Updating from home… (35w3d)

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I was totally expecting to get sent to the hospital today, but I got sent back home! Yay!

Dr. Schwartz re-did the fluid check and is confident he saw 5.5-6 worth of fluid in there. Heck, he even thinks there’s enough that he could do the amnio on Monday. He says he likes a challenge. My BP was fantastic today, with the diastolic under 90!! (I forget, it was 140-something/80-something.)

So I’m home now, gonna go take a nap. Monitoring and Group B Strep test tomorrow. We’ll see how it goes. I’ve got a monitoring appointment on Friday and the amnio scheduled for Monday morning.

Oh, and Dr. Schwartz obliged Paul while he was hunting for fluid and took some measurements. The little man is weighing in at just a tad over 5 pounds right now. Not sure about his length cuz the measurements were kinda all over the place, but the weight is a good estimate at least. Our little bag of sugar! :)

Possible change in plans… (35w2d)

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Today’s appointment for monitoring was pretty darned good. I walked in feeling better than I have in a while. Excellent blood pressure again (147/90) and after some not-so-gentle prodding, good numbers from the kid on the monitoring strip. (He did not appreciate me chugging half a bottle of ice water to get him to move and getting my whole belly woggled by the nurse.) Trace amounts of protein in the urine (up from zero) but not OMG either.

The bad part comes during the ultrasound where they’re measuring the amniotic fluid around the boy. The levels should be around 14 on average, with 5-25 being the extreme low and high ends of the scale. Anything at or below 5 is cause for major concern. I’ve been sliding down that scale and was at a 6 on Wednesday and Friday last week. I forced fluids this weekend, making sure I was taking in well over 100 ounces a day in the hopes of bumping up that number.

Today all the head nurse could get was 4.8 – and that was after 20 minutes of looking and looking all over. So the oligohydramnios is very much in affect. What exactly this means, we’re not sure. We know it ain’t good, but the fact that this is happening towards the end of the pregnancy as opposed to towards the beginning is good. If it were at the beginning, it would be because of some abnormality with the baby. Now it’s just a culmination of my pre-existing medical conditions: hypothyroidism, hypertension & diabetes.

Dr. Schwartz is in his other office across town today and tomorrow, so they called him while we were at the office to see what he wanted to do. We were sure he was gonna send me over to the hospital. But he asked to see me in his other office tomorrow instead. So we’re taking that as a sign that there’s no need to totally freak out just yet. Mostly what oligohydramnios means at this point is that delivery is gonna be a bit more complicated and the chances of a cesarean are probably higher. There isn’t anything they can really do to reverse it – like putting me on a saline IV to pump me full of fluids or something. (There are some therapies that involve pumping fluid directly into the placenta, but those are mostly for use *during* labor.) There isn’t enough amniotic fluid around the baby to *do* an amniocentesis – so we don’t know how much that will blow out next week’s plans. With such decreased levels of fluid/cushioning around the baby right now, the chances of him laying on his umbilical cord and squashing his blood/oxygen/nutrient flow increase. This is where I am SO GLAD that I completely trust Dr. Schwartz and his knowledge/experience in treating high risk women like me. Whatever he says tomorrow is OK with us. If he still wants me to try for a regular birth, I’m all for it – but if this situation necessitates a cesarean from the get-go, we’re OK with that too. Whatever gets our little man out safely.

So this afternoon and this evening are final prep, just in case. All bags are being packed (we were doing laundry this morning already) and final arrangements are being made. I’m gonna try to go get my nails done. Gonna get the Ragu Bolognese made and in the freezer, along with the Creamy Italian Chicken. (There’s a lot of simmering involved there – I’m not gonna be slaving over a stove.) We’re hoping that Murphy’s Law will kick in if we get all this stuff done tonight. Paul is pretty anxious, but I’m doing pretty OK. I am keenly aware that I need to stay calm, and having tasks to focus on helps me greatly with that.

We’ll update tomorrow after the appointment here and on Facebook. (Facebook will probably get updated faster because it’s easier to do from our phones.) We’re halfway expecting to be told to go to the hospital from our 9:00am appointment. I’m all the more glad that we have a 7:45am appointment to meet the pediatrician tomorrow. Gonna be a busy day. Prayers would be appreciated.

Weekend Plans (35w)

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I have to keep reminding myself that this weekend isn’t necessarily our “last” weekend. I’m thinking it would be nice for Paul and I to go out or something – like on a date while we still can, either this weekend or next weekend. We’ll see.

This weekend is errands and more prep.

  • I have a coupon for USA Baby for 20% off any one thing. I called, and that includes breast pumps – which is unheard of. Babies R Us (BRU) has a coupon right now for 15% off breast pumps, and I was crazy excited about that. But when the dang thing starts at $280, I’ll take another 5% and smile. The plan is to rent a hospital-grade pump for the first month, and then switch to the personal style if everything is working OK. If for whatever reason I can’t used the personal pump, I’ll return it since the box will be unopened. Yes, my cheapness knows no bounds.
  • Gotta swing by BRU anyway to try to exchange some clothes that we bought in April. They had an incredible sale that we took advantage of, as a hedge against the shower. I assumed most of it would get returned (or at least half) because of the bounty we got at the shower, but when Paul and I sorted through it all this week, he convinced me to keep all of it. There’s a couple of heavier terrycloth sleepers and an adorable sweatsuit that are in 6mo sizes that I’d like to swap for 9mo, since I’m afraid that the little man will be a size 6 in like September or October when it would still be too warm to wear them. I am hoping to keep my resolve and not make any other purchases while I’m there. Heh. We’ll see how that goes. (The little guy’s closet is pretty full now though – so I keep reminding myself of that.)
  • Groceries for dinners gotta happen today. I’m gonna make a couple of our favorite dinners in bulk this weekend (Ragu Bolognese and Creamy Italian Chicken at least) and freeze them in containers so we can have some home-cooked meals for a bit after the little guy comes home. So a bit of groceries and a grip of rubbermaid containers are on the list as well.

Other than that…. I’ve got one more load of baby laundry to do: all the receiving blankets and burp cloths and baby socks. I’ve been enjoying doing this laundry this week, folding and putting away the clothes that will be in the first pictures of my son’s life. Reveling in the fact that I have these tiny clothes at all in my house. Smiling smugly that I now have opinions on brands and know that Carter’s runs tall and skinny, Gerber runs even skinnier and smaller and Circo seems to be made for Amazons. Even with my rock-hard belly as a constant reminder, I’m still caught off guard by the knowledge that we’re having a baby.

I need to pack my hospital bag and the little bag for baby. We have a total of three Newborn sized outfits to choose from to bring the baby home in, and Paul already has veto’d one. (“My son isn’t coming home in something that looks suspiciously like a Dodgers uniform!”) That’s fine, one of remaining two outfits has stripes AND a dinosaur. I think we all know what the little guy will come home in. :)

This weekend we’ll build the bouncer and set up the Pack and Play – all the random stuff we’ve been putting off. Oh, and I’m bringing up the whole idea of actually having a name for the child several times a day. Not getting very far, but I figure Paul will get sick of me bugging him eventually and we’ll figure something out. hee!

Cleared for the Weekend (34w6d)

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Shortest appointment in the last two weeks! We were in and out in barely an hour!

Little man cooperated with monitoring and kicked and rolled over a couple of times. I gained back a half pound. So that puts me at 13.5 pounds total gained this pregnancy. I find it fascinating how these numbers bounce, since they seem to have no correlation with my actual size. But hey, I’m just happy I’ve managed to stay in a happy, healthy range. My blood pressure was better than it’s been in like two weeks: 147/90!!

Apparently, I have oligohydramnios or too little amniotic fluid. I’m drinking more, I swear I am. My fluid score was 6.7 today, so a teeny bit higher than it was on Wednesday, but still well under the 14 they wanna see at this point.

We were concerned because I’m feeling like ass about half the time, and my right and left feet/ankles were not equally swollen – which is something the lists of pre-eclampsia symptoms always point out, when one foot is markedly more swollen than the other. But the nurse said that as long as the edema wasn’t pitting and I could still move my feet, we didn’t need to be worried. That was nice to hear!

So I’m cleared for the weekend. Next appointment is on Monday. A week from then and we’re done!

Couple of Notes (34w5d)

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1) You may have noticed that the dates on the posts rolled back by two days. The actual count we’ve been using this whole time was based on an ultrasound dating from my 2nd ultrasound – way early on. My official due date never was changed from July 17th.

But now that the gestation date makes SO MUCH difference, I’m reverting back to the original count based strictly on the original due date. Mind you, the little man has measured all over the place based on ultrasounds – he was measuring more than 2 weeks ahead on length at one point. But Dr. Schwartz is going strictly by due date, so we are too.

2) Breastfeeding class was tonight, and it was fantastic!! I’ve been doing a lot of reading, research, and asking other mamas about BFing, but 3 hours with a lactation consultant that included a video of actual mothers breastfeeding their babies was SO helpful. The instructor sat with us after the class was over and answered our questions about how things will be different because our little guy is coming early. I learned that I do have the right to refuse formula at the hospital, no matter what the baby’s blood sugar is. No one is gonna be happy about it, but it’s my right. I’m not saying that I will refuse it absolutely, but I am SO glad to know that I can. If nursing and skin-to-skin contact doesn’t help his blood sugar, then *maybe* formula will be OK – but I want Paul and I to have the opportunity to try all other methods of helping our baby before resorting to something with 2-week repercussions, especially if he is stable enough to be nursing at all. (And to that end, if he’s not able to breastfeed for some reason, I can request he be fed through an NG tube or from a cup – he doesn’t *have* to get a bottle.)

2a) Dude, breastfeeding is freaking AMAZING. I am gonna be SUPERWOMAN – with the ability to give my baby EVERYTHING he needs. I am confident that my body will do what it’s supposed to do and that breastfeeding will go just great. I’m looking forward to it. Paul completely supports it.

2b) Melt-my-heart moment tonight: Paul asking the LC about how to do “Kangaroo Kare” with our little guy in case I have a cesarean or he ends up in the NICU. He’s planning on bringing button-down shirts to the hospital now so he can comfortably cuddle his son skin-to-skin.

3) I have a highly recommend pediatrician to call tomorrow to schedule an appointment with. I’ve been meaning to look for one, but just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Fixing that.

4) No, we still don’t have a name yet. We’re working on it. There’s a list. We’re not just holding out cuz we can. Really.

I think we’re both excited, but I know I’m a little freaked out. It’s not like there’s a ton of stuff to do still – but things just got REALLY real. There’s a date, and an appointment. Holy cats.