Not again...

So today was a surprisingly eventful day in babyhill land! The original plan was to have my regular 15 minute OB check-up, followed by a 30 minute NST (non-stress test) which would show that the baby's heart is great and my uterus is nice and relaxed. I suspected things would be a bit off when I woke up feeling like I had just swigged a bottle of wine and was trying desperately to keep my balance in a wildly spinning room (note: I felt like that while I was still lying down in bed). I ate some food, drank a ton of water, and checked my blood sugar. My blood sugar was normal, and nothing stopped the room from spinning. I was glad that I already had a doctor appointment scheduled.

My appointment was uneventful (blood pressure and pulse were normal, even though I still felt dizzy) and Dr. H said she thought my dizziness might be from my chronic anemia getting worse as the pregnancy continues. Even though I'm already taking double the regular dosage of iron supplements every day, I might have reached a new threshold and have started feeling symptomatic anyway.

So off I went to the NST room to be monitored. There was another woman in there who is 41 weeks pregnant and doing everything she can to get labor started naturally. The way the room was set up, we could see each other's charts but not our own, so we kept each other up-to-date. Turns out we both developed chart envy. Hers was nice and stable with a couple light contractions that built to their peaks slowly and evenly (showing no sign of impending labor). Mine was full of huge spiky contractions. We asked the nurse if we could trade charts, but no go.

I ended up getting a shot of terbutaline, a beta-adrenergic agonist bronchodilator. Basically, it relaxes smooth muscles (such as the uterus) and is used to stop preterm contractions. After the shot, they monitored me for another 30 minutes and the contractions had stopped. So far, so good! But Dr. H wanted me to have a quick ultrasound to check the baby's position, blood flow, and now my cervical length (because of the contractions). I had a bit of time before the ultrasound, so I went to the front desk to schedule my next few appointments.

As I was standing at the front desk, I suddenly felt super dizzy and nauseous and broke out into a sweat. I interrupted the receptionist and said, "I'm sorry, I need to sit down" and as I backed toward a bench, apparently I turned a lovely shade of gray. A nurse happened to be passing behind me and the receptionist yelled for her as I fell. The nurse guided me down on the bench and called for help, and soon I was being wheeled back to Dr. H's office. I rested there for awhile as they monitored my heart rate and blood pressure and gave me some crackers and juice. Eventually I felt a bit better and they wheeled me to the lab for my ultrasound.

The ultrasound was fine. The baby looks great (and is very busy), my cervix is still over 3cm, and everything looks just as it should. Even better, the baby has turned to be head down! No more breech!

I headed back to Dr. H's office for a last check-in, and she verified that things look great on the ultrasound. The dizziness and fainting are concerning, but don't seem to affect the baby at all. Now my job is to "take it easy", eat well, stay hydrated, and call Dr. H with any signs of dizziness, fainting, or contractions.

So after a relatively uneventful pregnancy, looks like we're back in preterm labor land. I'm hoping this was an isolated event and the terb will do its magic to stop things until I'm full-term (5 more weeks). However, I'm a bit worried about the instruction to "take it easy". Hilltot is not a "take it easy" kind of guy, and the last thing I want or need is to end up on bed rest.

Oh, another lesson learned: take Chris' car to the rest of my appointments. Thinking I'd only be gone for 45 minutes, I took my car -- the one with the car seat, the stroller, AND the Ergo carrier. 4 hours later, Chris was trying to figure out how to get to the hospital with hilltot. He ended up putting him in the BOB stroller and started walking. Luckily I didn't get admitted to the hospital, so I was able to leave and pick up my boys as they trekked across the city.

The silver lining of this entire day? I got a surprise ultrasound! Here's babyhill at 32 weeks! This is the best profile shot we were able to get -- babyhill was quite annoyed with being bothered all day and kept turning or placing a hand in the way of the image. To be honest baby, I don't blame you.

Ultrasound

So far it's been a good week in babyhill news! First, no gestational diabetes (YAY!) and now a good ultrasound! The purpose of the ultrasound was to check the baby's growth, see if they can figure out why I'm measuring large for my date, and check my cervical length to make sure it's OK for me to travel to Boston at the end of the week. And everything looks good!

The baby is measuring 29 weeks 4 days (which is just one day ahead of actual gestational age), the amniotic fluid is normal, and my cervix is a nice long 43mm. Babyhill is still breech, but is more transverse now (head on my upper right side, bottom on my lower left) which is why I'm not carrying quite as high as I was at my last appointment (when baby was sitting straight up). We still have about 4 weeks for baby to turn around, so turn, baby, turn!

One of the main risks of SUA (the umbilical issue) is intrauterine growth restriction, which means the baby could have trouble getting enough nutrients and growing as he/she should. Well, turns out that doesn't seem to be an issue yet -- babyhill is in the 79th% for weight (3lb 10oz)! It's funny, because one of the main risks of gestational diabetes is that the baby grows too quickly, yet hilltot ended up being very small, always measuring around the 20th% for weight. Dr. H joked that my body seems to find ways to manage the growth of my babies (diabetes or SUA, as necessary).

Dr. H thinks that babyhill seems very comfortable and may decide to hang out in utero longer than hilltot did -- maybe even make it to my due date! That would be ironic, since my mom and Manfred are arriving three weeks early this time. But we don't have a lot of control, and Dr. H said that I can't be induced due to my previous c-section. So we'll just have to wait and see what babyhill has in mind (unless baby decides not to turn around and we end up having to schedule a c-section).

Dr. H also warned me that second labors tend to be faster (and hilltot was pretty fast -- I never had "early labor" with him) and because I'm attempting a VBAC, I need to be in a hospital when I go into labor. So no waiting around until we hit the transition stage of labor -- once contractions start, I need to head to a hospital pronto. I'm a little worried about how fast this might be. My mom had 30 hrs of labor with my brother and only 5 with me. If my second labor follows the same pattern as my mom's, we'll be lucky to make it to labor & delivery in time to catch babyhill!

Anyway, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. In the meantime, here are the ultrasound pictures from today! You can see a little face, a profile, and a foot. So cute!

Belly pic: 22 weeks and update

I don't have a lot to report about being 22 weeks along, other than my belly is getting bigger and I'm finally starting to gain weight. Dr. H said that my weight gain is just fine and I'm right on track for 22 weeks along. She also said that I can "probably" go to Boston for my MIT reunion in June, as long as I'm ready to change my plans last minute. Since I had pre-term contractions starting at 31 weeks last time, flying cross-country and staying up all night to party with college friends (um, I did mention this is my 15 year reunion, right??) might not be a great idea. The best we can do is assume I can go and do an ultrasound to check my cervical length the week before.

The big news today is from our ultrasound and fetal echo cardiogram this morning. I was completely stressed out about it, but it seems that things are going really well. The baby's heart is completely normal, the neural cyst is gone, and the baby is growing right on target! All parts and pieces are accounted for, including four chambers of the heart, two functioning kidneys, and a nice strong flow in the umbilical cord. Babyhill was also extremely active, doing some tap dancing and shadow boxing while the ultrasound technician busily kept up. The baby is also currently sitting breech, but that's not a concern at this point. When the tech put the ultrasound wand high on my left side and said, "Here's baby's head..." and then low on my right side and said, "...and here's baby's bottom", I was a little startled about how BIG babyhill already is.

In addition to today's belly comparison picture, I'm including two profile shots from the ultrasound. It's already obvious how beautiful babyhill is, isn't it? Although Chris is a little concerned...this one may have gotten his nose.