Well, the ticker says 21 days to go, which means that Brudder has reached that magical 37 week point when babies are considered full term. I expect we'll see him sooner than that however...
It's been a challenging month, first I was knocked off my feet for a good week with some random bug. Then, we had a false alarm with contractions and a night time trip to the hospital. More recently, the cause of my giant bellay has been identified - and it's not a giant Brudder! I have Polyhydramnios, or high amniotic fluid. So basically Brudder has a giant swimming pool to himself in there. Being 37 weeks pregnant and carrying around this swimming pool, it's been a physically exhausting couple of weeks, but it's been mentally challenging as well. I'm not quite happy with the level of information I'm getting from my doctors about this condition, and it's been hard to know whether or not to be concerned. My general lack of patience in all things doesn't help of course, nor the hormones or long days waiting for testing to occur.
We discovered my high fluid levels (not to be confused with the very common pregnancy symptom of retaining fluid when your hands or feet get poofy) when we had an ultrasound of Brudder at 35 weeks. At the time, I was relieved I wasn't carrying a 12 lb baby but didn't really understand how much fluid I had, or what the complications could be. At this time they told me he was about 7lb 11 oz, but did not give me a measure for my fluid. When I went in for my next appointment, the Nurse Practitioner that I saw seemed much more concerned than when she ordered the previous ultrasound, and ordered another one for this past week. I poked and prodded but didn't get much in the way of specific answers.
I went in on Thursday for my Non Stress Test and Ultrasound. The Ultrasound Technician gave me every indication that Brudder was looking good, pointing out his 'practice breaths' and various other things. She did comment that I had a lot of fluid (no surprise, this is why I was there) but she would NOT tell me how much or any of Brudder's specs.
By this time, I had learned about something called the AFI or Amniotic Fluid Index, which is a measure of how much amniotic fluid is present. Normal range at this point in pregnancy is roughly from 6 to 18 or so, with polyhydramnios diagnosed around 25. I measured 32-35! This means I have 2-3 times the amount of amniotic fluid as is typical.
The thing about polyhydramnios is that it occurs in only 1% of pregnancies, and of that 1%, 2/3 are idiopathic, or of no known cause. (thanks to my sister Susan for not only teaching us 'idiopathic' but also doing some research and giving us a great summary before I was mentally up to the task!) My doctors have been very non specific about what my condition could mean, possible courses of treatment and so on, which I understand, but I'd have much preferred some more specifics to better understand my condition and generally just be more informed. I'm at a point now where I don't get freaked out about everything I read on the Internet, and I understand that the human body is much more art than science at times, but it was a nurse who told me I "had poly" and what my AFI was. Now that I'm rested and informed, I intend to express my dissatisfaction at my next appointment on Monday.
So where does that leave us? As far as I understand, Brudder looks good. We did a blood draw last week for something called a TORCH screen which can identify the possibility of a number of viruses that MAY be causing the polyhydramnios. While some of the possible effects of a positive are scary (various congenital defects, etc) I am reasonably confident that Brudder's not affected by any of these as his ultrasounds are look good in these areas (his heart for instance) and I believe this is common protocol for as-yet-unidentified causes of polyhydramnios. Other probable outcomes include early induction of labor, since we don't want my water to break in an uncontrolled manner - there are concerns about the placenta and umbilical cord rupturing. All of this we'll talk about at my Monday appointment.
As for the mental toll, well, I have my up days and down days. It's been like being physically 9 months pregnant for 4-6 weeks already. A couple of long days at the hospital waiting for tests and doctors also take their toll. I've been on 'light duty' for a few weeks already, and can't really handle Norah on my own, except on the best of days, so Matt's been looking after her in the morning. This is usually our time together, and I've been missing it, so it's been a challenge to try to connect with her in other ways. As for her, I think she's enjoying the extra time with Dad, even though I'm not sure she quite understands why Mom is in bed so much. I know she'll be fine in the end, but it just adds to my feelings of angst and frustration! Matt has been wonderful, not only picking up pretty much all the work around here, including nesting, but also recognizing when I need some family time and trying his best to make it happen.
So, in an attempt to keep looking on the bright side of things, I DO get to take a peek at the little guy every week these days. The ultrasound pictures aren't like the early ones, when you can see his whole body, and most aren't that cool to see. However, we did get this nice snapshot of his face this week! The quality isn't great, since I took a picture of it with my Blackberry, but it will have to do, since everyone else is still asleep and I can't reach the scanner :) Please keep us and Brudder in your prayers, odds are still in our favor that all is fine, but a few
words to the big guy upstairs can't hurt.
It's been a challenging month, first I was knocked off my feet for a good week with some random bug. Then, we had a false alarm with contractions and a night time trip to the hospital. More recently, the cause of my giant bellay has been identified - and it's not a giant Brudder! I have Polyhydramnios, or high amniotic fluid. So basically Brudder has a giant swimming pool to himself in there. Being 37 weeks pregnant and carrying around this swimming pool, it's been a physically exhausting couple of weeks, but it's been mentally challenging as well. I'm not quite happy with the level of information I'm getting from my doctors about this condition, and it's been hard to know whether or not to be concerned. My general lack of patience in all things doesn't help of course, nor the hormones or long days waiting for testing to occur.
We discovered my high fluid levels (not to be confused with the very common pregnancy symptom of retaining fluid when your hands or feet get poofy) when we had an ultrasound of Brudder at 35 weeks. At the time, I was relieved I wasn't carrying a 12 lb baby but didn't really understand how much fluid I had, or what the complications could be. At this time they told me he was about 7lb 11 oz, but did not give me a measure for my fluid. When I went in for my next appointment, the Nurse Practitioner that I saw seemed much more concerned than when she ordered the previous ultrasound, and ordered another one for this past week. I poked and prodded but didn't get much in the way of specific answers.
I went in on Thursday for my Non Stress Test and Ultrasound. The Ultrasound Technician gave me every indication that Brudder was looking good, pointing out his 'practice breaths' and various other things. She did comment that I had a lot of fluid (no surprise, this is why I was there) but she would NOT tell me how much or any of Brudder's specs.
By this time, I had learned about something called the AFI or Amniotic Fluid Index, which is a measure of how much amniotic fluid is present. Normal range at this point in pregnancy is roughly from 6 to 18 or so, with polyhydramnios diagnosed around 25. I measured 32-35! This means I have 2-3 times the amount of amniotic fluid as is typical.
The thing about polyhydramnios is that it occurs in only 1% of pregnancies, and of that 1%, 2/3 are idiopathic, or of no known cause. (thanks to my sister Susan for not only teaching us 'idiopathic' but also doing some research and giving us a great summary before I was mentally up to the task!) My doctors have been very non specific about what my condition could mean, possible courses of treatment and so on, which I understand, but I'd have much preferred some more specifics to better understand my condition and generally just be more informed. I'm at a point now where I don't get freaked out about everything I read on the Internet, and I understand that the human body is much more art than science at times, but it was a nurse who told me I "had poly" and what my AFI was. Now that I'm rested and informed, I intend to express my dissatisfaction at my next appointment on Monday.
So where does that leave us? As far as I understand, Brudder looks good. We did a blood draw last week for something called a TORCH screen which can identify the possibility of a number of viruses that MAY be causing the polyhydramnios. While some of the possible effects of a positive are scary (various congenital defects, etc) I am reasonably confident that Brudder's not affected by any of these as his ultrasounds are look good in these areas (his heart for instance) and I believe this is common protocol for as-yet-unidentified causes of polyhydramnios. Other probable outcomes include early induction of labor, since we don't want my water to break in an uncontrolled manner - there are concerns about the placenta and umbilical cord rupturing. All of this we'll talk about at my Monday appointment.
As for the mental toll, well, I have my up days and down days. It's been like being physically 9 months pregnant for 4-6 weeks already. A couple of long days at the hospital waiting for tests and doctors also take their toll. I've been on 'light duty' for a few weeks already, and can't really handle Norah on my own, except on the best of days, so Matt's been looking after her in the morning. This is usually our time together, and I've been missing it, so it's been a challenge to try to connect with her in other ways. As for her, I think she's enjoying the extra time with Dad, even though I'm not sure she quite understands why Mom is in bed so much. I know she'll be fine in the end, but it just adds to my feelings of angst and frustration! Matt has been wonderful, not only picking up pretty much all the work around here, including nesting, but also recognizing when I need some family time and trying his best to make it happen.
So, in an attempt to keep looking on the bright side of things, I DO get to take a peek at the little guy every week these days. The ultrasound pictures aren't like the early ones, when you can see his whole body, and most aren't that cool to see. However, we did get this nice snapshot of his face this week! The quality isn't great, since I took a picture of it with my Blackberry, but it will have to do, since everyone else is still asleep and I can't reach the scanner :) Please keep us and Brudder in your prayers, odds are still in our favor that all is fine, but a few
words to the big guy upstairs can't hurt.
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