May Appointments

emqbee · May 2019

5/16 update. Visit with midwife this morning. All is well on the heart situation. No concerns about the arrhythmia whatsoever. I’ll have results from the GD test on Monday or Tuesday.
We are going to have to go back in two more weeks to check on her size because there are some concerns there. And I’m trying my best not to freak out. She’s measuring in the 9th percentile right now. Midwife said at this point she’s not concerned but she’d like to see her in the teens after the next scan. And if not we may have to discuss an alternate to our birth plan. Like...hospital instead of birth center. And I’m trying not to get overwhelmed but I want to know...what exactly does being small mean, are we looking st potential genetic and/or neurological problems? I’ll probably call later with questions now that I’ve had some time to process

mkrel · May 2019

I passed my GTT! Yay for more ice cream!

sourlemon · May 2019

@emqbee I generally say to stay away Dr Google but knowing some basics doesn't hurt. Under the 10th %ile is considered IUGR if you want to look that up. It can be caused by a ton of different things and also just happens randomly or due to small parents.

I've known a few kids born tiny and most catch up. Some are just small kids. Dd1 was born 1.5oz above the cutoff for IUGR (she was technically called SGA - small for gestational age) and is still just small, even though DH is 6'6. Dd2 was born in the 50 percentile and had basically stayed there.

This kid is at high risk for IUGR due to my heart condition and meds I have to take, so I get regular growth scans starting today.

zamoraspin · May 2019

@emqbee I'm not an expert because I'm a FTM so this is based on experiences of two friends who had babies close to the same time -- some babies are just small and some don't grow well in utero. I've had a couple friends with babies who have been small (in the range you're describing) and there was more monitoring and also in one case they took the baby out a month early. Both babies are now doing well and as far as I know have no deficits. The boy baby was born only a week or so before his due date but the issue was a cord issue - baby was maybe not getting everything he needed. I think he was born around 5lb and didn't have a prolonged NICU stay The girl baby was consistently small throughout her pregnancy and they took her out a month early. She was born under 4lbs and was in the NICU for a month to reach 4lb. Again, both babies seem fine now (they are both in the neighborhood of 16 months I think). I think girl baby is still just a really little person but otherwise is healthy. Boy baby looks like an average size baby now to me but I'm not great at gauging size.

emqbee · May 2019

@sourlemon thank you for that, I have been looking up those terms as they were tossed around in our appt today. Some of what I read makes me think ‘oh no big deal, she just runs smaller than average.’ Some of the other things make me just want to curl up and cry. I didn’t delve too deep because I was headed back to work after my appointment and didn’t want to be too overwhelmed. Though I still feel quite scattered with my thoughts. If she moves up a little in her average then we will be fine to proceed with our current birth plan and deliver at the birth center as she will be SGA, and honestly that’s what the midwife predicts. If she does not grow enough Then at that point I will be referred out to a high risk practice and prepare for some of the possibilities that @zamora_spin mentioned like a NICU stay, or c section. She did tell me that at this point baby is much better off to stay right where she’s currently residing!

My midwife said that overall she is not yet concerned. She wants to see where we’re at after the next scan and make some decisions at that point. She said blood and oxygen flow from placenta to baby looks perfect so that doesn’t seem to be an additional complicating factor.

Ive never been more ready to be at the point of delivery so I can hold her, see her and know that all is well. This FTM is a bundle of nerves right now and I can’t focus on work.

I scheduled my next scan for 1 week out but I’m considering pushing it a second week to give me time to greatly increase my protein for a little longer and see if that helps. MW said it’s possible she just hasn’t hit her growth spurt yet and the added protein may help.

BigBadWolf12 · May 2019

Midwife appointment today. All generally good. Baby is still measuring 4 weeks ahead so I have another growth scan 2 weeks from today, the day before we travel to Canada for a month.... Then I'll have another growth scan right away to start making delivery plans (if I'm still a vbac candidate or not and if I need to have any specialist referrals or not).

sourlemon · May 2019

@emqbee another thing to consider, especially since you are so close to the cutoff, is the ultrasound tech and even the angle the baby was at. Measurements can vary widely from tech to tech, which is why there's usually a second or even third scan done close together (before they consider early deliver, so not yet) to verify.

Also remember that babies do grown in spurts so it's not unusual for them to be small the week before the spurt and totally fine after it. This baby jumped from the 15th %ile at my AS to the 75th at 26 weeks. My doctor said he probably hit a growth spurt recently/is still in it because his legs and arms were longer than proportion but his body should catch up which would probably out him closer to the 40th by the next scan.

And ultrasound sizing is not an exact science! DD1 was estimated at almost 9 pounds the day before she was born...she was 6 pounds 1.5oz.

emqbee · May 2019

@sourlemon thank you so much! I feel like I let out a sigh of relief as I read all of that. Im trying to not let myself be worked up over this, I guess the change in her range from 30%tile to 9%tile has me a little anxious. But like you said, she could have just not hit her growth spurt yet. Just in the last few days she feels bigger to me. I feel like I find large body parts much quicker and easier than ever before and surely that means she actually is getting bigger. Thank you for sharing with me, I really appreciate the comforting words.

I couldn’t help but think that modern technology is both a blessing and a curse. If we had gotten the last two views of her heart at the initial scan they wouldn’t have required a second one, then heard the arrhythmia, or had concerns about her size. We’d be stress free right now! That said, I’m grateful that if there is a concern that would land us in a hospital, we’ll know before going to the birth center for L&D and I can just start in the correct medical facility and not have to be transferred in a panic.

Side note! I got my GTT results and I’m clear! Whew!

wanderlustsoul · May 2019

I got my GTT results back and I am barely over but over. 7.79 is the cutoff and I am 7.8. So they consider me as having GD. 😭😭😭

I have to meet a nutrition specialist and get all the supplies to test my sugar 4 times a day. Perhaps I should have waited to do it and not gone 2 days after my Canada trip where I ate pretty terrible. She did say if it’s good for 2 weeks then I can stop. I guess we will see though. Whatever is good for the baby, I will deal with.

BigBadWolf12 · May 2019

@akuzreve aw, sorry

hopefully it's a false alarm and the next 2 weeks are smooth and you don't have to worry anymore!

Did they do the 2 hour fasting on you?

wanderlustsoul · May 2019

@BigBadWolf12, yes! Only the 2 hr here as well. That darn 0.01.

BigBadWolf12 · May 2019

long story short: I got a paper saying my due date which is all i needed for travel according to the airline, and last week my midwife said there's no reason to avoid travel - we will just check the last business day before travel in case we need to pull the plug and will have another growth scan right when we get back (36 weeks) to check on things. BUT I saw another midwife today who implied that because I was measuring so far ahead midwives can't give consent or paperwork to travel and I need to have a checkup with an OBgyn to get that. I think she is thinking of the 'fit to travel' official forms for people traveling 2-4 weeks from their due date. The airline has no restrictions on travel before 36 weeks, which I am...so....is there actually a reason to not travel or not?

All levels are good, she's just growing proportionally 4 weeks ahead. Following the curve parallel and above it, but not getting further from it...but it's a bit up in the air bc the new midwife i saw today seemed like she was saying i should get ob permission to travel, when that's not what my midwife said, and I think she misunderstood what I was actually asking for.

I don't want to be negligent or take unnecessary risks if there actually ARE risks, but no one can find anything 'wrong', so .... ?

I'm playing a bunch of phone tag trying to get a last minute OBgyn check up just in case they do find something that warrants not travelling, but if I can't get an appointment in time, is it bad to assume there's nothing wrong and just go away overseas for a month? I don't want to get in trouble when i get back...and I don't want to take unnecessary risks, but I feel like there's just a lot of confusion right now.

mrosek91 · May 2019

@BigBadWolf12 that's so frustrating. It's a very personal desicion, but if I were you I would still do the trip. Some babies are just big, if nothing else is wrong, then I think it's perfectly reasonable to go.
Is there some type of insurance you can get in case you do need to see a doctor in Canada?

wanderlustsoul · May 2019

@BigBadWolf12, I would still go. If anything was wrong, you could just use canadian healthcare since you are canadian. As long as the airline will let you fly, you should be fine.

thirdtimesacharm2019 · May 2019

@BigBadWolf12 I would say worse case the baby comes early and is born in Canada. If you are okay with that option keep your plans. Personally, I worry way too much and will not be leaving a 30 minute radius of my doctor/ hospital come July 1st.

BigBadWolf12 · May 2019

Thanks for the feedback, ladies. That's what I was thinking too (them saying she's big is not enough reason to cancel, unless they find a worrisome reason that she's big, then that's a different story).

Worst case wouldn't be Canada, actual worst case is baby is born on the plane over the atlantic 😂 ...but that's so unlikely. I'm a non-resident and haven't had Canadian health care rights in a few years (*tw* though they accepted my expired health card and I never got a bill for my miscarriage I had there on summer holidays 3 years ago...probably wouldn't happen again though)

But even so, my travel insurance should cover me if something crazy happens.

thirdtimesacharm2019 · May 2019

@BigBadWolf12 Although super scary at the time, what an awesome story to tell later in life about being born mid-Atlantic flight!

BigBadWolf12 · May 2019

My regular midwife linedup a doctors appointment for Thursday morning 👍

cato99 · May 2019

@AKuzReve I'm sorry about your barely-over GD diagnosis. For what it's worth I had the same situation last pregnancy, and the fact that I was so borderline meant that it was easily controllable with a few dietary adjustments and I was discharged from the formal GD program a few weeks after. So while you DO have it, you may have a really mild case that won't interfere with your life too much (but you do need to be careful for the remainder of your pregnancy with the diet guidelines)--and you have a good chance that you'll be spared in subsequent pregnancies like I have.

wanderlustsoul · May 2019

@cato99, thank you! Tbh, I don’t fully believe the results were very accurate and this is necessary. I’ve been eating the same way that I usually do with no adjustments and my blood sugar has been completely fine. In fact, it was 5.7 after lunch. I’ll probably see how it goes over the next 2 weeks with 0 dietary adjustments and then determine if amendments are needed if I see it creeping it. I truly think I should have waited to do the test this week versus last week but oh well.

MamaK225 · May 2019

What everyone else has said, @emqbee. Some babies just don't grow as much in utero, there has to be some people on either side of a growth curve

While 6 lb, 9 oz isn't necessarily tiny, DD1 was that size when she arrived at 40w1d (I went through IVF, so we are 100% sure of the timelines). Within 2 weeks, she had gained almost 2 lbs and never looked back. Now - at nearly 3 - she is *barely* on the height/weight charts, hovering around 100-105%: she's almost 40" and weighs 40 lbs and wears size 6 clothing. Neither of us are particularly tall (5'7" & 6'1"), though DH's great-uncles immigrated from Denmark as children and were 6'6-6'8" (at/over 2m!) - and they would be 106 & 108 if they were still alive, so this was huge back then (his grandmother - their sister - was 5'11"-6'0"). And my maternal grandfather was 6'5" though all of the men & women in his family were in the 5'5"-5'9" range. Babies in my family (specifically my mother's 2 children, my sister's 2 children, and my 1 so far) tend to run on the small/lean side for being as overcooked as they are (me & my sister were 7 lb & 7-1/2 lbs at 2+ wks - granted, it was the 80s - and both my sister's kids were in the similar weight range and both were born at the max of +10 days).

Either way, FX you hit that 15%+ so you can stop worrying. As you said, it never stops.

wiscobabies · May 2019

I went in yesterday for a random appointment with my midwife because my cervix is already super soft felt open and then I googled (even though I know better). She reassured me that everything seems ok. My cervix is open, but she said it's still technically closed so we'll just monitor things. I have my 28 week check next week with the glucose screening. Fingers crossed for that!

cato99 · May 2019

@AKuzReve nah don’t beat yourself up, the timing of the test wouldn’t really have made a difference. It’s just how your placenta/pancreas respond to that amount of glucose on the spot, which you don’t subject it to normally. So between your normal eating and how worky-outy you are (bc you’re pretty much already following the guidelines just in your regular lifestyle) you likely won’t notice any spikes and can continue life as normal! Just don’t, like, chug a bottle of pure glucose for fun haha.

emqbee · May 2019

@MamaK225 Thank you for that. I’m amused by the sizes you’ve shared. My husband is 6’1 and I’m 5’7 and I’ve had the comment made to me that smaller babies are more common for smaller people, ‘but y’all aren’t small people.’ Well thanks, thanks for making me feel like a gigantor while I’m pregnant and panicked, sheesh. I was not a large baby, barely 7 pounds-my sister slightly over 7lbs and she’s 6’2 now. My husband is the largest of 4 siblings, eh, I should say tallest. He’s slimmer than some of the others, born about 8lbs. I’m however the smallest, on both sides of my family. All of the women besides me aren’t a millimeter under 5’10 and all the men are 6’-6’7.
Im mostly stuck on the drop from 30th to 9th. A friend that is a NP in an OB office said it’s concerning when it drops. Which I guess I already knew going into it, just didn’t expect in a million years to hear that she dropped that much.

sourlemon · May 2019

DH is 6'6, all of his cousins are over 6 foot. LL of their kids are huge. My oldest kid is small and my little one (my "big" one) is in the 50 percentile. I'm 5'6 as is my mom but my grandma was 5'10, so I've got height on my side too. But yeah...small-average kids.

wanderlustsoul · May 2019

@cato99, thank you! I appreciate that. And lol - yes no pure glucose. My body was not used to that intake of sugar haha.

@emqbee, I also wanted to say I was full term and I was only 6lbs 3oz. I’m still a small human. My baby is already looking to be tall. Genetics are weird! Tall people have small babies and small people have big babies. My SIL is about the same height as me and my nephew was 4.4 kgs. 😱😱

BigBadWolf12 · May 2019

Got the paper in case I'm asked while flying - it says due date, normal pregnancy other than growing 27.6% bigger than expected. He put that she is head down, but she was sitting at the ultrasound, the midwife thought she was head down at my last fundal height check last week, and she was DEFINITELY transverse last night...I couldn't tell which was head and which was bum, but two hard big knobs were sticking out on either side of me, soooo...I think saying she's head down is inaccurate and a bit misleading (maybe they'll think I'm closer to delivery than I am), but it's not a big deal i don't think. It says my due date and 'normal pregnancy' so yay.

MamaK225 · May 2019

@emqbee - Right? I get told all the time how tall I am and I just roll my eyes. 5'7" is pretty average, IMO. I apparently live in the land of the small people: small hands; teeny, tiny feet; and 5'0-5'2" height range. Well, I'm FX that they just happened to catch your LO before a growth spurt so next time she'll be back where she was.

emqbee · May 2019

@MamaK225 yes! All of my friends growing up were 5’2 give or take and I was always the odd man out at 5’7 and curvy. But I’ve learned to love it. And own it!
Also...back for ultrasound today...unexpectedly. I called the midwife because I was concerned about a decrease in movement that was lasting much longer than usual. We talked about the possibility of it just being a position change but I went in to be sure. She is sitting frank breech but with the decrease in movement along with the current IUGR status they wanted me
to go ahead and have it done. We’re doing the ultrasound including the NST with BPP

cato99 · May 2019

@emqbee I hope the upcoming ultrasound and NST go well and give you some reassuring answers and look at your sweet baby!

agpandme · May 2019

Appointment today went well! GD was ordered so I'll be doing that tomorrow morning. Next appt is June 6th.

lovelikestardust · May 2019

Had my 28 week appointment today, for the most part all is well but my OB says I'm still gaining weight a little more slowly than she'd like. She's going to schedule me for an ultrasound in a couple of weeks to check on fetal growth, and said she'd likely have me do one more after that. I'm sure this is all standard -- she didn't say there was any reason to worry -- but my anxiety is definitely spiking a little. If someone told me a year ago that I'd desperately be trying to gain as much weight as possible now, I'd have laughed in their face!

On the bright side, I had my GTT last week and I passed that! Next appointment is in June with the nurse practitioner, who will do a long teaching session covering childbirth, classes we can take, hospital policies, breastfeeding, pediatricians, and general fourth trimester stuff. I didn't know that was a thing doctors did, and I'm actually looking forward to it!

jmesue1030 · May 2019

@emqbee @MamaK225 pshh I’m nearly 6’0” and my husband is 6’2”. His dad, uncle, and grandfather are all over 6’5” and dad is 6’3”. My son was 10.0lbs at birth and continues to be off the charts in height at 3 (and like 95th percentile in weight). I don’t mind being as tall as I am but I think I’d prefer being closer to 5’7-5’9” just to make pants shopping easier 😂

emqbee · May 2019

What an exhausting day. But on the bright side im
home and in my own little bed! Not laid up at the hospital after an emergency c section! Woot! Yes, that’s what I was braced for when I decided to go get checked out.
Nothing but good news today. She is healthy! She is growing! She is active! I am one happy mama right now. I feel like I’m actually going to be able to get some rest now after 3 weeks of severe anxiety over this. She’s has jumped up to the 15th percentile!!! 😁😁 I’m so glad I went to get checked out. Her activity level(that I feel) is still not back up to her usual but that is due to her position. And that’s fine! But now I know all is well.

thirdtimesacharm2019 · May 2019

@emqbee That’s great! So happy to hear she’s growing!!!

BigBadWolf12 · May 2019

@emqbee and if she's growing so much recently then she might be sleeping more than usual too. I've heard babies sleep more and have declined movements, within reason, during a growth spurt. Great news! Keep cooking and kicking, little one!

emqbee · May 2019

@BigBadWolf12 you had actually mentioned that in a post early this week and that's what was on my mind when I first noticed the decrease so I wasn't worried. Then there were just too many changes in her 'normal' and it was lasting too long for me to be at peace and get any rest. Now that I'm reassured, I'm perfectly happy for her to sleep and grow, rinse and repeat!
Guys I'm so happy right now I can hardly stand it!

BigBadWolf12 · May 2019

I thought I was talking about that recently haha. 😂 not crazy (this time)

emqbee · May 2019

@BigBadWolf12 no definitely not crazy!!

BigBadWolf12 · May 2019

Literally right after that comment I tried to lock the door (which has been stiff lately) so I complained to dh "the lock has been so stiff recently....look how bad this is!" Turns out I had just locked the door, taken my shoes off, and then tried to lock it again. No wonder it wasnt budging 😂 but in my defense it HAS been stiff 🙈

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