I keep thinking that I'm going to eat my words later when I say that this baby is going to come early, but my doctor said again today that there's no way that the baby will be in my belly any time past my current August 4th due date.
Today was the first of my two appointments that I will have each week until "show time" in these next two months. First, the nurse took my blood pressure, and it was a normal 104 over 70. I know that's low, but it's "normal" for me.
Then, she hooked me up to the same belt and monitors that I had strapped on me last week to measure the baby's heartbeat and any contractions from my uterus. The baby was quiet at first with little movement, and the doctor was concerned, but then the kid started kicking later, and the doctor was happier with what she saw after examining the squiggly lines of data that showed movement on the strips printing out from the machine.
Before booting up the ultrasound machine, my doctor said, "We want to see whether it is better for the baby to be inside or outside of you." I said, "What?!" And she said, that at this point, they will check twice very week with this same "kicks and contractions" test using the belts and monitors around my belly, followed by screenings with the ultrasound machine.
(This is NOT a picture of me, but I Googled one online to show what the straps and monitors look like with the stress test... and it shows how I felt after sitting there for 25 minutes testing.)
Afterwards, I learned that this is called a BPP that I will have at all future appointments, which stands for Biophysical Profile, and includes this non stress test with the belts and monitors and the ultrasound. I read online that women with high-risk pregnancies, like me I guess, may have a BPP test twice every week in the third trimester. My doctor said they are checking for anything wrong, and if all looks good through these next two months, that there is no reason for this baby to stay in my belly up until the beginning of August. She said that she is doing all of this because of those results from that one "alarming" blood test in February. Whatever caused those concerning results is prompting my doctor and nurse to do all of this frequent testing in these final weeks of the pregnancy. They still don't know why my blood test results were so irregular, but I'm all for more testing if it helps them keep a better watch on what's going on in these next two months.
So...... I asked my doctor, if she had to guess today.... "When do you think that this baby would actually come out of me?" She responded that the ultimate goal is to get the baby out at least one week before my August 4th due date. This may very well be a July baby!
Finally, my doctor squeezed the cold jelly onto my belly, and we looked at the ultrasound machine to see what was going on inside. My doctor printed out just two pictures that she liked. The baby must be too big to take any more good pictures of the entire body. Maybe we'll get a face one next time.
Above is a picture of the head with some hair that looks like "fuzz" on top.
Above is a 3-dimensional picture of the fingers.
The doctor said that the baby is now measuring 4 pounds and 7 ounces. She gave me a look like "UH OH..." and I asked, "What?" She said, "At this rate, it looks like you're going to have a baby in at least the 7 1/2 pound range." That doesn't sound so big to me considering that I was 8 pounds myself, and I've heard of 9 and 10 pound babies. But, again, what do I know about all of this? I probably won't sound so tough on delivery day as this baby rips out my fragile bottom parts. Other than that, the placenta, the muscle tone, the body measurements, the amount of fluid present, etc. all looked great to her.
Afterwards, we went over to Walt's pool with Hank to celebrate a good doctor's appointment. I also wanted to join Hank in getting in some good exercise by swimming laps in the pool since I haven't been doing much except walking outside when it's not super hot (which is 80% of the day) here in Tennessee. Then we dropped Hank off and headed over to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Casa Don Gallo.
I sipped my delicious water while the boys had their Margaronas. One day, we'll be able to bring Baby Peaches over to Walter's and Mary Margaret's pool to enjoy it as much as we do every summer, and I will have a margarita in my hand!
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