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| 37 Weeks :) |
- I'm still having regular braxton hicks contractions. Sometimes I notice them and sometimes Mike can tell my stomach is tighter but I don't feel anything.
- This weekend I started to notice some swelling in my feel and ankles but it isn't so bad that none of my shoes fit...not yet at least.
- I'm still working out 4 days a week which is great and really helps me feel better.
- I can't bend over very easily anymore. This little boy has nestled his feet into my ribs and so anytime I bend they just get pushed farther up which just isn't comfortable. Sitting for too long is also really hard since is really squishes him. He is running out of room :)
- Mike and I are also so ready for him to be here! We are anxious to meet him and hold him and see what he looks like! (We do know he has hair apparently)
So now for the interesting and some might say exciting but also scary news that we got at our 37 week appointment on Friday. As you can all tell, I am tiny. I have been tiny throughout this entire pregnancy and I was tiny before I got pregnant. I have been measuring small with my stomach measuring about 3 weeks behind what is considered "normal".
Since I am so tiny, they have been worried about the baby growing normally as well. They decided to do an ultrasound to check for growth restriction. The ultrasound showed that he has a healthy heart rate and that he is head down (which makes sense since his feet are right at home in my ribs) and I assured them that he moves all the time. However, they did find that he is tiny. First of all, they said his head and stomach are a little smaller than the normal size for 37 weeks and his arms and legs are shorter than normal. They estimated his current weight to be 5 lbs which is about a pound and a half less than what would be expected at this point. He had dropped from the 42nd percentile down to around the 10th. The 10th percentile or under is cause for concern. At this point they worry that he isn't getting what he needs from me anymore and would benefit more from coming out than being in. They then sent us over to the fetal monitoring clinic with doctors who specialize in the more high risk pregnancies. They did an ultrasound which confirmed his size and they also did a non-stress test. He responded very well to the tests they performed. His heart is strong and from the ultrasound, they can tell that everything is there and functioning well as far as they can tell.
So why the concern? Well in reality he could just be small because his parents are small and he could come out and be just fine. They don't feel that this is a genetic problem or dwarfism since their are no signs for it and I did not test positive for downs syndrome so they don't think it is a symptom of any disorders.
The least likely but biggest concern and the reason they are strongly considering inducing me and having him come early is the possibility of early detachment of the placenta. His blood flow is normal from the placenta to him but they don't know if their is proper blood flow from me to the placenta. If their isn't then he isn't getting the full benefits of nutrition no matter how much I eat. That could be a possible reason for his size and the reason he is smaller than normal. Also, if the placenta were to detach with him inside that would be extremely dangerous. So because of this, we are going back on Tuesday (my birthday) to find out how he is doing. Right now they don't even want me to wait until I am 39 weeks so their is a very good chance I would be induced around 38 weeks which is the 31st of May.
As you can imagine, that information has put us into a bit of panic mode this week end. We basically figured the safest thing to do is to be ready to go by my birthday just in case. So we had 4 days to do what we were expecting to have 3 weeks to do. Hopefully we can at least be safe enough to make it to the weekend so we have a little extra time but we'll see.
Right now we are just trying to enjoy these last few days of it just being the 2 of us but we're also excited to meet our little guy. I would love for him to be inside for as long as he needs to be to be the healthiest he can but if it is safer for him to come now then that is what we'll do. Hopefully, we get some good news on Tuesday, we'll let you know!
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