Baby Girl Update

After a busy week and working probably more than full-time, minus the 3 physician visits we had, we continue to have good outcomes and news to share.

• Final results from the amnio are all normal/negative
• Infection testing and spina bifida advanced testing - negative/normal
• Ophthalmologist visit for visual fields and optic nerve pressure - normal
• Weekly ultrasounds, dopplers, and non-stress tests (NST) - good

As part of my weekly visits with maternal fetal medicine they are now conducting a BPP or biophysical profile - essentially baby girl has 30 minutes to complete a number of different of activities and each are assigned a number. Best score is 10 and anything above an 8 is considered passing. Score below an 8, and we have to repeat the next day to continue monitoring her overall stress level and function. This week, she passed, just in the nick of time. One thing she must do is 'practice' breathing for at least 30 seconds within the 30 minute window. (The things I'm learning). Long story short she decided to give it a whirl right as time was coming to a close. Gotta love that.

Many of you has asked how much does she weigh and I promised to get an update this past week - happy to report she's weighing in at a whopping 2 pounds, which is approximately a 10 ounce gain over 3.5 weeks ago.  Could be better, could be worse - so we're going with grateful there is still gaining going on. Fluid is now slowly diminishing but to be expected starting at 32 weeks, so we're just starting a bit early:)

So, next week. First and foremost my sister, Liz, and her family are coming to KC for the weekend to hang out and so that we can celebrate her birthday - so excited for that! Following the excitement in addition to the 2 weekly physician appointments, I will be getting an MRI to help rule out the cause of my ongoing headaches. Everyone is assuming it will be normal, so hoping the procedure is easy, breezy and I don't feel claustrophobic. 

You all realize at this point what good friends we now are with United Health Care and how grateful we are to have the health insurance that is providing us with affordable answers and options (Go Kiewit!). Our job now is to wait and be patient for the best possible delivery at the most optimal time. What the physicians are finally concluding is that I have a placental problem, caused by what - we're not sure - so we monitor and monitor and monitor in hopes of catching when it decides to fail. Which can happen at any moment, it is this event or the loss of too much fluid that will drive the arrival of baby girl. Could be next week, could be 4 weeks from now, but for now we know that for everyday she stays inside we save ourselves 3 days in the NICU.

So the monitoring will continue and we'll continue to be so thankful for each and everyday that we get and every small ounce that she gains!

Hugs all around!