Week 38

With Darling Daughter #2:

With Natalie:
I had my 38 week and c-section pre-op appt today with Dr. Gaines. I had him do an internal even though I have a c-section scheduled for next week since I had still hoped to try for a VBAC if I went into labor on my own before then. I wanted to know if I've made any progress which like last week, I haven't. Only fingertip dilated still.

Because of still wanting to possibly try for a VBAC we started discussing whether she was actually head down. Last week he said he wasn't sure she was head down. In order to attempt the VBAC, she would need to be. He decided to do an ultrasound to double check. Sure enough, she's breech! That explains why her hiccups feel more like they're at the top of my belly and her kicks feeling more like they're hitting me in the pelvic bone. Plus, there is a hard lump at the top of my belly which turns out to be her head and not her butt (way to hard for her butt).

I now feel validated in making the decision to go forward with the scheduled c-section. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders from wondering if I was making the right decision in not committing to doing a VBAC.

Here's a photo of my 38 week ultrasound. Late term ultrasounds look so different than early on. It's hard to make out her image because she takes up so much of the view. Your actually looking at her head on the left.

Dr. Gaines said everything else looked good also. I'm measuring on track for 38 weeks and her heart rate was great.

Our baby is about 21 inches from head to toe and weighs about 6.8 pounds. Most of the her downy hair, lanugo, and whitish coating, vernix, is disappearing. She is getting her antibodies from me to protect against illness. Our baby's growth is slowing, but fat cells under skin get plumper for life outside the womb. Almost ready for birth, she would do well if born now.

I'm exhausted all the time now and have pretty intense lower back pain. I have to go to the bathroom constantly. I'm definitely looking forward to meeting our little girl and being done being pregnant. I've forgotten what it's like to not be carry around all this extra weight.

It's a...

Girl!! Natalie's is going to have a little sister! We're very excited. I think it will be wonderful having two girls close in age. Unfortunately, we can't re-use much of Natalie's clothes given they're different seasons (Natalie's newborn short-sleeve jumpers just aren't going to work in December) but that just means I get to pick out more cute outfits!

I had my "big ultrasound" this past Wednesday. We waited till today to show the photos because we wanted to tell our parents first. Emile's parents were traveling this week so we waited till they got home today. We told both sets of our parents that we were having a girl by having Natalie show them her new toy on the webcam -- a little baby girl doll! They loved it.

The doctor said everything looked great on the ultrasound. Everything is where it should be and measuring on-track. We were relieved. Here are some photos.

Thumbs up!

Hand and leg.

NT Scan

I had my NT scan today. Everything went great. The ultrasound technician measured the fluid level behind the baby's neck -- it was within normal range which is wonderful! This means the chance of Down Syndrome is low. We still need to get the results of my blood work back but so far everything looks good.

My main reason for wanting to do this ultrasound is to make sure the baby is doing well. Without this ultrasound, we wouldn't get to see him/her until my anatomy scan so about 3 months between my first ultrasound and the anatomy. Given I haven't had morning sickness or many other First Trimester symptoms (which is great), sometimes I don't feel pregnant so I get worried something is wrong. But as Emile expected, everything was great! Our little bean was moving all over the place - much more than Natalie did! His/her heartbeat was similar to Natalie's at this stage - 159 bpm (Natalie's was 160 bpm). We could see his/her arms, legs and hands -- it was wonderful! It's finally feeling very real and I'm super excited!

The ultrasound technician also checked out the cyst on my ovary. Turns out there are two of them. She said one for sure is a pregnancy cyst which provides hormones until the placenta takes over (which should be around now). She couldn't tell on the second one but expects that it is. They'll continue watching them. Apparently this is very normal.

The anatomy scan is scheduled for July 1 -- 5 weeks away. I'll be 17 weeks pregnant. Wow, that's coming up soon!

First Ultra Sound

I had my first ultrasound today (Natalie is 11 months today!). Everything looks good -- we got to see the heart beat and confirmed that there's only one baby! As I expected, Dr. Anya thinks I ovulated later than regular cycles and so the baby is measuring smaller than based on my last menstrual cycle (LMP). Based on my LMP, my EDD would be December 3 and I would be 9 weeks pregnant but based on the size of the baby, I'm only 8 weeks 2 days pregnant. So Dr. Anya has moved my EDD to December 8, 2009. My next belly photo will not be until next Tuesday now.

Unfortunately, Dr. Anya only gave me one u/s photo and it's not even a close up. If you look back at my ultrasound with Natalie, we got to see a really close-up view of her but not today. This is a different office than when I was 8 weeks pregnant with Natalie --

maybe they have different quality of equipment. I think with Natalie I had to go to a separate place for my u/s whereas this one was in the doctor's office.

Dr. Anya also didn't tell me the heart rate; she only said everything looked good when I asked after. I know the heart rate doesn't tell you what you're having but I would have liked to have it for my pregnancy book and to compare to Natalie's. I'll have to make sure to ask at my next appointment. I will be going in for an NT scan in the next few weeks (not sure of the date yet) and my next doctor appointment is not till June 18th (I'll be 15 weeks).

We did discuss the probability of me doing a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) - something I'd really like to try given I feel like I missed out on something by having a c-section. Dr. Anya thinks my chance of success with a VBAC is only 40% (meaning I'm more likely to end up with a c-section anyways) based on how my body responded to labor last time. She believes that because my body didn't start picking up my contractions after I went off pitocin (because Natalie wasn't handling pitocin well) that my body may not labor well this time either. She does think we can wait and see if my body goes into labor on its own by my EDD and then, if not, schedule a c/s. Or I could plan to schedule a c-section up front (between 39 and 40 weeks). We have plenty of time to think about it though.