As of today I'm officially down to seeing one doctor until the baby is born! Phew! I'll be seeing her every week, but it's nice to know that's the only one I'll have to worry about. I've received excellent care, it's just been a bit exhausting.
I saw my regular OBGYN at the beginning of last week. The baby's heart rate was good and my weight and measurements were fine. No worries that she was starting to get too big. They also did the Group B Strep test. Here they're testing for a specific bacteria that could cause complications with the baby during/after delivery (pneumonia is the big one). If you test positive they make a note in your chart so that as soon as you come into the hospital to deliver you're started on the antibiotics to counteract it. Everything else goes normally. I haven't heard back that I've got it so hopefully it won't be an issue. I go back tomorrow so I'll ask just to make sure. She also checked me while I was there and said my cervix was starting to dilate and she could feel the stitch (which is normal at this point). She said having it come out the following Monday was good.
Later that week we went back to the pediatric cardiologist for the last time until she's born. She was very cooperative this time and they were able to see everything they needed to see in a lot less time. We got really good news. The hole between her ventricles is almost half the size it was and her aorta no longer looks like it's misaligned. So at this point the only issue is the hole which could still close up on it's own. She won't need surgery until she's older if she ever needs it at all. It was such a relief to hear. I had no idea that the aorta could still fix itself. I thought it was a done deal, but apparently not. She said she didn't need to see us until the baby is born. The neonatologists will look at her after she's born and she'll come over to look herself (and do an ultrasound) within the first 24 hours to make the definitive diagnosis. This also means that I'll most likely be able to take her right after she's born and do kangaroo care. I had resigned myself to the fact that it may not happen and was fine with it because whatever is best for her is what we need to do. But now it sounds like it won't be an issue.
That afternoon I saw the endocrinologist for the gestational diabetes. They did an A1C to get an idea about my average sugars for the past few months and it came back totally normal. That means the changes I've been making in my diet have really been working. Another sign of relief because that means she's hopefully not going to get too big. I have another appointment with her in about 10 weeks to make sure that after I give birth everything balances back out. She said based on my sugars and A1C she thinks they should. After the baby is born she said to periodically check my sugar (especially after a bigger meal) just to see how they're running so we'll know if everything is going back to the way it was before pregnancy.
Today was my final appointment with the high risk doctors to remove the cerclage. I've been looking forward to this day and can't quite believe it's here. I've spent so much time worrying about getting here and now that it's done I don't quite know what to think. While we really didn't think I'd go into labor, Mom came down to go to the appointment with Adam and I anyway just in case. We started with an ultrasound so they could check her out and make sure everything looked good so they could take out the stitch. They took lots of measurements and determined she's about 5 pounds 7 ounces and has a gestational age close to where we are (36w2d). The doctor said she's a little on the small side, but not enough that we need to worry. The tech also said it looks like she's got a lot of hair. There was fuzziness around her head (she pointed it out, I smiled and nodded . . . I had no idea) that she said was hair. We'll see when she's born! Neither Adam or I had a lot of hair, so I'm interested to see what our daughter has. Her femur length was closer to 38w4d so she may be long. Madeline was so we'll see on that front too. The tech was also able to get a 3D image of her face (our first) that was pretty good. She looks a lot like Adam, but has my nose (just like her sister). Once the tech was done the doctor who put the cerclage in came in to take it out. She looked at the baby's lungs with the ultrasound first to double check and make sure they looked good and that she was practicing breathing. We could see them move. It was neat. She gets the hiccups constantly so I wasn't too worried.
Once she was satisfied I put my feet up and she got to work. The whole process took probably 5-10 minutes. It wasn't pleasant, but wasn't too painful. It was more like pressure and a pulling/tugging feeling. I did have a couple contractions, but it was due to the irritation and was expected. After it was out she did an official check on my cervix. I'm around 1cm dilated and mostly effaced. We were planning to be there for a few hours so they could monitor me, but she said unless I really wanted to she didn't think it was necessary. If I'd dilated more she would have kept me, but at this point she didn't see a need. We know the signs to look for and come back if need be. If I had wanted to be hooked up to be monitored she was fine with that too, just wanted me to know she didn't think I needed it. We decided that if I didn't need to be hooked up that was just fine with us. I would much rather go home. She said if I started having regular contractions or more bleeding that just the spotting to come back and go to labor and delivery. Before we left the office I had another contraction, but it was still due to the irritation.
So now we're in wait and see mode. My due date is August 2nd but now there's nothing there to keep her in. We'll see when she decides to make her entrance! As of now I haven't had any other contractions (or if I have they've been too small to really notice) and that's a good thing. I really didn't want her to be born today anyway. She won't be considered full term (37 weeks) until Saturday and I'd like to make it there at least. So now I'll just be going to my weekly OBGYN appointments and playing the waiting game. Perhaps start a betting pool. ;)
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