Okay, the last post was about Oliver the kitty's health scare. This one is about baby #2's health scare. Last Wednesday, I went in for my regularly scheduled check up. Since we had a repairman coming to the house around the same time as the appointment, it was decided that Mike and Dylan wouldn't meet me for this one (they normally come too). Somehow, my phone, which is always right with me, was left at home so I didn't have a good way to communicate with Mike for the day. No big deal. I could survive a day without a cell phone, right?
For this check up, I got to do the super fun gestational diabetes test. It involves drinking an orange drink that tries to deceive you by looking like delicious Orange Crush.....but it is definitely NOT delicious Orange Crush! Then, exactly one hour after consumption, you have to get a blood draw. Given the rainy weather (why do the worst days usually happen when it's raining??), traffic on the way to my appointment was awful and I was seriously stressing getting my 1 hour deadline met. The draw actually happened 1 hour and 5 minutes after, but I was assured it would be ok. Then I had to get a flu shot (ow), the usual thyroid blood draw (mine's been sluggish during both pregnancies so I take a supplement and they check levels at each appointment) and the usual pee on a stick thing (TMI, right?).
Already having done so many fun things, I then went to see my OB. I did the usual check up chit chat with the doctor, joked about how everyone was telling me how huge I was (I've been getting a lot of eye ball pops when I say I'm still not due until January lately) and that I was looking to her to reassure me I'm not a crazy freak nature huge pregnant lady. As she does at every appointment, she pulled out the measuring tape and said "well, you are actually measuring a little big." It's about 1 cm for every week of pregnancy. I was 27 weeks along and measuring 31! It's by no means a seriously accurate nor fool proof test but, just to be sure, she wanted to do an ultrasound for some more measurements to make sure everything was ok.
So, it was up to their other office (same hospital, different building, different floor) to wait. Remember, I didn't have my phone so I couldn't call Mike to tell him what was going on and that he might want to come to meet me. Actually, I'm sure they would have let me use their phone but I didn't think I would be waiting for long. Well, I was wrong. I waited forever! No phone to tell me the time and no entertainment. It was probably "only" 45 minutes of waiting but it felt like a lifetime. They really have boring magazines in an OB's waiting room!
Finally, I went back for my ultrasound. It's always fun to see the little guy squirming about and get a glimpse of all his innards. The tech was lovely, we had a nice chat and after she was done getting pictures, I was sent to check out. Except, wait. She just wanted to make sure my OB didn't want to cover anything else with me before I left. Then I was shown to a room to wait for my OB. Never a good sign. She came in and let me know that I have some excess amniotic fluid - a condition known as polyhydramnios. If you're not a doctor, don't look it up. The web is a scary place. After my doctor assured me up and down that the worst case scenario would probably be gestational diabetes (a worse case I could definitely deal with) she said she had to cover the bases and rule out a few things. So, it was back to get more blood drawn (I was feeling very poked and prodded at this point). Feeling okay about it all, I went back to work and looked up the condition on line. That wasn't a good idea. The information I saw there was scary! The nerves officially set in.
As a result of that appointment, I also was encouraged to make an appointment with my primary care physician to discuss this little matter of my toes going painfully numb when I walk for more than 10 minutes (which doesn't help me in my attempts to keep my fitness going). That appointment was Friday. My toe thing was discussed (nothing too interesting to note there...probably won't be an issue post pregnancy) and my PCP was able to give me some of the test results from 2 days prior. No gestational diabetes (yay!), thyroid good (yay!) and other results still not in (boo!).
Friday afternoon I had taken off work to play tour guide with my friend, Rachel, that was in town. I met her downtown and showed her some of the historic sights in the city. Later in the afternoon, I gave my OB a call and the rest of the tests were in - all looked good (hooray)! So, the only thing left to check off the polyhydramnios scary checklist was an ultrasound by a specialist to make sure baby's digestive system is doing what it should. That brings us to today to the middle of the Oliver health crises. Nothing short of excitement in our lives right now!
Baby's health scare is no longer a scare but this fluid issue will be monitored closely from here on out. I'll likely have ultrasounds every 2-4 weeks until the end. Also, they're not going to let me go past my due date for delivery. Darn! That's another worst case scenario I can deal with!
1 comment:
That can be scary. Don't worry too much. I had severe polyhydramnios with Henry. My high risk doctor told me that low to moderate polyhydramnios isn't uncommon and, without additional markers, it'd not terribly concerning. In Henry's case, obviously, it was the result of concerning things but, in the majority of cases, it's not. You're nearing the home stretch!
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