Rebecca update.

Yesterday was a busy day.  I had my weekly OB appointment at 8:00.  Everything was fine.  Rebecca's heart rate was within the normal range.  It is always on the low end, but it always falls within range.

I was officially 36 weeks pregnant on Tuesday and yesterday, my gigantic uterus and I  measured 40 weeks.  Which means, if I make it to the c-section on April 10th, I'm going to be huge.

And let me just say that I'm so big now that everywhere I go, people (strangers, of course) are saying things like I must be due any minute now, I look like I'm about to pop, am I carrying twins, etc.  You know, all the things that you want to hear when you technically still have 4 weeks of pregnancy left to go.  I know they are trying to be "friendly" but give me a break.

Yesterday afternoon before I picked up the kids  from school, I had a few minutes and stopped into Marshall's.  My male cashier bombarded me with all the questions above and then ended with, "Can I take your picture?  Girl, you are big.  I don't think I've ever seen anyone that pregnant before.  Are you sure you don't have twins.  How big is the daddy?  How big is the grandfather?  Really, can I take your picture?"

Needless to say, I will not be going back to Marshall's ever again.  And if you see a picture of a giant pregnant woman waddling out of Marshall's  plastered on the internet, it's probably yours truly.

 After my OB appointment, I had another ultrasound.

They did a  Biophysical Profile.  A BPP checks on things like amount of amniotic fluid around baby, baby's breathing, baby's movement, etc.

BPP's are done during the third trimester on high risk babies.  Specifically during this test, they were checking to see if the baby was practicing breathing.  We watched Rebecca's stomach for 30 minutes and in that time they like to see at least one instance of the baby trying to breath (practicing really, since the baby doesn't take any real breaths in utero) by watching her belly to see if it moves up and down.

Typically Rebecca is awake during these ultrasounds and moves so much that they have trouble seeing what they need to see.  Yesterday, however, when we wanted to see movement, she was sleeping peacefully and wasn't taking any practice breaths.  The 30 minutes kept creeping by and towards the end of it I began to change positions until she finally woke up and started punching, kicking, and moving.

And thankfully we started to see her little diaphragm move up and down.  She did it twice but only for about 20 seconds each time.  The doctor wasn't worried that she didn't make it to the 30 second mark and seemed okay with it.  However, I would have preferred if she had been practicing the whole time.

Her stomach bubble was still empty meaning we are still most likely dealing with the esophageal atresia and/or fistula.  We won't be able to confirm that until after she delivers.

The doctor was also a little concerned that one of the walls of the heart appeared to be thickening and it also looked like the pulmonary artery was too short. We had two echo-cardiograms earlier (in December and January) and the cardiologist wasn't worried about her heart at that time.  However, this doctor is going to contact him to see if he wants to do another echo.

The doctor told me that they all felt sorry for me and my gigantic uterus (thanks to all the extra amniotic fluid) and told me that if I wanted too, they could remove the extra fluid.  She said there is a slight risk that doing an amniocentesis would bring on childbirth and that typically after removing the fluid, it builds back up over the course of the week.

I told her I would pass on that.  Hopefully I can make it another three weeks until the c-section.  Hopefully Rebecca will stay put and continue growing as she only weighed 4 pounds, 10 ounces yesterday.  That weight put her in the 10-15th percentile for babies in the 36 week.  Too tiny!

My biggest problem with all this fluid (other than "kind" comments from strangers) is that sleeping is becoming more difficult.  I have to lay on my side and when I try to roll over, it hurts.  And getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom (which I do typically 3-6 times per night) requires a lot of grunting, groaning, and hoisting.  What I wouldn't give for an uninterrupted 7 hours of sleep!

So, there you have it.  The latest and greatest. I go back next week for another OB appointment and another ultrasound.  (Oh, and as I was leaving, the doctor referred to my uterus as a "uterus of steel".  I guess I'll take that as a compliment?)

Here are my specific prayer requests for now:

That I don't go into labor early due to the extra amniotic fluid.
That I make it to the c-section on April 10th so that Rebecca has more time to grow.
That Rebecca's heart is okay.
That there is no esophageal atresia when she is born.
That I can get some decent sleep.  (But really, isn't that the prayer of all women in their 3rd trimester?)

And here is another picture of my little lady.  She kept her face positioned away from the ultrasound so they had a hard time getting a good one of her face.  And the ultrasound tech said they had a new 3D machine and it seemed to make the images looks as if they had clay on them, but, I'll take it!  I still think she looks like Sarah.