Dr. Appointments

Well, Derek and I had our first "interesting" Doctor appointment on Tuesday.


First we had an ultrasound, it was so fun to see Peanut again, we haven't seen her in 9 weeks. :) She looked good, there aren't really any good pictures to post because she is getting big and the ultrasound comes out fuzzy because they are too close. She is measuring in at a whopping 5lbs. 14 ounces. She is only 2 ounces smaller then when I was born! She got tired of letting the ultrasound tech poke at her and she kicked the thing poking her, making the lady's hand jump off my belly...I think it was one of her strongest kicks yet! (and pretty funny)

I still have high blood pressure, though it is has not increased over the past few visits, so the Doctor had us go through several tests. The first is a "non-stress" test where they hook my belly up to a fetal monitor and check her heartrate as she moves around, when she moves, it is supposed to go up, when she is not moving, it should go back down. All went well with this test, she even got the hiccups in the middle of it which kept Derek and I entertained.

Then I had to get blood drawn and get my equipment for my "24 hour urine test". Blood drawn - no big deal. Urine test - mortifying. Doing the pee test required me to collect ALL of my urine for 24 hours and keep it in a big jug, so I started yesterday morning and ended this morning. The fun part was that I had to keep it refrigerated! So I had housekeeping bring a fridge to my cube and I had "special equipment" I had to take to the bathroom every time I went....which is a lot! It was pretty embarassing and just GROSS!

Then today I had to go into Maternal Fetal medicine and have another ultrasound, this one is a little more high tech and they check more of the blood flow through the umbilical cord, brain, etc. everything looked good, and my blood pressure was actually lower today then it has been in the past. Funny thing is that today she measured 6lbs 5 ounces! I think there is some good room for error with these measurements depending on who is doing the ultrasound.

I met with a different doctor today then my normal doctor, she said that everything looks ok, they are just being careful with my high blood pressure. The urine test will determine if I have pregnancy hypertension or if I have preeclampsia. The good news is that the baby looks big and healthy, she was even doing her "practice breathing" to get her lungs ready for the outside world.

My regular doctor did say that it is unlikely that I will make it to my due date (May 21st), she said I would probably get to 38 or 39 weeks then be induced to make sure everything stays ok. So we may get to meet Peanut earlier than expected! :)

We will keep you updated on the progress, we are going to start going to the doctor every week, and have the non-stress test 2 times a week. I have never been to the doctor this much in my whole life. :)