33 Week Doctor Appointment

Oh boy... well girl, but did we get some news yesterday at my doctor's appointment! To start from the beginning, my blood pressure was still good, 122/80. I measured right at 33 when they measured my tummy. Brooklyn's heart beat was at 156 bpm, which is good.

So now for the interesting stuff. We got back to the room to see the doctor and I told her I had been having more contractions since Tuesday evening than I have been having the past two weeks since I have been on the medicine to stop them. They haven't been bad contractions, just cramp like feelings in my back. She told me that I will still have contractions while on the medicine, but that she doesn't want me to have any if possible. So she has increased my dose of medication to take to 5mg, which so far hasn't affected me. I just have to take it every 6 hours instead of 4 now.

Next, which I guess will be the routine until Brooklyn is born, she checked to make sure I hadn't dilated any more. She said I was still where I was at two weeks ago, which was great. (Dilated to a 1 almost a 2) She told me that she thinks I will have an easy delivery because 20% of the work is already done. That, to me, was GREAT news. Hopefully it pans out that way, because my prepared child birth classes were starting to freak me out. There is so much that will be going on during labor and delivery that I was starting to get overwhelmed with it all.

Anyway, then I asked the doctor about the bed rest that she has me on. I asked her how long I was going to be on bed rest and what was going to happen after she took me off. She said she wants me on bed rest until at least 35 1/2 - 36 weeks, which falls right at Thanksgiving. At that point in time, she will take me off of bed rest and off of the medication I am taking. If I have Brooklyn after that point, then she will be out of the danger zone of having to go into NICU, (Newborn/ Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). She told me what she wants for us is to be able to take Brooklyn home instead of her staying in the hospital for a couple of weeks.

I asked how that might affect my insurance and all since she will be taking me off of bed rest. She said it shouldn't at all simply because (HERE'S THE KICKER) she doesn't expect me to go more than a week after she takes me off of bed rest before I have Brooklyn. She told Dale and I that her goal was to get me to/ through Thanksgiving. So instead of Brooklyn being here on December 22nd, Dr. Fletcher thinks she will be here anywhere from around Thanksgiving to maybe the first week in December!!!! Either way, she will DEFINITELY be here before Christmas!!!

We mentioned that we knew a few people that went into preterm labor and that they were still a few weeks late, so could that happen to us. She said she wouldn't let us go more than two weeks after she took me off of bed rest and the medication. She kept reassuring us that she didn't think it would be an issue at all though and said "honestly, I don't expect her to make it through Thanksgiving." That kind of surprised the crap out of Dale and I because we were thinking we had about a month if not longer to get everything ready. From what the doctor is telling us though, we have about 3 weeks!!

Dr. Fletcher then ordered another ultrasound. She said she wanted to get a new weight for Brooklyn. She wanted to do this as a precaution in case I came in next week and was dilated any further and had to go into full labor. She said if she can show Moore Medical Center that the baby was past 4 1/2- 5 pounds that she would be able to keep Brooklyn out of NICU, which was her goal because she did NOT want her to have to be in NICU. Moore Medical Center doesn't have a NICU unit, so they would have to transfer Brooklyn to probably Norman Regional and keep her there until she was ready to come home. So Dr. Fletcher's nurse is suppose to schedule me an appointment at the hospital for next week to get another ultrasound done! Just when I thought we wouldn't have anymore ultrasounds too!

I'm not worried at all about Brooklyn being under weight. She weighed almost 4 pounds 2 weeks ago, 3 pounds 12 ounces to be exact. She is suppose to be gaining 1/2 a pound every week, which would be a whole pound since the last ultrasound they did. She should be about 5 pounds by the time I have the ultrasound next week, which would be great. As much as she is stretching out my belly, she has to be gaining weight!

My next doctor appointment is Thursday at 10:30 AM. Hopefully everything is still going ok since the baby shower is that following weekend! The doctor said that it would be fine for me to do things like go to the baby shower. She also told me that it would be ok for me to go ahead and take the Infant CPR class I had signed up for which is next Friday and to go get our pictures done this Saturday, which I am VERY excited about now. She said as long as I am not up walking around stores or trying to paint a room, then I should be ok.

So that is pretty much it. The time keeps getting closer and closer. I'm just excited that she will be here for Christmas. Dale's theory is that she wants turkey, which is why she is trying to come so early! Let's hope she doesn't come on Thanksgiving though. I want some turkey and pie!!

Love,
Jennifer