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Maternity & Parenting Center

Let’s talk about Frank, baby

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Today was my fluid ultrasound to check on the status of Frank (you know, the pesky fibroid). The good news is, Frank shrank back down to only 1.5 cm. He is only on the outside of my uterus, outer layer. My doctor felt that there was no reason to go in and surgically remove him. I have to say, I was stunned – things never go that well for me. I asked about whether Frank would re-grow during a future pregnancy and cause me problems, and while he said the possibility exists, he felt that Frank was done growing. The even better news is that the other fibroids I used to have on the outside of my uterus (there were 5) have all disappeared. He could not find any evidence of any additional fibroids! So, hopefully that means any future pregnancies would not be riddled with contractions and pain. Then again, Frank could defy expectations and get cranky again next pregnancy. I guess the upside to that is I would have extra monitoring, probably earlier on, to watch frank throughout the pregnancy.

I do have a band of scar tissue from Micah’s birth that he recommended I have removed. He said “there is no reason to put up with that.” So . . . we’ll see. I have to make an appointment with a different doctor to discuss it. I know I should do it, but it involves a needle, and well, you know how NOT good I am with needles.

Results of the day: there are no impediments to trying again for #2 when we are ready!

Ultrasound – 37 weeks 3 days

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Today we had our weekly “biophysical profile” ultrasound – once again, our brilliant son scored a perfect 8/8! Basically, it means he is quite content where he is. While I’m happy to hear that he is thriving in there, can someone please help me serve him an eviction notice? I promise not to serve him another one until after he completes college.

We actually got some fantastic pictures today – I’ll go downstairs and scan them when Elliot gets home (he took them with him). The doctor came in to see us, and after I whined he decided to do an internal check on me. The good news is I’m over 3 cm dilated (yes, progress!) and still at 80% effaced. He stripped my membranes to see if that would stir anything up. I’m actually not hopeful, but if it is going to work, we should see something in 24-48 hours.

****Update****

Here are the ultrasound pics from today:

34 week ultrasound

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Today’s appointment was fairly uneventful . . . except for the fact that the doctors and ultrasound technicians have been confused about my presence at the last two visits. Today’s tech actually came in and asked why I was there and what she was supposed to do! Somehow, the doctor’s notes got lost in translation, and they were acting like I just kept showing up for the fun of it.

After going through the saga a few times, they checked my cervix (which shrunk some, but is holding steady around 2.4/2.5) measured Frank (who seems to have shrunk almost another centimeter) and did a biophysical profile of the baby. Baby is doing great! He was moving and breathing and is still head down.

So, with all that good news, it might actually be safe for me to travel to New Jersey right after Thanksgiving for my niece Stephanie’s bat mitzvah! We just have to make sure nothing significant happens in the next week.

Awww Moment

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So Elliot is leaving town tonight to go on a business trip, and I asked him to clean up his stuff in the bedroom before he left since the cleaning people are coming tomorrow. For the first time (perhaps EVER) he isn’t just hiding the mess and shoving everything into his drawers – he actually is sorting/organizing/putting things away! In doing all this, he stumbled across some notes I hid in his suitcases when he went down to Mississippi for a month to help post-Katrina. When I was little and went away to camp, my mom used to hide little notes in my suitcase/dresser drawers so that all summer long I’d find cute little notes that made me smile and remember someone cared about me. Elliot & I hadn’t been together all that long when he left, but I decided to do the same for him. Before I could second guess my decision or whether he would think it was stupid, I dashed off some notes (just little things like “hello” and “kisses from me & Nugget” and “we miss you” or “thinking of you”) and stuffed them in his folded clothes in his suitcase. Anyway, he saved a bunch of them, and he brought them down to show me today when he found them. I think it is so sweet that he saved all those notes. It kind of made me want to say “Awwww.”

On Monday night, we had our final birth class! Now we just have to keep practicing what we’ve learned and hope it helps on baby’s birth day. Yesterday was our midwife appointment – everything is progressing well (I measured 33 cms, so right on target) and the baby’s heartbeat was perfect. We asked a bunch of questions about labor and delivery stuff, and we are feeling good about everything. On Friday we go in for our ultrasound to see how things are looking. From this point on, we will be doing weekly appointments and ultrasounds.

32 week ultrasound!

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Today was our 32 week ultrasound, and so far, everything is looking great! The baby is about 4 lbs right now (3 lbs 15 ozs) and he was measuring in the 34th percentile (which is a little smaller than he was measuring last month). We got an adorable 3D shot of him, too – I think he might look like Elliot! He is still head down, we were able to see him breathing and we got a great view of his heart. My cervix is holding steady, although it has started to shrink some – it was down to about 2.7 cm today, but it is still in the “safe” zone for now. The best news, however, is that Frank shrunk! At my 28 and 30 week ultrasounds, he was about 5.4 cm x 4.9 cm x 3.5 cm . . . almost the size of a fist! As of today, he was only 4 cm x 4 cm x 2 cm, so he shrunk about 1 cm all around. I had thought that I was feeling much better (and experiencing much less pain), so I was relieved to hear it isn’t just a cruel trick of the medicines, but that I should be feeling better! Hopefully, that will make the next 4 weeks much easier for me. We go back again in 2 more weeks, and then we start weekly appointments to measure the baby.

So, here are the pictures:


Well, off to continue packing! We spent the past 2 days trying to acquire rugs for the house and get all the little details done. We are hoping that things are still on track for moving on Sunday!

Another Ultrasound

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Today was our appointment with the Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist and another ultrasound. The good news is, my cervix is holding steady, and Frank is not growing in size . . . yet. The bad news is, Frank isn’t shrinking (and is highly unlikely to shrink at this point). We did not get such good pictures of the baby. Today he is head down, facing upwards, with his feet up by my ribs and his hands on either side of my pelvis. Every time she tried to snap a photo of him, he arched his back and looked kind of like an alien. I may try to scan and post the picture later.

I am supposed to do a few more courses of the Indocin over the next 1-2 weeks, and then I have to stop taking that. According to this doctor, his goal is to get me to 34 weeks, and he is not convinced I’m going to make it to 36 weeks. He seems to think a scheduled c-section shortly after 34 weeks is in my future, but for right now, I have different plans. I’m going to do whatever it takes to get to 36 weeks, and then hope when we stop the meds I can go into labor on my own. I’m not sure what I’ll do if I stop the meds at 36 weeks and I am contracting but not getting anywhere, so I am trying not to think about that. The bottom line is I might not be able to have that nice natural birth with a midwife I had planned.

I should have known this wasn’t going to be easy for me . . . I think the “other shoe” I’ve been waiting for has finally dropped.

In other news, we went out with my parents to celebrate Elliot’s birthday last night. The restaurant was wonderful – good atmosphere and the food was excellent! We stopped by the house on our way home to check on the renovations, and I’m thrilled to say we have real progress! Two of the four bathroom sinks are installed (with faucets and everything), the lighting looks like it has been completed, the floors were refinished, and some of the hardware for the showers was in place. There was 1 broken light fixture and the toilet in the master bathroom is cracked, but I’m starting to believe there is an end in sight!

Finally . . . . an answer!

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It has been a rough couple of days for me. I returned from the hospital yesterday and took a nap. At 3:00 pm, I awoke with contractions and excruciating pain in my lower right abdomen. I went ahead and took another dose of the medicine (1/2 the dose they gave me in the hospital), and the contractions improved but didn’t stop. I took the 2nd dose 1/2 hr later, and still the contractions did not disappear. The pain in my lower abdomen gradually worsened. I called the midwives, and they told me to drink more water, wait for my next dose at 7:00 pm, and call back at 8 if the contractions did not improve. At 8:00 pm, I was in pain, but the contractions were feeling better. I ended up calling the midwives again, and was told to get in the bath for 1/2 hr, keep drinking water, and take my next double dose at 11 pm. Elliot had gone to Kol Nidre services, and I called in and listened on the phone.

By 10:30, I was in excruciating pain, and the contractions suddenly started to be 3-4 minutes apart again by 11. We called the midwife, and she said I would probably need to go back to the hospital. She suggested taking 2 tylenol (thinking it would help the pain of the abdominal strain) and take another double dose of medicine at 11, and give it no more than 1 hour. I sent Elliot to walk the dog and we started getting ready to leave for the hospital. While Elliot was walking the dog, I lay down and relaxed . . . and for the first time since we got back from the hospital, I started feeling better! The contractions slowed, lessened in intensity, and were fairly spaced out. The midwife suggested I try going to sleep, I take my next dosage at 3:00 am, but that if the contractions woke me up to head to the hospital. She said if I made it through the night, I needed to go into the office in the morning to be checked. I slept until 3:00, took my next dosage, and then slept until 6:00 am . . . when a contraction woke me up. I had contractions over the next hour, took my next dose at 7:00 am, and then started feeling better at 7:30 am.

We went to the office at 9:00 to be checked. My contractions seemed to be controlled, and I was relatively pain-free at that time. I kept feeling these “mini” contractions and some pain radiating out from one spot on my uterus, and I just felt like something else was happening. After talking about our options, the midwives decided to send me for an ultrasound at the Maternal Fetal Medicine office to check my cervix and see if there was a problem with my placenta. That left Elliot enough time to get to services for Yom Kippur for several hours. I missed services since I was directed to bedrest.

At 1:45, I picked Elliot up from synagogue and we went in for the ultrasound. The good news is, they identified the problem! Apparently, since my 20 week ultrasound, a big giant fibroid grew on the outside of my uterus. I did know that I had a small fibroid on the outside that was about .5 cm before I got pregnant, and I was told it was nothing to worry about. Well, it decided to grow . . . huge. It is almost as big as my fist now, and apparently, it is angry and pissed off and causing all the problems/pain/contractions. The good news is that I do not have an abdominal strain. The bad news is, it will be difficult to treat this fibroid and it puts me at greater risk for pre-term labor. I will probably have contractions on and off throughout the rest of this pregnancy, and the fibroid will likely cause me pain. They added another medication which I can only take for 48 hrs at a time until I’m 32 weeks along. It will help the pain and help control the contractions. I started it tonight, and it does seem to be helping some – I hope the next 48 hrs really puts me in a better place and that the pain holds off. I can live with staying on the anti-contraction medicine, but I really don’t want to spend the rest of this pregnancy in pain from the fibroid. Oh . . . and I’ll probably have to have surgery after I have this baby to get rid of the fibroid, since it will probably cause issues with future pregnancies too (not that I can think about that now). So . . . odds are good this baby will make an earlier appearance rather than a later appearance. I really hope the contractors finish the house and we can move before this baby comes.

Anyway, we did get some good news . . . the fetal fibronectin test (the vaginal swab they did to check for pre-term labor) came back negative, so I should be safe for at least a few weeks! Also, I passed my gestational diabetes test . . . barely, but I still passed. Let’s hope the meds work and I can keep this baby in at least 8 more weeks . . . and that they are not 8 miserable weeks for me.

Big ultrasound!!!

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Yesterday was our “big” ultrasound! It was also my father’s 65th birthday! We have been so excited, but we were convinced this baby would not be cooperative and would refuse to show us the goods. Well, it turns out, this baby decided to cooperate!

First, the ultrasound was great. Our technician was so wonderful. The baby was jumping and moving all over the place! I can’t believe how much movement I’m NOT feeling yet. All of the measurements were right on . . . right size, heart looking good, kidneys/stomach all perfect, lovely looking spine – just perfect! They estimated the baby might be about 1 day ahead of schedule, but essentially, no reason to change my expected due date!

So, here are some beautiful shots of the baby . . .

Profile pics:


Apparently, the baby already has a sense of humor – here is a scary skull face shot that just creeps me out:

And now . . . drumroll please . . . . the “money” shot:


Yes,

We’re thrilled! I’m sure one day our son will hate us because we have already posted his first penis picture on the internet! We have no idea what we are going to do for a name (and we don’t plan on sharing before he is born) but we are so excited!! After we found out the news, we drove straight to my parents’ house. Jeremy and the girls were there to wish my father a happy birthday. We decided to share the news in a truly classy way . . . we asked who was in the mood for franks and beans for dinner. We shared the pictures, and then Jeremy headed home with the girls. Mom, Dad, Elliot & I went to the Prime Rib for dinner (thanks Heather & Brad!) and it was a perfect night.

We learned even more good news today . . . my cousin Jodi got engaged last night (congratulations!!) and our friends Niki and Eric had their little girl – 7 lbs 5 ozs, mother & baby both doing well! All-in-all, it has been a great couple of days!

Back from vacation

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Coming back from vacation is never fun . . . why can’t it last forever? I went out for girl’s night dinner tonight with some friends . . . I’m so exhausted from being on vacation! I have to go in for my bloodwork tomorrow, and then my big ultrasound is on 8/8/08.

Big Day

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Well today was a big day – it was our first “big” ultrasound – the Nuchal Translucency scan. Yes, Elliot overcame his superstitious nature, and agreed to have this scan done on Friday the 13th! This is a two-part test to screen for problems such as Down Syndrome and Trisomy 18. The first part is an ultrasound to measure the fluid behind the neck (in the spine) to see if it is within the normal range or too thick, and to confirm the presence of a nasal bone. Our little one has a perfectly normal nuchal fold measurement, smack dab in the center of the charts, and an adorable little nose! The second part of the test is a blood test where they screen for a protein that may be an indicator of a problem. We should have those results sometime next week. The test does not give you a definitive answer, but it assesses your risk for having a child with either Down Syndrome or Trisomy 18. Apparently, 70% of children with Down Syndrome/Trisomy 18 or other genetic problems will present with a thick nuchal fold, so it is a fairly reliable indicator of the health of the baby.

We really enjoyed this scan . . . the facility we went to was wonderful, the ultrasound tech talked us through everything, and we were able to watch the entire process on a huge LCD screen on the wall. We were amazed by how much the baby has grown! We could really see arms, legs, fingers, a nose, the chin . . . it was just spectacular. Our little one’s heartbeat was 173, and for the first time, we actually HEARD the heartbeat! The baby was moving around like crazy and kicking, which gave us a good look at the knee and leg and an elbow (which the baby apparently likes to shove into the wall of my uterus)! The baby also kept touching his/her face with his/her hands! The tech even did a quick show of the 3D/4D ultrasound for us. It was difficult to see much detail on the 3D yet, but it was fascinating. Oh – and my ovary appears to have returned to a “normal” size with no evidence of any unusual cysts! The tech took dozens of shots of the baby, but we were only given 3 to bring home, so I’m posting all of them!! Here they are:

Baby’s head, in profile (top of head on right, eye, nose, mouth, chin, neck and chest):

Baby in profile (head on right, hand above mouth, foot in the air on far left):

Baby in profile (head on right, hand above mouth, body, legs tucked in close to body):


Absolutely amazing, isn’t it? I still can’t believe there is a little life growing inside of me, and I’m looking forward to feeling this little one grow, and meeting him/her in December!