Negligent

I knew it had been a while since I'd written for the blog, but it wasn't until I logged in that I saw my last post dated at May 13! Wow... sorry, blogosphere for this negligence in writing duties!

On the good side, there has not been much need for an update. Sounds kind of strange, considering the whole growing-a-baby thing seems to be a relatively dynamic process, but there you have it. Since May, things have been trucking along. We have had several growth ultrasounds to make sure the monkey is growing enough - as stated in the last post, one possible side effect for chronic hypertension is IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction), which can cause the baby to not grow enough or as quickly as he/she would under "normal" circumstances. Luckily, that has not been our situation - at 29w, she was measuring about a week and a half ahead and weighed approximately 3 lbs., 10 oz. This past Friday, just a few days past 33w, she was still measuring a bit ahead (maybe a week?) and weighed in around 5 lbs., 3 oz. Everything seems to be developing quite appropriately, so we are obviously very happy with the progress.

This week begins my twice-weekly appointments - another part of the whole high risk experience is extra careful monitoring of how I'm doing. I know it's not what someone having a "normal" pregnancy would experience, and it almost seems silly since I feel so great, but I know that I'm quite fortunate to have such wonderful medical care. On Tuesdays I will visit my regular OB's office for a non-stress test (NST) and doctor's visit. The NST (so named because it does not cause any stress to the baby while it is administered) measures fetal heart rate and contractions. Movement, heart rate and “reactivity” of heart rate to movement is measured for 20-30 minutes. The primary goal of the test is to measure the heart rate of the fetus in response to its own movements. Healthy babies will respond with an increased heart rate during times of movement, and the heart rate will decrease at rest. I've scheduled this appointment to follow lunch, so hopefully baby will be active after a yummy Pan.era lunch!

On Fridays, I begin my weekly visit to the high-risk office where I've had all of my ultrasounds for a biophysical profile (BPP), which is another test to determine the baby's health. This test is like any other ultrasound except it looks for five attributes to help determine how the baby is doing: breathing, movement, muscle tone, heart rate, and the amniotic fluid. The score will help determine how the baby is doing and will help determine the plan ahead for when she will be born. We're still at the current plan of inducing at 39w unless something earlier (determined by the NST, BPP, or my blood pressure/situation) makes an earlier induction necessary. All in all, the monkey's been flying all of her tests with flying colors, so I can only hope that she continues her streak of taking after mama as an overachiever!

The one unfortunate byproduct since the last post was the cancellation of our vacation/babymoon. We were schedule to go to California in June for our last baby-free adventure. We would have spent a day in the Bay Area visiting family and friends, then spent a week down in San Diego, exploring, resting, and generally enjoying ourselves. Unfortunately, the day we were to leave, I had a doctor's appointment to see how my blood pressure was doing, and the numbers were just not good enough. It had been a little erratic lately, so my doctors grounded me. As incredibly disappointing as it was to have our plans cancelled just HOURS before we were to leave for the airport, I knew it was better to be safe than sorry. Silver lining (there always is one, of course!) was that my mom was able to leave last minute (the next morning, if you can believe it) to visit for a few days. It was wonderful to still have time with her before the baby comes.

Long post, but long overdue!