Specialist Visit

Although it was very last minute (the OB doctor I saw on Thursday didn't put my referral in :-( ) so Nolan wasn't able to go, I was able to see a maternal fetal specialist out in town yesterday! Yay for an office employee over in OB at the Naval Hospital who got the referral in the system and scheduled me a same day appointment! :-)

Overall, the appointment was very reassuring to me to see that he is growing and all seems to be going along just fine in there... I didn't get any pictures - boo! (I totally forgot to ask!), but he is looking great at 4 lbs. 4 oz., meaning he gained a full pound in a little less than 2 weeks.

They looked at so many different parts - his brain, his umbilical cord (the blood is flowing well), his hands (which do appear normal - something about his knuckles - that do not lead them to believe he has Down Syndrome), his feet (his toes were so cute and tiny), his legs, his kidneys, his stomach (he has a stomach bubble, so they do believe he is swallowing okay) his spine, his face (although he still likes keep his hands up by his face) and a lot of time was spent trying to get good pictures of all of the parts of his heart.... Being that I have so much extra amniotic fluid it can sometimes be a positive for doing ultrasounds, while other times it can be a negative. For one part of his heart, the way that he was positioned (he is now head down) and because of the fluid and the shadows created by his lungs/fluid, they weren't able to be certain of what they were seeing.... soooo... to be on the safe side (more so to know for sure if he has any heart defects, so that he can be delivered in a place where there are pediatric cardiologists to take care of his heart) they are sending us to have a pediatric echo-cardiogram in Raleigh on the 12th of November. There doesn't seem to be a huge concern about his heart; all looks good, but not being able to see to be certain seems to be the reason for the cardio specialist visit.

I had hoped that the specialist would make a tentative plan for us, but it seems at 31 weeks, there is still quite a bit of time for things to change, so we are holding our plans loosely I suppose. There is always a possibility that the fluid could peak/stabilize or even begin to decrease, which either would be great!

However, at this point, with so much extra fluid, she reiterated the high risk of preterm labor - and that if my water breaks I will definitely know and to go immediately to an ER... since there is no telling what the baby or the cord will do if and when it breaks... the worst being the cord coming out first, thus cutting off the baby's supply of oxygen, when his head comes after it. The specialist is glad that I am not currently working and will be seeing me again next week, Wednesday, to keep an eye on my amniotic fluid levels. Until then I am trying to slow myself down a little bit, just to be on the safe side. They were surprised I don't often feel short of breath, with all of this fluid, but I suppose that is a good thing. :-)

Until next time... :-)