Week 33

Week 33 has been pretty eventful, probably more than I would like!  Friday I went to my weekly doctor appointment, and I had my first non-stress test.  I think the name "non-stress" test is very fitting, because for me it was very relaxing!  The nurses took me back to a private room with a comfy recliner, and hooked me up to a monitor.  It is just like the monitors in the hospital, one sensor tracks baby's heart rate and the other sensor measures if you happen to have any contractions.  I didn't have any contractions, but that is normal for a non-stress test, they are basically measuring how the baby does under normal circumstances.  They measured his heart rate for 15-20 minutes (I'm not sure how long I was in there!) and they look for heart rate accelerations.  That is when the baby's heart rate shows an increase of at least 15 beats per minute for at least 15 seconds.  They also give you a little button to push every time the baby moves, so they can see if the accelerations coincide with activity.  The first part of the test baby was asleep, so I figured I would be there forever. (If they monitor you for 20 minutes and there aren't any accelerations or movements, you just get to sit there longer!)  He did have one acceleration but it was a little one, and for some reason the monitor wasn't working when I pushed the activity button.  About 10-15 minutes later, baby woke up and showed how he likes to go wild in mommy's tummy!  Let's put it this way - the first half of the test he moved about 5 times, the second half of the test he moved 30 times!  He had a really good acceleration at the end, so the NP said I could come off the monitor.  So this is what I have to look forward to every week! 

Next they took me for my biophysical profile, which is another part of my weekly visit.  The non-stress test is actually part of the biophysical profile, but I did that part first today.  The rest of the profile involves an ultrasound that measures amniotic fluid, heart rate, breathing movements, and activity.  Since baby was awake, it took less than 5 minutes to get what we needed.  And then the sonographer was nice enough to snap some pictures of baby!

33 weeks 1 day, and yes that is a hand and a foot in front of his face!

33 weeks 1 day, looks like he is ready to go back to sleep!

As you can see, he was striking his usual "hands in the face" pose, but today he decided to add a foot in there!  In fact, before she was able to get a picture he was trying to get his foot in his mouth, apparently sucking his thumb is getting boring! 

Anyway, he passed the biophysical profile with flying colors so we were taken back to see the NP.  She measured my belly and everything looked good so we were on our way to enjoy the wonderful weekend weather!  The weekend was wonderful, not only because the weather was beautiful, but because we had hardly anything planned!  I cannot remember the last time we had a weekend all to ourselves without work, traveling, or having someone visit.  Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining about traveling and having visitors, it is just nice to have a nice quiet lazy weekend once in awhile. Especially with a baby on the way!  Friday night we did go out with some friends to a fish fry though.  I have always wanted to go to a fish fry during Lent, but I figured it was a lost cause since Tim hates to eat fish.  Luckily for me a friend at work invited him to one and he decided we would try it out!  Granted he didn't eat while we were there, he just partook of the vast amounts of beer.  I think fish fries are one of the smartest fundraisers ever, they had to be raking in money!  As you wait in the tremendously long line, there are beer stations conveniently placed down the hallway.  Just as your pitcher is empty, gee there's another beer station!  And once you get your food there are raffles and dessert tables and all sorts of places to throw money.  And no one minds because it all goes to charitable causes!  So smart!  So even though Tim was a party pooper and didn't have any fish, we still had a good time. I'm glad I finally got to go!

Saturday I pretty much relaxed all day, I did a little housework and enjoyed the 87 degrees by sitting on the front porch swing and reading a book.  And if I remember right, I was falling asleep on the couch by 830.  Good times!  Sunday I finished up the housework while Tim slaved in the yard, and then we vegged on the couch watching golf.  I normally don't like to watch golf, but due to the fact we don't have cable (we just use a digital antenna) that was all that was on!  Once I watched for awhile I actually started to get into it and it was somewhat entertaining!  All I have to say is poor Rory!  While watching golf my abdomen started to hurt.  I couldn't put my finger on what it was, but my stomach felt really tight and I was getting very uncomfortable.  I wondered if I was having contractions, or if baby was just really pushing against my abdominal wall.  It lasted all night, and eventually started to make my back hurt.  I thought about calling the doctor, but I really didn't think it was anything too serious.  Plus I had an appointment the next morning with my specialist, so I figured if I still didn't feel well in the morning I would bring it up to him.  So around 830 I grabbed a heating pad for my back and headed to bed.

I tossed and turned all night and woke up with the same contractions/cramps/back pain.  I figured it was probably Braxton-Hicks contractions if anything, but I didn't think they were supposed to be constant like this.  So I went to my doctor's appointment to see what was up.  So why two doctors?  I see my normal OB doctor every week now, but I have also been seeing a Maternal-Fetal Specialist every 6 weeks or so since I was 18 weeks pregnant.  He does a diagnostic ultrasound to make sure the baby is growing and developing properly.  One potential problem with Factor V Leiden is fetal growth suppression, and other problems can include blood clots in the placenta.  So far the baby is growing fine and they estimate his weight to be 4 lbs 5 oz!  If he grows about a half a pound a week (which is the average)  then he will be about 7 lbs when he is born. I think I could handle that!  The rest of the ultrasound looked great and when the doctor came in he told me I would switch to heparin injections in 3 weeks.  Right now I am on lovenox, which is a form of heparin, the reason I have to switch to regular heparin is because we are nearing delivery. (yay!) Heparin has a shorter half-life than lovenox, which means after injecting it is out of your system in about 12 hours.  This is important when it comes to delivery so that you can get an epidural and not bleed to death!  The downside is instead of one injection a day, you need to do two since it only lasts 12 hours.  Blah.  Oh well, whatever it takes right?  I mentioned the contractions/cramps I had been having and he didn't seem to be concerned about it.  That didn't really surprise me because as a high risk specialist he gets more concerned about the "big things" than the small things.  So when I got home I called my regular OB because things just didn't seem "right".  Of course she had me come into get checked out.  She didn't think I was having pre-term labor or anything, but she was concerned that if these contractions/cramps continued I may go into labor.  So she ran some tests and everything was fine, and finally determined I had a small infection she believed was irritating my uterus.  So she gave me a prescription and told me she would see me on friday.  If I wasn't better by then the infection must not be the issue.  I thought, it better be gone by then I can't deal with this all week!  I continued to have contractions/cramps all night but this morning I feel much better.  Now I just have to figure out how to sleep comfortably at night but I think that will be a hard fought battle!