More....problems?

So for another update with what's been going on with the baby...I still have "too" much fluid, so they have continued to monitor it every other week with ultrasounds. On October 10th they kicked up the ultrasounds to weekly and started doing what's called NST every Tuesday and Friday. NST is fetal non-stress tests, where they strap two belt type things over my tummy to measure the babies heart rate and any contractions that I'm having. On October 10th they did the first NST, when the Dr came in the room she saw that I was having contractions...upon which I told her was nothing new. I have been having contractions that I can feel since July. I talked to the specialist about it when we saw him and he looked at my cervix to see if these contractions were producing any change, and they were not so he wasn't concerned about it. Well, I told the Dr. that these contractions were nothing new for me, that it was no different than any other day but she was still concerned. So she did a Fetal Fibronectin Test and a pelvic exam to look at my cervix. Fetal fibronectin is a protein that acts as a "glue" attaching the amniotic sac to the lining of the uterus. When the Fetal Fibronectin Test comes back positive it means that this "glue" has been disturbed and you are at increased risk of preterm labor. When it comes back negative it means that there is a 99% chance that you will NOT be delivering in the next two weeks. So she tested me for that and looked at my cervix, where she determined that I was dialated to 1cm. The test results would take about an hour to get back, so I was sent on my merry way.

Well the test can back positive and she promptly told me to head to labor and delivery at the hospital to be treated for preterm labor. WOW, that was a shock! So off we went...they hooked me up to the NST machine at the hospital and continued to monitor the contractions. Plus they gave me a shot of terbutaline, a drug that is supposed to reduce or stop the contractions. It did a bit, and they decided that they wanted to check me in overnight to watch me and see what else could be done. So I spent the night at the hospital with them monitoring the contractions and giving me higher and higher doses of another drug called nifedipine which is taken orally. They of course got the contractions to less that 6 an hour and sent me home with instructions to take the pills every 4 hours and to be on modified "bedrest" for 2 weeks. The reason for the pills and the bedrest is that they want me to carry the baby to at least 36 weeks, that way his lungs are able to have the best chance if born after that. They say that babies born before 36 weeks most likely have to spend time in the NICU, and they don't want that, and nor do I.

So I've been home now for a week and don't really feel any different than I did the day I went into the Dr but I'm following orders. Since being in the hospital I have had two more Dr appointments where they hooked me up to the NST machine and both times there were contractions that it measured. They looked at my cervix to see if there had been any change and said that they were pleased with where things were, that as long as I kept up with the bedrest and taking my meds I should be go to go. So other than being totally bored out of my mind at home things are going good. I have another ultrasound next week where they will measure the baby again to see how big he is, and will check on the fluid levels. But I only have one more week of "bedrest" and pill taking then I can go back to work and on with normal life until this little guy decides to show up.

I've been trying to get prepared in terms of supplies....diapers, wipes, baby clothes washed ect....just in case he does come right away after I quit taking the meds. It's kinda hard to do while on "bedrest" but I'm doing the best I can. So that's the latest news on baby Peck, he's healthy and I feel just fine so I guess all is well. So again I'll try and keep you all updated on the progress of this CRAZY pregnancy.

We did get more ultrasound photos to show you all though, this one is another one looking at his face straight on, you can see one hand touching his left eye area and one right under his chin...super stinkin' cute if you ask me, but I'm kinda partial...oh and I'm pretty sure you can see some hair

Baby Update

So as most of you know the baby is due October 24th, and it's a boy!! We are very excited that the time is drawing near, it has been a rough pregnancy. I haven't been sick at all, in fact I feel great, but rather the doctors have seen a few things on ultrasounds that concerned them. Let me fill you in with the quick version of whats been going on.

The beginning of June we went in for our 20 week ultrasound which is the big one where you get to find out what the sex of the baby is and all that jazz. So needless to say we were very excited, our little excitement bubble burst when the doctor came in and told us that they had seen what they call Choroid Plexus Cysts on the baby's brain and that they they wanted us to come back in to have another ultrasound done in 4 weeks. He said that these cysts appear and most of the time they are nothing but they want to check on them in a month just to make sure. So of course this freaked us out, I mean we went in expecting that they would tell us our baby was perfectly healthy and everything looked great, but instead we got "your baby has cysts on his brain." We did what any concerned parent would do...well, ok we did what we do and that is to look things up on the internet since we didn't really understand what these cyst things were. What we found was interesting. It said that these cysts appear in 1 to 3 percent of all babies and that they are not harmful to the baby at all. The problem is really one of association, the appearance of these cysts have been associated with a severe genetic disease called Trisomy 18. And that is a SCARY thing...basically the baby will either be stillborn, or rarely will they make it to their first birthday. So with this information in hand we began our little pity party. It was a difficult thing for us to handle at the time. However, after lots of prayer we came to grips with the fact that God brought us here and He'll bring us through it. So we waited 4 longs weeks until the next ultrasound.

This ultrasound went better. They told us that the cysts had resolved themselves!!!! But...and yes there was a but...they saw that I had more amniotic fluid in there than they liked to see, which by the way happens in 1 out of 100 pregnancies. So of course they said they wanted to do another ultrasound in 2 weeks. During this next visit they would also be doing what's called a 1 hour glucose test to rule out gestational diabetes. So we go back in two weeks later and get the glucose test done and they do another ultrasound to check the fluid levels. They tell us that the fluid levels are still high and they also found whats called a double bubble in the baby's stomach. They want to send me to Maternal Fetal Medicine at the hospital to have them check out this double bubble situation. A double bubble is something that shows up on an ultrasound and can mean that the baby isn't swallowing like he should. When babies are in the womb they swallow amniotic fluid and process it and it comes out as pee, this process regulates the amount of fluid present in my uterus. If the baby isn't swallowing then it would be something that would require surgery at birth to fix the reason why he isn't swallowing. So we leave once again terrified of what is to come.

To make matters worse they called and said that the test results from the 1 hour glucose test came back elevated and that they wanted me to go to the hospital to have a 3 hour glucose test done. So we have to go to a specialist to see if the baby has a swallowing problem which would explain the large amount of fluid in my uterus and I have to go be tested to see if I have gestational diabetes. I happened to have both appointments on the same day. First up was the glucose test which took 3 1/2 hours and 4 blood draws. Then we went to the specialist who did another ultrasound to check on the baby and fluid levels. Now this time we received good news!!! He didn't see a double bubble and in fact said that the baby looks great and perfectly healthy. He did say that our little munchkin was pretty big, like in the 90th percentile big. He also said that I did still have a higher amount of amniotic fluid in there but he wasn't majorly concerned. In fact he said that this may just be the way we make babies and that there was nothing wrong with it. Only that he would want my OBGYN to have me come in every 2 weeks for ultrasounds to check on the fluid levels and every 4 weeks to check on the babies growth. He also called to get the results of my 3 hour glucose test, which were negative, no gestational diabetes for me!

Another 2 weeks later and we go in for another ultrasound and GREAT news is to be had. They tell us that the fluid levels have dropped!!! woohoo. We were very excited to get that news. At this appointment I asked why they were concerned about the fluid levels and they said that they think what causes labor is a capacity issue. And when there is too much fluid in my uterus they like to monitor it so that it doesn't become too much and send me into premature labor. But since my levels were going down their level of concern was diminishing. They did schedule another ultrasound for 2 weeks later to check on the levels to see if they continue to drop and if they do then I would only need to have one more ultrasound towards the end to see how big the baby is. So this is where we are today... I go in on Friday to have the ultrasound to see if the levels have dropped again.

It has been an emotional roller coaster ride like no other. We are very happy that things have all turned out to be fine but it's still been one crazy ride. I just wanted to fill everyone in on what has been going on. I promise to keep updating as we find out more. I want to use this blog mostly to show people the baby and how he is growing once he is born, but this is part of his story too and I wanted to share it with you all. With all of these ultrasounds we've had done we have been able to see some pretty cool pictures of the baby so here are some.

 

This is a picture of his hand

His mouth and nose, looking at them straight on

His ear