BPP test

This morning I had my 2nd biweekly appointment with Dr. McLean which was supposed to consist of a stress test. I actually lost a pound from last week to this week. Maybe some of that has to do with Zumba and being sick the last two days. Dr. McLean listened to the baby's heartbeat and it sounded good. Heartbeat of 139. I was still measuring good. She talked to me a bit about how I was doing mentally as she said often women who have experienced a stillbirth can exhibit signs of depression the closer they get to the time when they previously lost their baby. Now that I am 31 weeks I am just 3 weeks away from when we lost Nolan. I admitted to her that I am growing more and more anxious and that I have not been sleeping well. Mostly due to the fact that when I wake up at night (the 5 or 6 times I do so) to pee I always then wait to feel the baby move before allowing myself to go back to sleep. Then of course, he starts moving making it impossible to go back to sleep until he settles down some. Needless to say, I spend about 45 minutes awake with every pee break. She said that was normal and that as long as I wasn't awakening out of a panic or nightmare she wasn't concerned. She said that as long as the need to pee or the baby moving was what awakened me, my reaction to then wanting to feel him move was completely normal anxieties. She said I always seem so calm when she sees me and she wants to just keep an eye on me for any signs of depression before or after the baby comes.

We spoke again about my desire to have a vaginal birth as opposed to a C-section. Obviously, she too recommends the vaginal birth as it is easier on my body and my recovery but she said that if the previous birth of Nolan was too traumatic for me she would totally agree to a C-section if I didn't think I could mentally handle going through a natural birth again. It's true that last time was a very traumatic experience all around, but the birthing process was the least traumatic part of it all. I would actually like to go through it and have a good outcome to hopefully take away some of the previously bad memories. I did, however, express to her my concern about being induced. Last time I was induced, I had a very bad reaction to the medicine causing me to spike a fever of nearly 105 and to retain a tremendous about of fluid. She reassured me that this time I would be given pitocin and that if any meds were required to soften my cervix it would be an extremely low dose given to me either orally or vaginally. Last time I was given an extremely high dose every two hours vaginally. It hurt like hell and caused me to spike the fever and I was freezing. I remember the nurses just kept bringing in warming blankets and piling them on me. Marshall even put his jacket on top of me because all I kept complaining about was that I was cold. I didn't even want to get up to go to the bathroom because I was too cold. I don't want to feel that miserable with my next delivery. Dr. McLean assured me that wouldn't happen as those high doses of meds cause intense contractions and would put the baby into fetal distress. That being said, this labor will probably be longer than the last one and last time it took 24 hours for the induction medicine to actually bring on labor. So who knows how long it will take this time. Dr. McLean is still planning on trying to schedule my amnio for Friday, March 1st though so that if the baby's lungs are fully developed they can start inducing me then. She said that way she would be available all weekend for the baby's delivery.

After seeing Dr. McLean I was supposed to have a stress test, but since I was having my appointment at the Porter's Neck office and not the main clinic they did not have the equipment needed to perform my stress test. Instead, they gave me what Dr. McLean said was an even better test - a BBP (biophysical profile) ultrasound. In the test they check for 8 points and if the baby meets all of them he gets 100%. I'm not sure what all they measure but heartbeat, amniotic fluid, fetal movement, lung practice and muscle tone in addition to looking at all the baby's organs are definitely some of the things they were telling me about. The ultrasound tech said the baby passed in record time. Normally, they can take up to 30 minutes but he was moving around and they were able to see everything clearly. We saw him open and close his hands, kick his feet, breathe and stick his tongue out. Since it is closer and more convenient for me to go to the Porter's Neck office and easier to get an appointment with Dr. McLean there, I will be having the BPP tests there instead of stress tests. That means I am actually having BPP tests done twice a week now instead of just once a week at Wilmington Maternal Fetal. As always, I felt a sigh of relief after seeing the baby and knowing everything was going well with him today. Dr. McLean even felt him kick today while she was given me my physical exam. I still want to know how they know just by feeling my stomach which way he is positioned. I'm going to ask her next week.

This afternoon I grabbed some soup and headed over to Stacey's do to some baking for Brandy's lingerie shower tomorrow. Or rather, I mostly watched Stacey bake and kept her company. I did make the marshmallow lollipops and sampled the cake cups Stacey made. They were delicious, by the way. The only other contribution I made was to cut out the heart shaped cookies that Stacey then decorated into butts and boobs. They all turned out great and I hope we have a good turnout for the party tomorrow. I had a couple of other people text me today to RSVP to the party but I still don't know about a few people if they are coming or not. Hopefully, my cold doesn't keep me too down tomorrow so I can actually enjoy the party too.