Last Prenatal Appointment!

So today we had our last prenatal appointment for this pregnancy!

NST first....

It went perfect. Ashlyn was showing off with a bunch of beautiful accelerations. And she got the hiccups at the end! The nurse who did the NST this week was so friendly and compassionate too.

Ultrasound next....

Head size is still measuring big. Ventricles are well over 30mm this week. Luckily, the increases in the head and ventricle sizes are not terribly alarming. With her big head size, the estimated weight was 10lbs 2oz! Yikes!! Good thing I am getting a c-section. Taking into consideration how I feel her in my belly and my mother's intuition, I think she will probably weigh around 9lbs....I guess we will find out on Monday!

Doctor Appointment....

You would think at the last appointment before our c-section, we would see a doctor. Nope...nurse practitioner again. I wouldn't mind seeing an NP, but this one didn't do anything. She just asked me what questions I had and that was it. No physical assessment of any kind since I got an NST and ultrasound already.

C-section is still on for Monday, June 1st at 9:30am...unless of course I go into labor on my own (keeping my fingers crossed that doesn't happen!). I just need to have some pre-op bloodwork done tomorrow morning and show up on Monday at 8am. I cannot believe in 3 days, we will meet Ashlyn Grace!!

Countdown is still on!

I had my 37 week appointment today. NST first....perfectly reactive. I met with the doctor next and signed the consent form for my c-section (after going over all the lovely ways I might die during the surgery....). We are still on for June 1st. Although, she did say that if I were to go into labor this weekend, they would consider doing an ultrasound and deciding if her head is small enough to allow me to deliver vaginally. That option makes me just as nervous as having a c-section though.....

I asked if they would still be able to do a transverse cut for the c-section (AKA bikini cut), and the doctor said it would depend on the size of Ashlyn's head right before surgery. So next Friday we will have another ultrasound to see where we are at and make a decision based on that information. I am praying I will not need the dreaded vertical incision.....Good news is that the doctor who will most likely be performing my surgery is Dr. Q who I have met and actually liked! I probably should google her and find out if she has ever been sued or left surgical tools in her patients or anything like that.....

My Prenatal Marathon

Well, Braeden will be a big brother by June 1st!!

Today, I had my 36 week appt...it was a marathon day of appointment NST, ultrasound, appointment with the doctor, and visit to Strong's NICU. First we had the NST, which was perfectly reactive. Then, an ultrasound was done. The ventricles in her brain are continuing to increase in size (not good...but expected to happen at this stage). Her head circumference is measuring 42 weeks....Yikes! The estimated weight was 8lbs 4 oz! Granted that estimate is calculated using the disproportionate head size...but still....she is going to be huge! Braeden weighed 8lbs 5 oz when he was born on his due date, and I thought that he was a big boy.

Based on the ultrasound, my doctor discussed needing a c-section. We decided to schedule it for 39 weeks because as she will most likely need a shunt, we want her to have optimal time to mature and develop her lungs fully. This will give her the best chance of having a complication free surgery. But we don't want to schedule the c-section too late where I go into labor on my own....because her head is not going to fit!

So June 1st is the big day! It is great to have a date scheduled...but now I have a plan in action, I am afraid she will have other plans and try to come early. My doctor said that if I were to deliver this weekend, there is a good chance I could try to deliver vaginally. As much as I wanted another vaginal delivery, I am now terrified of the thought seeing the latest measurements...Let's just hope she stays put until June 1st.

Ashlyn will have to spend some time in the NICU after she is born and after her surgery. We got the tour this morning....and my goodness she will look out of place there! Imagine my big (probably well over 9lb) baby girl with all the preemies weighing barely 2lbs....She will look like a giant! At least, I feel lucky that she will be a healthy weight and age despite the one set back. The NICU visit was very helpful, and I really liked the attending doctor we met with. He seemed very compassionate, knowledgeable, and helpful.

Today, I officially am on maternity leave! Now, I just need to get that nesting instinct going....14 days to get everything ready!!

NST and Impromptu Ultrasound

This afternoon I went to my first ever non-stress test sans Braeden and hubby. The doctors have decided to do weekly NSTs because of my blood pressure being elevated and the fact that this pregnancy is already complicated to begin with. During an NST, they look at baseline fetal heart rate, the variability of the fetal heart rate, accelerations or decelerations in the fetal heart rates, kick counts (you have to press a button whenever the baby kicks), and contractions. The NST is considered reassuring if the baby has two episodes of accelerations during the 20 minutes of monitoring.

The very nice nurse hooked me up to the monitor (just like the one you get put on when you are in labor) and positioned me comfortably on my side reclining in a chair (so much better bedside manner than at the fetal MRI last week!). Right off the bat, Ashlyn had a beautiful acceleration. Good, I thought, this should be easy! Unfortunately, she proceeds to start having decelerations soon after that....She would drop lower than her baseline fetal heart rate, but very quickly recover. I read online (since I didn't end up getting a great explanation as to why this was happening) that these variable decels can be related to the baby movements or to cord compression. Sometimes the decels correlated to when I indicated that I felt a kick.

Toward the end of the 20 minutes, there was only one good acceleration so the nurse tried some manual stimulation by pressing on my uterus. This did help Ashlyn have another good acceleration. No contractions at all during the test. The nurse took the tracing to show the doctor in the office because of the frequency of the variable decels. Here is part of the actual NST tracing from today:


The nurse came back pretty quickly and asked how I would like to get another picture of my little girl. Another ultrasound? I just had one last Monday! Of course, I did not complain...I love getting ultrasounds and seeing my princess. I had to wait 5 minutes, but they squeezed me in for an impromptu ultrasound. I was nervous worrying that something was really wrong causing my baby to be distress....but the nurse was very reassuring. The ultrasound checked out according the tech after she reviewed the results with the doctor. According to the tech, they were just checking the amount of amniotic fluid, which was completely normal.

During the quick ultrasound, I watched as she measured the ventricle size again....We are up to 19 and 22 mm (up from 16 and 19 mm one week ago) and 7.8 mm for the third ventricle (up from 6.6 mm...keep in mind this is the ventricle that is barely visible on an ultrasound normally). No one commented on this significant increase in one week, but it is obvious that this is a problem that will keep getting worse in a short period of time. The head circumference was not measured this time around...but her head is starting to look bigger than normal on the scans....

Luckily, in 4 weeks I will be 37 weeks and if needed Ashlyn can be delivered so that she can be monitored on the outside. I was content of waiting as long as possible before delivering...but now I feel like it might be in her best interest to come out earlier so evaluations and interventions can be made. It makes me nervous knowing her ventricles are getting further dilated causing fluid to accumulate in her brain. As the pressure in the brain increases that is when you have to start wondering what kind of non-reversible neurological damage has been done....This just keeps getting harder and harder to deal with. I know we can handle it, but I just wish that my daughter did not have to go through all this. For goodness sakes, she is not even born yet.....I just want her to have a normal life because that is what every child deserves.

Here is the latest picture of Ashlyn Grace: