a really great set of leg and foot movements.  And those were down in my pelvic area.

Yes, he's still breech.  So we're really going through with this c-section on Tuesday.  And I'm honestly okay with it.  As I've said before, I've had time to get used to the idea that this is how things are going to be for my first one and I trust that this is how God had it planned from the beginning.  Even though, this (surgery/c-section) is not how He originally planned women to give birth, I feel like maybe He's allowed it to be this way for me -- the planner -- so that I don't have any reason to be stressed about what didn't get done.  When we leave this house next Tuesday morning, whatever's not finished will be my own fault so I can't get stressed about it.  :)

But getting back to the appt...

My blood pressure was 142/94 -- the same as what it's been for the last 3 or so weeks but they still freaked out about it.  *siiiiiiigh*  I guess the closer you get, the less chances they take.  So they sent us to the hospital for more extensive monitoring, like we did a month ago.

This time I knew how to put the hospital gown on.  :)

So I got strapped up on the fetal monitors and the blood pressure cuff.  The NST turned out great results -- Deacon has been doing great this ENTIRE pregnancy.  The nurse had me actually turn and lay on my right side because she said that always brings your blood pressure down.

REALLY???  Why don't these other doctors know this?  Why can't I just do THAT at my doc appts??

Sure enough, one of my readings was 116/88, and the lowest one ended up being 112/66!  That's when Jeff said, "Is that too low?  Maybe you need to lay on your back for a little while so it will come up some..."  So I did turn, mostly because my right hip was starting to hurt, and the next reading was 123/75.  Still within in perfect range.

The nurse took some blood (out of my wrist!  that was a first...) and those labs all came back "wonderfully", according to the nurse.  They let me go after seeing the labs.  We were at the hospital for a lot less time this time around.

I promised them I would really "lay low" this weekend and I really am trying.  I actually didn't work yesterday and kept my feet up for a good part of the day while I worked on Jeff's laptop, editing photos, etc.

We have a couple of appts on Monday -- a regular NST at my OB office and then a pre-op appt afterward.  And then...we get this show on the road!

doctor's appt #22...

I had a doctor's appt with my OB this morning for another NST to monitor the baby's heartbeat.  My blood pressure was surprisingly low: 126/78.  Say what?!  Whatever.  I just never know.

The NST turned out fine -- Dr. Hill was pleased with his movement and heartbeat throughout the test.  I drank some orange juice this morning to get him really moving.  Which he was.  He likes orange juice.  :)

While I was on the monitors for the NST, Dr. Hill came in to discuss a "plan for delivery".  As of the ultrasound last Thursday, he is still breech so obviously the course of action is to schedule a c-section.

*cue villian music* Dun-dun-dun.

Now, this child has been breech for quite a while now so I've had time to get used to the idea that we may have to go the c-section route.  Not my first choice, of course, because I did want to try the labor-and-(vaginal)-delivery route, despite being scared to death of it all.  :)  However, it doesn't look like that is in the near future for us unless he turns between now and Tuesday.

That's right -- I said Tuesday.  We are scheduled for a c-section first thing Tuesday morning, October 26.  Um, yeah.  That's a week from tomorrow.

So I've been slowly processing this information all day today.  Hard to believe that in a week, we'll get to meet our little guy, this child I've been carrying for so long, the one who's been wreaking havoc on my body and my blood pressure.  :)

I will have another ultrasound on Thursday to check my fluid levels and if, by some chance, he's actually turned, I guess we'll regroup and figure out Plan B.  In the meantime, we're planning on the c-section next Tuesday.

And Jeff now has a firm deadline for that crib.

doctor's appt #20...

I had a doctor's appt this morning at my OB office for an NST and bp check.  My blood pressure was 145/95 -- not what they would prefer, but it was in keeping with the "trend" (i.e., not any higher than it has been over the last week and a half) so they were okay to let it go.

They strapped me up to the monitors for the NST and had a listen to the little one for a while.  He wasn't as active as they would've liked, despite the frosted mini-wheats cereal I ate for breakfast (I'm really on a cereal kick recently!) and the grape juice they gave me about halfway through.  But there weren't any dips in his heartrate so they were fine with the results of the NST today, too.

They did take my bp after the NST (I had been sitting still in a reclined state for about 45 min or so) and it was down to 130/74.  Nice.  :)

The only other thing that Dr. Cunill did was check to see if she could tell if the baby had turned.  She just poked around and prodded my belly a little bit to see if she could tell if he was still breech or not.  She thought maybe she felt him head-down but was afraid to say for sure.

She scheduled an ultrasound for Thursday morning to check fluid levels and of course, they'll be able to check the baby's position then, too.  Hopefully they will be able to tell us that he's turned head-down.  As much as delivering vaginally scares me, I'd really like to try, so I'm hoping they'll have good news Thursday.

doctor's appt #18...

I had a follow-up appt with my OB yesterday morning after all that happened Friday.  It was just an appt to take my blood pressure and have another NST to monitor the baby for awhile.  Oh, and they did tell me that my Group B Strep results were negative.  Good.  *wiping brow*

My blood pressure reading was high to begin with (I'm not sure it was accurate -- I'm not a nurse, but I'm just saying, 160/97 is pretty high, even for me), but they took it again later on, after my NST and it was down to 140/83.  They were okay with that.

The NST didn't result in anything they were worried about so that was good.  The baby was pretty active after the orange juice I drank during breakfast, so they were happy to see all the activity.

They did a finger prick to check my iron and the nurse's exact reaction was, "Wow!  Your iron is GREAT!".  Well, good.  At least I passed something today.  :)  Dr. Woodfill asked what the reading was and when Joanne told him 38, he said (jokingly), "Wow.  Yeah, you actually might have too much blood -- we might need to bleed you out a little bit..."

I'm gettin' outta here.  :)

My next appt is with Wilmington Maternal on Thursday for an ultrasound to check my fluid levels, among other things, one of which, I'm sure, is the baby's position.  I'm hoping that Deacon keeps making his way around until he's head down.  Before his due date.

a day of firsts (i.e., doctor's appt #17 +)...

I had a routine OB appt yesterday morning with an NST to monitor Deacon's heartrate, etc.  What started out to be a routine checkup turned into a trip to the hospital for more extensive, prolonged monitoring just to be sure everything was okay.

And it was.  Let me just make that clear right here -- everything is fine with me and the baby.

At my appt yesterday morning, my bp was a little high -- 143/97.  And then during the NST, Deacon's heartrate dropped from his norm, in the 140s, down into the 120s twice, without provocation (no contraction or anything), over the course of about 40 min.

[this is what the printout of the NST looks like]

Dr. Woodfill didn't think there was anything really to be worried about; it just warranted an extra look and some prolonged monitoring.  I'm grateful for the extra caution, really, but how annoying to have to go down to the hospital.  *sigh*

Before I left my OB office, they did the Group B Strep test and checked to see if he had turned at all (at my last u/s he was breech).  Dr. Woodfill said that it didn't seem as though he'd turned much yet; that his head appeared to still be up and not down.  He's still got a month to turn so I'm not too stressed about that yet.  Not sure when we'll get the results of the Group B Strep.  If I have it (a bacteria found on the skin that isn't harmful to adults but can be deadly to infants), they'll give me an injection for it once we're admitted.

So off we went to the hospital.  Once there, we filled out the paperwork and signed off on all the forms (that's one good thing about this first trip to the hospital -- we're in the system now so we won't have to worry with the paperwork on the "big day").  They put me in a small room and had me change into one of their gowns and put on a belly band (that's what they used to hold the external fetal monitors in place).  That was my first time trying to get into one of their robes.  RIDICULOUS.  I opened it out and all it was was a ginormous piece of fabric with snaps and ties.  Um, excuse me?  Where are the sleeves?  Where's the neck hole?  I had to have Jeff come in and help me into the thing and together we figured out how to snap things together to make sleeves and a neck hole.  Talk about feeling dumb.

So I get into the bed and they place the monitors where they need to be on my belly (which I'm used to because it's just a longer NST than what I've been having), place a blood pressure cuff on my arm and stick a thermometer in my mouth.  All while I'm trying to finish signing off on all the paperwork.  GEEZ, PEOPLE.

So the monitors begin recording what they're supposed to record and the bp cuff takes my bp about every 30 min or so and records that.  A little later my nurse, Ann, takes some blood (out of my hand) to send off for labs to be sure that I don't have preeclampsia (which I don't, but that's the signs that were showing with my elevated bp and the drop in heartrate at my OB's office, I guess).

About the time she gets done with that, Jeff decides to go get us some lunch from one of the cafes in the hospital.   This was our first time eating at the hospital and we're big fans!  Jeff had a grilled chicken panini sandwich and he got me a grilled chicken & pesto wrap.  Oh, yum!  He also got some spicy beans & rice, some mixed fruit and then a couple of other snacks.  Everything we ate was really good.  We were really impressed.

So I ended up staying on the monitors for about an hour and 45 min *sigh* and that report, combined with my blood labs showed no signs of preeclamsia.  As a matter of fact, they kept saying that everything was "perfect" with me and the baby.  My bp was actually really low at the hospital which was the exact opposite of what I expected given the situation.  So that was very encouraging for me.

Dr. Cunill came in and did an ultrasound with a little portable machine just for extra confirmation that everything was fine with the baby (which it was) and was able to tell us that he is transverse in there now, not breech, but not head down either.  He's basically laying crossways in my belly, with his head on my right side and the rest of him on the left.  So he's making progress.  That's good.  :)

Once the ultrasound was complete, I was free to get changed back into my clothes, we signed off on one more thing and then we were released.  At that point, it was so late I ended up not going into work at all.  Thankfully, Fridays are kinda slow at the office so I wasn't stressed about that.  It was a pretty eventful day, though, so I did feel a little drained.

I would like to say how thankful I am that Jeff was with me for this appt.  He hasn't gone to every appt with me (and I'm fine with that) but I wanted him to hear at least one of the NSTs so he could listen to Deacon's heartbeat and hear him moving around.  So he decided to go with me to this one and I'm so very glad.  Just having him with me kept me from freaking out about being sent to the hospital, and then having him with me at the hospital was a God-send, too.  He is just such a calming force for me.  He always seems to know what to do, what questions to ask.  And he knows just what to say to make me smile or keep me calm.  He is a wonderful husband, the best ever, and he's going to be a wonderful father.  :)

doctor's appt #16...

I had a doctor's appt this afternoon with my OB.  They did another NST (nonstress test) to make sure the baby is still hanging in there.  He is.  :)

I met Dr. Woodfill today who I've heard fantastic things about.  I really liked him a lot.  He has a compassionate spirit and he took the time to talk to me about the NST.  He showed me the printout and explained what they look for.  He said over a 20 min (or so) time period, they look to see what the baby's heartbeat baseline is (Deacon's is in the 140s, on average) and then they look for at least 2 increases in heartrate due to movement and/or minor contractions.  He said they saw 3 in my printout so things look fine.  He said they're fine to go with that for about a week -- hence the reason they do that every week.

Aside from that, he checked for swelling (which is pretty much constant at this point, from the time I get up til the time I go to bed -- and I'm betting the swelling really doesn't even go away while I sleep), and said that it was perfectly normal for this point in the pregnancy.  I told him about my struggle with taking time to get off my feet/put them up because I work and then I go home to start my "other job" of being a wife to my husband and "keeping house".  He even understood that -- the many hats we as women wear.  We just had a really good conversation.

Next week, I'll have 2 doc appts.  *sigh*  Such is life at this point, I guess.

doctor's appts #14 & #15...

I had another 2 doctor's appts today, one at my OB and one at Wilmington Maternal.  Kinda getting frustrated and worn out with all these double appts, but it is what it is.  So whatev.

My first appt was this morning at Wilmington Maternal Fetal Medicine downtown for an ultrasound to check everything.  Jeff didn't get to go with me this time, but my momma did.  And she was so excited!  Momma & Daddy are in town for our baby shower tomorrow evening so Momma was able to go with me to this appt.  She loved every minute of it -- she thought it was so neat to see the ultrasound (they didn't have those back when she had her 2 babies) and tried very diligently to figure out what she was looking at.  The baby has really grown, though, so everything just looks like a mess in there now.  But my u/s tech, George, was good about pointing out what we were seeing.  

Once again, everything looks great with the growth.  George told us the baby weighs just over 5 lbs now which is in the 42nd percentile, just above average.  He said the development is right on target with my due date.  He did mention, though, that the baby is breech right now, with his butt down toward my cervix and his body curled up around on my right side (so his head is sitting under my left boob -- sorry, guys).

Dr. Radick (Dr. Wright's new partner) came in and told us everything looked great but that the kidneys were still larger than normal so they would continue to keep an eye on that and start checking my fluid levels a little more closely to be sure everything progressed the way it should.

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My next appt was this afternoon at my OB's office and they did an NST, or nonstress test.  That was really pretty cool.  They strapped 2 external fetal monitors to my belly and had me sit in this really comfy recliner.  It coulda been a La-Z-Boy.  I'm just sayin'.

The one monitor was sitting right where the heart primarily was so they could monitor the heartbeat, and every time I felt any movement I was supposed to push the button on this handheld thing she gave me (like buzzing in on Jeopardy :).  I was amazed at how much I could hear him moving around and not actually feel the movement itself (to be able to push the button).  He really moves around a lot and I can't even feel it all, only the major moves, kicks or rolls that he does.  

So this whole time I'm strapped up -- about 35-40 min, I would guess -- we've got the Kentucky Derby going on in there.  That's what his heartbeat sounded like, and what Dr. Hall even said, too.  And you could hear the heartbeat increase and decrease with movement, etc.  After they unhooked me, the nurse told me that the other monitor they strapped on my belly was to monitor any contractions I might have and to see how the baby's heartbeat did through that.  I did have at least one contraction while I was sitting there (just a Braxton Hicks which I've been feeling for quite a few weeks now), possibly 2, so I'm glad that happened so they can read how Deacon did through it.  I assume Dr. Hall read the strip before she came in to see me so he must've done okay.  :)

She said that everything still looked great with the development and his heartbeat, etc.  She mentioned that she saw the baby was breech from my u/s this morning and told me that they do not deliver babies breech -- which I knew already -- but that that didn't necessarily mean a c-section.  She said they had methods to try to turn him, if he didn't automatically turn on his own between now and then.  I mean, we do still have 6 weeks left.  Let's not rush things, for cryin' out loud!

After today's appts, I'm starting weekly appts with my OB and every 2 weeks (if necessary) with Wilmington Maternal.  My OB will do an NST each time to just be sure the baby is still handling everything well.  I hope Jeff will be able to get to one of those with me -- it was pretty neat to hear the baby and his heartbeat for that long and I think Jeff would enjoy that.  :)