Wednesday, January 31, 2007

1/29 dr visit

Our little man passed his biophysical profile (again)....this time in about 3 minutes. He was breathing and moving around like crazy the second we saw him on the ultrasound monitor. Like last week, the blood flow in the umbilical cord was strained a bit, but still (barely) within the normal range. Baby Porta seems to be a happy, healthy baby, so we'll keep him where he is for now.

We also got some really good views of his face and he definitely has his daddy's sweet little lips. Ssoooo sweet...

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Baby, baby, baby....

It HAS to happen soon...there has to be a time when we leave the doctor's office with good news. Right?

The baby is not growing as much as he should be at this point. He is weeks behind in growth, especially in the mid-section region, which they say is the first place to have delays when there is a growth-related issue. They did a test yesterday to see what the bloodflow looked like in the umbilical cord and it seemed to be a bit strained. This probably means that there is a problem with the placenta and that the baby hasn't been getting the blood he needs to grow sufficiently. The doctor thought that maybe the same defect that caused his heart to be formed incorrectly could be the same defect that is causing this. It's hard to say, though.

We have to continue to monitor the baby twice a week until he is born. If there is evidence of his movements or breathing decreasing in frequency, it is possible that he would be better off outside of my tummy. And....with his delicate little heart condition, being outside my tummy right now is not a good thing. He only weighs 3 lbs, 6 oz right now. That is too tiny for heart surgery. But, if he continues to show signs that he's not getting enough blood inside the uterus, then we'll have to take that risk.

The good thing is that he continues to pass every test with flying colors! He shows off his breathing and twisting and kicking every time we peek at him and that's a very good sign that he's still thriving in there.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Hospital Food

I think I'm realizing that my body just doesn't like pregnancy. Last week I was admitted to the hospital because of the frequency of contractions I was having. The medication they had put me on previously wasn't working, so while in the hospital they put me on a different medication called Nifedipine. It's actually a medication used to lower blood pressure, but also helps to relax the blood vessels surrounding the uterus, hence slowing contractions. That medication worked much better for me and gave me fewer side effecs, so they sent me home after a couple nights in the hospital. I'm back at home on bedrest for the remainder of the time, now getting only about 2-5 contractions per hour. Being confined to my bed doesn't seem so bad now after being in the hospital for a few days.

While we were there, they did an ultrasound to check on the baby and found that his stomach is about 3-4 weeks behind in growth. The rest of his body and his brain are all right on schedule, but for some reason his little tummy area is quite small. They were concerned that this might indicate a blood flow problem to the baby, so he has to get two biophysicals per week. For these, they look at the baby via ultrasound and he is tested on five different things (muscle tone, breathing, fluid, movement and heart rate). If he passes all the "tests," then most likely blood flow is not an issue. So far he has aced all of his tests, so there's no reason to think he's not getting enough blood. We will just keep an eye on things and hope that his tummy is just a slow grower.

I'm at 31 weeks now, so we are praying for at least 6 more weeks of pregnancy. These past two weeks have actually gone by surprisingly fast. I can't believe it's the middle of January already. Here's hoping the rest of the pregnancy is smooth and quick and that I won't need to post here again until the baby is born!

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

My Bed

Good news: The results from our second amnio came back and they were good!!

Not-so-great news: I've had some contractions these past few weeks, which has turned into very frequent and painful contractions in the past few days. The doctor tested me for a protein that exists in women who could be going into labor soon and I tested positive. Soooo.....to prevent that, because labor would be very very bad thing at this point, I'm taking a medication called Terbutaline to minimize the contractions and I'm also on bedrest. For now. They will re-evaluate me at each doctor's visit to see if I need to continue with the bedrest, and my next appointment is Jan 10th.

Until then, my husband is my nurse. :( I feel so bad that he has to do extra work for me, but this is what our baby needs. He cannot come out yet!!!

I'm off to crochet my second scarf and watch Judge Judy....