My appointment with my midwife this morning was a bit more eventful than I was expecting. I have felt a difference in Snapdragon's movements these past few days — the kicking has been all over the place, rather than on the right side, where it has been for weeks now.
I was afraid that she may have turned and Joyce was suspicious as well. I got an internal exam (lovely), which revealed that I am 0 cm dilated, 0% effaced, and that Snapdragon's head was not within feeling distance. Since Joyce couldn't really tell whether the baby was head-down, I got sent over to the hospital for an ultrasound. Inductions and c-sections were mentioned.
I texted Pete, who had stayed home to get some more work done before Snapdragon's *hopefully* imminent arrival. He rushed right over, just in time to sit through the world's longest, most uncomfortable, and most boring ultrasound. All the poking and prodding made for an angry Snapdragon — she decided that she was not going to cooperate AT ALL, so everything took 3x as long as it should have. She would not stay still for a single second, meaning that I had to lie flat on my back for over an hour as the ultrasound tech tried to luck into the shots she needed.
Long story short, Snapdragon is still head-down, just twisted in a weird way. She should be good to go.
The ultrasound did reveal that I still have too much fluid, so I have to go to a doctor's appt tomorrow morning. It is unclear to me how this will help. What is the doctor going to do about it? I'm hoping that I will have less amniotic fluid soon due to my water breaking.
Showing posts with label check-up. Show all posts
Showing posts with label check-up. Show all posts
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Ultrasound Update
I'm back from my unnecessary ultrasound, which (thankfully) turned out to be a super boring waste of my time. Everything looks fine/normal/the same, which is infinitely better than finding something new and exciting. Still, I had to get up early and drive into Boston for a test that probably didn't need to be done at all.
Snapdragon is up to 7 lbs, 12 oz (72nd percentile). The weight measurements from ultrasounds are notoriously unreliable, but since the 35-week ultrasound from this hospital put her in the 6-6.5 range, this recent estimate seems to be consistent. She's right on schedule.
It is getting really uncomfortable to stay on my back for any length of time, so I had to focus more on breathing than on watching the monitors, but I did get a few glimpses of Snapdragon's little face. Her feet and hands are definitely chubby — not the skeletor hands from earlier ultrasounds. The ultrasound technician even assured me that she could see hair on Snapdragon's head, though I couldn't see it. Plenty of babies are born at 38 weeks and look perfectly normal, but I still have a hard time believing that there is a fully-formed, ready-to-be-newborn baby living in my abdomen. It still seems rather abstract, even as I get my internal organs knocked around for hours every day.
The technician was not able to see whether my cervix has progressed at all, but my guess would be that it has not. I have felt no contractions, so I would be surprised if I am dilated much at all. I have an appt with my midwife tomorrow, but I don't know whether she will do an internal exam to check for progress. I could still be looking at up to a month more of this, so I'd better settle in.
Snapdragon is up to 7 lbs, 12 oz (72nd percentile). The weight measurements from ultrasounds are notoriously unreliable, but since the 35-week ultrasound from this hospital put her in the 6-6.5 range, this recent estimate seems to be consistent. She's right on schedule.
It is getting really uncomfortable to stay on my back for any length of time, so I had to focus more on breathing than on watching the monitors, but I did get a few glimpses of Snapdragon's little face. Her feet and hands are definitely chubby — not the skeletor hands from earlier ultrasounds. The ultrasound technician even assured me that she could see hair on Snapdragon's head, though I couldn't see it. Plenty of babies are born at 38 weeks and look perfectly normal, but I still have a hard time believing that there is a fully-formed, ready-to-be-newborn baby living in my abdomen. It still seems rather abstract, even as I get my internal organs knocked around for hours every day.
The technician was not able to see whether my cervix has progressed at all, but my guess would be that it has not. I have felt no contractions, so I would be surprised if I am dilated much at all. I have an appt with my midwife tomorrow, but I don't know whether she will do an internal exam to check for progress. I could still be looking at up to a month more of this, so I'd better settle in.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Second Appointment
We had our second appointment with the midwife on Thursday. It was very short, but we got to hear the heartbeat, which was wonderful.
It took Joyce, our midwife, a few minutes to find Snapdragon with the doppler because he/she was all the way over to the left. We got to hear my pulse several times as Joyce searched, and I'm sure that that sped up with every passing second. We finally located him/her and heard the heartbeat nice and loud. I was actually surprised by how clear it was. It was a little fast — 180 beats per minute — but Joyce said that that was no cause for concern, especially since Snapdragon was just 11 weeks along. Later on, it should slow down a bit.
We also went over my blood and urine test results, which showed that I am slightly anemic, probably due to my thalassemia. It doesn't really bother me day-to-day and I've never needed a blood transfusion, but I suspect that it is playing a role in my exaggerated exhaustion.
We also found that I have GBS, a systemic strep colonization that is not dangerous for adults, but could cause pneumonia or meningitis in a newborn. It means that I will have to receive intravenous penicillin during labor to clear my body of active strep. I'll have to go in early in labor, rather than laboring at home for any length of time, in order to give the antibiotics time to work. I read up on it and the penicillin therapy is very effective. I was also comforted to learn that c-section does not eliminate the GBS risk, so the strep does not decrease my chances of having a vaginal birth. Also, GBS does not interfere with breastfeeding.
On Friday, I have to go to a larger medical center to get my first-trimester screening, which will include an ultrasound portion. I hope that Snapdragon cooperates and that I can get some good pictures, especially since FB will be on a business trip and won't be able to come with me.
It took Joyce, our midwife, a few minutes to find Snapdragon with the doppler because he/she was all the way over to the left. We got to hear my pulse several times as Joyce searched, and I'm sure that that sped up with every passing second. We finally located him/her and heard the heartbeat nice and loud. I was actually surprised by how clear it was. It was a little fast — 180 beats per minute — but Joyce said that that was no cause for concern, especially since Snapdragon was just 11 weeks along. Later on, it should slow down a bit.
We also went over my blood and urine test results, which showed that I am slightly anemic, probably due to my thalassemia. It doesn't really bother me day-to-day and I've never needed a blood transfusion, but I suspect that it is playing a role in my exaggerated exhaustion.
We also found that I have GBS, a systemic strep colonization that is not dangerous for adults, but could cause pneumonia or meningitis in a newborn. It means that I will have to receive intravenous penicillin during labor to clear my body of active strep. I'll have to go in early in labor, rather than laboring at home for any length of time, in order to give the antibiotics time to work. I read up on it and the penicillin therapy is very effective. I was also comforted to learn that c-section does not eliminate the GBS risk, so the strep does not decrease my chances of having a vaginal birth. Also, GBS does not interfere with breastfeeding.
On Friday, I have to go to a larger medical center to get my first-trimester screening, which will include an ultrasound portion. I hope that Snapdragon cooperates and that I can get some good pictures, especially since FB will be on a business trip and won't be able to come with me.
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