Thursday, July 30, 2009

34 weeks, 2 days!

It seems like I live at the doctor's office anymore. Today was my 34 week ultrasound/appt. Everything is still looking good. Baby scored 8 out of 8 on the biophysical profile again. Fluid levels are good, breathing and moving well. His heart rate was a bit high again today, but well within normal - 165 bpm.

My blood pressure looked great today! 120/68!! I was really excited to see that and my doctor was very pleased as well! We talked about the preventative measures we will take to avoid a wound infection this time around - hopefully they pay off.

That's really about it, nothing too exciting going on in our lives right now... just trying to get by... 32 more days!

Some ultrasound pictures...

Friday, July 24, 2009

33 weeks, 3 days today!

The countdown is on... 38 more days until my scheduled c-section. If all goes well we will be holding our new son in a little more than a month. Of course, that still seems so far away. I am still going to FREQUENT doctors visits and ultrasounds so they could decide at any point that baby is better outside than in my tummy. So far, he's looking pretty much perfect though. He scores 8's pretty much every week on the biophysical profiles... typically the score can be to 10, but they aren't doing stress tests, so I believe 8 is the best he can do.

For those of you who aren't sure how the biophysical profile works, I found this online:
"In a biophysical profile, the fetus receives a score of either 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, or 10, based on the presence or absence of five elements: reactive nonstress test, adequate amount of amniotic fluid, fetal tone (bending and straightening the joints), fetal body movements (rolls), and fetal breathing motions (in-and-out motions of the chest wall). The fetus gets either 2 or 0 points for the presence or absence of the above five factors. A score of 8 or 10 is considered normal. A score of 0 or 2 is never considered normal. Scores of 4 and 6 are worrisome; delivery would be appropriate at term, but further evaluation may be appropriate in the case of pregnancies far from the due date."

I did have a scare yesterday at my appt, during the ultrasound baby boy's heart rate was up to 178-200 range. Mostly around the 178 but still, much higher than usual. This of course had me very worried - the tech took the heart rate several times so I knew it wasn't something they were expecting to see. She told me we would see what my Dr. said. Of course, then I had to sit in a waiting room thinking the worst for 30 minutes which got my blood pressure up there. So, after a blood pressure reading of 142/90 I was devastated and was sure that my doctor would put me on the blood pressure meds. I was right, he was VERY concerned about the BP, but I did convince him to let me come in today and get it re-checked due to the stress of the ultrasound.

Luckily, my bp was down today... 130/74. Normally I am around 120/80. The nurse practitioner told me I don't need to worry about the meds... apparently the bottom number is good, and the top number they don't worry about til it gets near 150. And baby's heart rate was back to normal: 155 bpm. He did hide from her doppler machine though, he didn't want her to hear him.

And, as usual, an ultrasound picture from yesterday... just a profile shot.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

32 weeks

32 weeks down, 7 more to go.... well, down to closer to 6 weeks now because this update is overdue.

This was a non-appt week, I just had the weekly ultrasound (no measurements, just checking on breathing and movements etc). Baby is looking good still. Amniotic fluids level are good, as well as the placenta and umbilical cord. Baby boy did excellent this week on the breathing but had to be convinced to wake up to do movements. Heart rate was at 150 bpm.

Ultrasound pictures:





Not much else going on, lots of contractions and pelvic pain, but thats to be expected with the second pregnancy and with a large baby. We will see if we make it to our August 31 c-section.

We are slowly trying to get our house picked up and ready for baby... its slow going with a two year old tearing everything out behind you, but we are getting there. We have a few rooms per weekend on our to do list. We are going to get the nursery done this weekend so its ready if baby comes early.

Time to go to bed!

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

4th of July and 31 week Appt!

We celebrated the 4th a day early with a BBQ for Tommy's work at his boss' house. We had a good time, good food, good company, and nice fireworks. Here are a few pictures of Natalie and the fireworks...












Today was my 31 week appointment, things went well. Baby looked good during the ultrasound although they did have to "buzz" him to wake him up, but he had been active all morning, so I expected this. His heartbeat was 159 bpm and he is measuring about 4 lb 7 oz!!!! Normally at this age they would still be less than 4 lb, so he's definitely not a small baby! His measurements are:
- head: 34w6d
- stomach: 31w2d
- femur: 33w3d
Based on this info, they say he's measuring at 33 weeks and 5 days! And I am only 31 weeks today!!!

My BP looked great again today and I had a minor weight gain... I am officially up 6 pounds since this pregnancy started. Not too bad, but I hope I can keep it under control for the last 2 months! Anyway, a few ultrasound pictures and then I have to get running - baseball game tonight...



Wednesday, July 01, 2009

30 weeks and counting!

I had my 30 week ultrasound yesterday, followed by a add-in appointment with my OB. The ultrasound went well, though it was with a different tech than usual, which made me kind of sad, I love Stephanie! Baby did very well though, they didn't do measurements as they only do those every two weeks. However, baby did all his practice breathing and movements that he should be doing. And, my amniotic fluid levels look great, so thats always good news. I only got one photo, and its not the best, but here it is:



On to the appointment: I called on Monday due to some intense pelvic pain I have been having and frequent braxton hicks contractions. My doctor said that unfortunately there isn't much that can be done for the pain, and they will just monitor to make sure I am not having any cervical changes (which could indicate preterm labor). He did tell me on days that I wake up in pain to make that a day I don't do anything. That doesn't seem to be very helpful in getting things done around the house though. My blood pressure is still doing great and I haven't gained any weight in a while either, which is good news.

I got a call this morning from the nurses to schedule my c-section... we are on the calendar for August 31 at 7:30 am, which means I have to be to the hospital at 5:30 am! EW. I tried to schedule for Sept 1, but doc was unavailable. Oh yay. Monday's are Dr. Boyd's OR days though, so that works out good for me and I shouldn't have to worry about his schedule changing.... as long as baby stays in there until then. And of course any emergency c-sections could push my time back, but it can't be worse than last time... I'm HOPING!!!