The BPP went well. Elsie showed off her breathing first thing. Fluid was within acceptable parameters. But we had to wait for her to move around. She was resting, not even sucking on her hand. She did move enough to pass the BPP. She didn't do anything cute, but we finally got a pretty good picture of her profile. I was disappointed that she didn't move more. We waited to eat until we got to Lebanon. I hoped that the lunch buzz would make her active during the ultrasound, but it didn't. She refuses to perform for the camera.
Because it's week 36, the ultrasound was also used to measure growth. She's 6 lbs, 7 oz, which puts her percentile in the 60s. Her head percentile was lower, but her abdomen was bigger. It was almost like the head and abdomen switched percentiles. Her femurs are still below the 20th percentile, which is probably causing overall size and percentiles to be estimated low. The abdomen size jumping to the 95th percentile in four weeks was unusual. The ultrasound tech had pointed out that her stomach and bladder were both full. I'm hoping that distended her belly so that it measured bigger than usual. And when you get to the higher percentiles, tiny measurement differences can make huge changes in the percentile. At least this is how I rationalize it. The other possibility is that Elsie is huge.
I have gained a couple pounds, and my blood pressure is great. No one said anything about the cultures from my last appointment, so I'm assuming they were OK. Then we saw Dr. Reynolds. Whereas Dr. Ackermann is happy enough with our progress to giggle, Dr. Reynolds is looking for problems. He did an extra ultrasound at 30 weeks and a hemoglobin test at 32 weeks. At first, he seemed really positive, but he felt the need to tell us all the ways that a baby's head can be positioned that make vaginal delivery impossible. Fortunately, Elsie's head is exactly where it should be. He then was concerned that labor might drag on until a C-section was necessary if my cervix was thick and hard, but my cervix was at 2 last week. No problem there. Since the only unusual thing from today was Elsie's unusually large abdomen, he treated it as a problem. His first instinct was that something was off with my blood sugar, but I've passed so many tests that we've ruled that out. Even if it had developed very recently, my fluid level would have been much higher, and it wasn't. So just to be safe, he sent us to the hospital for a non-stress test. UGH! I was really hoping to avoid those. Given our history, I find that test remarkably stressful. I'm not sure what a non-stress test could tell him about a big belly. Everyone we encountered that asked the reason for the test seemed puzzled by his ordering that test.
But we trudged next door to the hospital anyway. Because I got my Rho-gam shot at the hospital a couple months ago, registering was quick. Checking in at the Women's Center involved recounting medical history. No stress there! (sarcasm) Then they attached the fetal monitor and took my blood pressure. I was impressed that my blood pressure was still good. It probably helped that we immediately heard her heartbeat when the monitor was turned on. For a little while I just reclined with my feet up, listening to Elsie's heartbeat. And then she discovered the monitor, and she was not happy about it. She attacked for a little while, then rested, then attacked it, then rested. I applauded her problem-solving skills but told her she was not going to succeed in throwing off the monitor. It didn't deter her. The good news is that both the nurse and Dr. Reynolds declared her heart rate print out "beautiful." And then they let us go. Hurray!
Dr. Reynolds said we'll do another growth ultrasound at 38 weeks if she hasn't arrived yet. And he said once again that we'll induce at 39 weeks. On the way home, Matt and I gave her a pep talk. We told her about all the great things available to outside babies: back rubs that directly touch your back, sights, smells, hugs and kisses, and the opportunity to bop Dr. Reynolds in the nose for making her do a non-stress test. I even promised to slip her a tiny taste of chocolate cupcake icing. If she's anything like me, back rubs and chocolate will be tempting.
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