36 week ultrasound, updates

First things first, the fun stuff!!



Doesn't he look pouty in that second picture? I guess having his picture taken at 7:30am this morning wasn't on his agenda....

Everything looked great according to the tech, in terms of fluid levels, placenta, all that fun stuff. He was measuring 6 lbs, 3 oz (give or a take a pound in either direction) which put him in the 46th percentile. You may remember from my 32 week ultrasound that at that time, he was measuring in the 81st percentile. First, I panicked because that's a huge drop....but, the dr did seem to think that the last ultrasound was a gross overestimation of his size. So, I guess I'll wait to see what they have to say at my appointment tomorrow in terms of his growth.

I had a scare this week with my blood pressure...to sum up, it was elevated most of the weekend & was still up by the time I got to my scheduled appointment on Tuesday morning. I had swelling in my legs and face, hyperreflexia, and my fundal height belly measurement hadn't grown in over 2 weeks. The good thing about the appointment was that the baby looked great on the NST, so that was a huge relief. I left with the instructions to get some more bloodwork done at Magee and a spot urine check to determine the protein level. I was supposed to stay home from work the next day & not do much of anything until we got the results of the tests back.

Fortunately, the bloodwork (which is to test organ function) came back fine, and my protein level hadn't yet hit pre-e stage. It was 220 yesterday; 3 weeks ago it was 176...so it's rising, but still under 300 (which is when they diagnose it as pre-e).

I had discussed options with the doctor yesterday, as far as what we would do if this wasn't pre-e yet, what steps we would take to try and keep my blood pressure under control for as long as possible. I dread hearing the word "bedrest" though I know that it could come to that. Obviously, if it were absolutely necessary, I would do anything to keep the baby safe....but if I don't have to, I would rather look into other options. Mainly because going on bedrest puts you onto short term disability for work; going on short term disability means you start eating away at your maternity leave. doing that, obviously means less time with the baby :(

After discussing all of that with my doctor yesterday, we determined that for now, we'd try a combo of two things to keep it under control: increasing my meds just a tiny bit (I'll be going from 500 mg, 3 times/day to 625 mg, 3 times/day) and working from home 2 days a week to cut down on the time I have to commute in & out and be in the office. She's hoping that by being able to rest on my left side a lot of the time that I'm working from home and just resting more in general on those days, in combination with the increased meds, will make a difference & get me a little bit further along....3 more weeks is the goal!