Regular OB appointment today....

Pretty standard appointment. Just a tummy check, listen to the heartbeat and my one-hour glucose test.

They changed the stuff you drink, and the stuff today was NASTY! I'll take the old carbonated stuff over this any day! Anywho - here's hoping the blood test comes back fine.

I didn't look at the scale, because I know what it'll say and I just don't want to go there right now. Doc did say my weight looks great, though, and as long as I'm growing, it means the baby is growing, too. She's such a good liar! :)

I went in there with my notebook full of questions to ask about the two-vessel cord. My main concern is what this all means, what precautions will be taken, and what exactly I'm at risk for. I had someone (on a message board) tell me that if my baby isn't delivered before 37 weeks, she'll either be severely brain damaged or she'll die. (Nice, huh? Just what i needed to throw me into freak-out mode even more!) I *needed* to hear a doctor's point of view on that, so I asked her. Her response was, "Whoever told you that is an idiot. If we can get these babies to 40 weeks, that's our goal, just like any other pregnancy." Talk about a weight off my shoulders.

We did spend a lot of time talking about what I can expect... after 32 weeks, I will be on heavy fetal monitoring. Every week or two, I will be in their office, hooked up to the monitors. They'll monitor Tink's heart rate and if I'm contracting or not. Also, after 32 weeks, I will have ultrasounds at almost every visit, just to make sure she's still growing and her kidneys and other organs are still developing. I will also have to start keeping a log of the kick counts I get every day, several times a day. If nothing else, this baby is going to have LOTS of people looking out for her and watching her every move.

I have to start going back every two weeks now, just to get my uterus measured so they can get a jump on any problems that might arise before 32 weeks.

They didn't have the results from the perinatologists report, so we'll most likely go over those at my next appointment as well. They're not sure whether I'll have the ultrasounds after 32 weeks with the perinatologist or if it'll be all right to just do them at their office. That's something we'll discuss after my ultrasound on the 31st of next month.

All in all, things are looking up. My next appointment is Wednesday, July 5th, and I'll have another update then. (If not beforehand!) :)

Monday's Perinatologist Appointment Update...

The appointment went well. The perinatologist was SUPER nice. They spent over an hour measuring the baby, checking her heart, her lungs, her kidneys, her brain.... everything. They did turn on the color display for the cord several times, but they didn't really focus on the cord as much as I had hoped. She does have 2 vessels, not three. However, she is still measuring ahead... she's now measuring 25 weeks 6 days - which is fabulous! She's almost 2 pounds now, too. So, if anything were to happen, the odds of her survival are tremendous. They wanted a good look at her face, but my stubborn girl would NOT flip over for anything. I think I should have had that Snickers bar before the appointment!

The doctor is a bit concerned about Downs, but not much. He said it's one of those "it could happen, it could NOT happen" sort of things. But, isn't that true with any pregnancy? There are also concerns for other chromosomal abnormalities, but, again, it's one of those "it could happen with any pregnancy" sort of things.

I am doing better now. I got to see her again - we confirmed that she is, indeed, still very much a girl, and she's still doing really, really well at this point. I will probably worry until the next ultrasound, though, just because it's typically after 25 weeks that they stop growing (if they're going to). BUT, I'm trying not to dwell on that. This isn't in my hands, and I have to trust that we'll get through this and she'll be just fine.

After the appointment, they let us tour the maternity ward. OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!! I wish I had delivered ALL my babies here! It is amazing! You start in a private labor/delivery room. The room is gargantuous. Big screen tv in the room, a couch that pulls out for Gene to sleep on.... absolutely amazing. After you have the baby, you move to a private recovery room where you stay until discharged. These rooms aren't quite as big, but they're still about twice the size of the last hospital room we stayed in. Comfy beds, HUGE shower, just a beautiful room altogether. They have two nurseries - a NICU and the regular nursery, and we got to tour them both. And, we met little Anna who was only about an hour old. Just gorgeous. So, now I'm really excited and can't wait for September to get here.

There's the official update. Good news thus far. We go back on July 31st for another u/s to verify that she's still growing ok, and see if any abnormalities have developed. Then, we go from there!

I'll keep you posted.