Baby and Emma update

At today's ultrasound the baby was head down - yippee! Although he can still swing around and change position I figure if he has done it once, he can do it again.

So those are his feet kicking my liver and my ribs! And I do believe this also confirms that the rhythmical movements I've been feeling down by my pelvis are indeed hiccups.

I was also told his heartbeat was strong, that he weighs 1869gr (great news especially if he were to come early) and measures 38cm.

As for Emma, she's already asleep after a copious dinner of chicken, peas and carrots (she had three drum sticks to herself!) and our weekly gym class. Today was our second time and boy did she have fun! Check out those red cheeks!

(Unfortunately I had forgotten my camera so the pics were taken with my Iphone hence some blurriness)



The class lasts until June and I don't know for how long I'll be able to continue doing this with Emma, but hopefully at least until the baby is born - after that I might have to ask the babysitter to come with us and just cheer them on from the bench with the babe in tow.

Baby/preggie update week 28

So on Thursday I had my routine checkup at my gynae's and got my glucose test results and blood test results.

In a nutshell:

• I don't have gestational diabetes
  
• I am anemic
• everything else is fine; in fact even my low lying placenta seems to have moved up but we'll still go for the final confirmation on that one during week 34
• unfortunately, no cool baby pics this time.

As for the baby, he now measures 35cm (!!) and weighs 1284gr. (Seems big to me!) According to the measurements, the calculated EDD (estimated delivery date) reads out to be April 14th-16th confirming my feeling (or hope!) that he's coming slightly before April 20th. Although, according to the gynae, these measurements vary each time and don't really change the EDD calculated at the beginning of the pregnancy.

I think Emma's EDD was also somewhere between July 27th-August 4th according to the various body measurements (see Emma's data on week 30 and of week 32)...

I'm still not entirely sure at which location to give birth (hesitating in between two) so I've decided to go visit the delivery rooms in each hospital again next week and hope my gut will have strong feelings about one place rather than another.

Also, I am hugely reassured after discussing post-term delivery with my gynae; one of the girls who does preggie pilates with me is over 10 days overdue and they are still waiting... I don't know how she does it. I would be really worried. Even with the checks every three days. In Switzerland that's a no-no. And in my book that's definitely a no-no. Very happily, my gynae is also against leaving the baby in more than 3 days post-term - Pheew!!!

Mind you, a couple of second time Mums have told me their second delivery was so quick they barely had time to get to the maternity or settle into the delivery room! I could live with that - as long as Steph is around and Emma is safely at kindergarden and it's not all happening at 4am.

Too much medicine robbed the magic

Here's a slightly more "medical" update on my previous post It's a boy!!!

At week 21, our little boy is estimated to measure about 23cm and weigh about 375gr. The EDD (estimated delivery date) remains the same and all that was measured was within the normal ranges.

The heart activity and rhythm, veins, lungs, stomach, cord, fetal movements and amniotic liquid are all "normal". My placenta is a little low (actually my report says "There is placenta previa, we advise to check the placental position at 34 weeks" ) but hopefully this will correct itself by the third trimester and I will not have to have a C-section. (I really, really do not want a C-section! Enough ops and scars thank-you! ) On the up side, they also typed "IUGR and preeclampsia are very unlikely to occur in this pregnancy." Well that's a relief!

All ok, right? But you know what? The fact is that I read all of this -except the placenta previa bit which I asked about while we were there- on our report once we got home. Although we had been looking forward to the organ screening, we walked out of the examination feeling really let down and actually worried. Nothing at all like the elation we felt each time we went to "the movies" as we used to call the monthly ultra-sound checks we had in Izmir when we "visited" Emma.

I have heard women say they wanted to give birth at home because they felt the medical environment and/or medical professionals overshadowed the natural and or human aspect of giving birth. While I am NOT considering having the baby at home (as far as I am concerned, it would be an unnecessary risk) I have to say that I do feel a little robbed of the magic by the medical and administrative requirements and modus operandi this time around. And this is despite the fact that there are no medical grounds for specific medical treatment or scrutiny.

In Turkey while pregnant with Emma we were a lot more relaxed and although examinations were thorough we somehow had more fun and looked at the "human" aspect of the pregnancy and baby more (like whose nose she might have inherited and how tall she would be). Our Obgyn would totally participate in this and indeed lead the way. Never were we asked to sign papers such as the ones we have had to sign here telling us about limited accuracy of medical tests or the risks of malformation. And this is despite the fact that in Turkey I was considered to be an old woman pregnant for the first time at the age of 33!

Here, prior to examinations we are asked to sign forms attesting our understanding that the examination/ultra-sound cannot guarantee 100% accuracy and telling us that approximately 5% of all pregnancies result in babies with undetected issues. Well, that really puts you in an optimistic and relaxed mood before seeing your baby doesn't it?

On one occasion, I have felt like we were present during the ultra-sound merely because we had to be, with the baby being inside me and all... On Monday, while carrying out the organ screening the doctor didn't systematically address us with explanations about what he was measuring or checking but rather was focused on dictating the data to his assistant who was typing it all up. I really felt nervous when he scrolled over the heart in total silence... breaking it only to dictate abbreviations followed by numbers until I asked: Is everything ok? and we were finally told "everything appears to be normal".

Then after we had paid and received our report he shook our hands and said "Enjoy your pregnancy" - yeah...I really felt like he had helped contribute to that!

Today I had an appointment with my Obgyn and thankfully she was reassuring telling my more about placenta previa (apparently present in about 5% of pregnancies at the time of delivery) and encouraging me not to worry about it saying it would probably move up as the baby and uterus grow upwards. We actually had a proper conversation. Well, that's more like it.

Week 32

On Saturday June 9th we had our last Turkish check-up with our local Ob-Gyn.

The latest:
weight (EFW): 2133gr (657gr in the past 3 weeks)
height: 41,32cm (= femur length of 6,22 x 6 + 4)
Estimated Delivery Date (EDD): varies depending on what you measure. Since she's slightly Large for Gestational Age (LGA) - some measurements show her to be up to 34 weeks, give or take a few days - obviously this moves the EDD up.


If only...
I'd be very happy to have her at week 37 when she's technically no longer a preemie (in Switzerland)!
Good news is, her lungs are mature so should she come early no issues there.




Other than the usual ultra-sound, we also had fetal monitoring for the first time.

This involved me lying down with straps around my belly meant to capture bebek's heart beat, a nurse ringing a bicycle bell next to my belly, and me pressing on a what looked like an ignition button every time I felt a kick. Oh, and it also measures uterine contractions should you have any.

Basically, a healthy baby should react to the bicycle bell both by movement and an increased heart rate. Very definitely bebek was responsive - I'm not sure how much she enjoyed the experience, but Doc. was reassured she was well and I got my share of kicks, waves and somersaults.

We leave for Geneva in two weeks and so unless something unpleasant happens before then, the next time we visit our Doc. here, she'll be able to see our bebek without the need of an ultra-sound...
I have to say it's kind of weird having gone through 32 weeks of appointments, ultra-sounds, blood tests, phone calls and talks with her, to suddenly say goodbye before the baby is born. Kind of sad actually...

pregnancy EDD fetal monitor week 32

30 weeks

3D images... they're practically photos!
It's a bit weird seeing these - hubs prefers the classical 2D and I can see why...

Anyway, all is well and here's the latest:

• weight: 1476 gr
• height: 37 cm *
  
• guesstimate weight & height at term (40 weeks & according to gynae): 3,7 or 3,8 kg (OMG!!!) and 52 cm
  
• dr.'s comments: "she is slightly bigger than average at 30 weeks" & "she'll be tall according to measures of femur bone"; "she doesn't have your nose, hers is more round"; & "everything is fine, call me if need be at any time".
• latest EDD: 27th July 2007 (this is the same as the very first date we were given)
• dr. is very happy with my stabilized weight gain. Basically I put on 200gr since the April check-up, the rest is all baby's!
• my blood pressure is always the good old 110/70
• next appointment: June 9th for baby monitoring (ultra-sound & heart beat monitoring to see if she is reactive to sound, movement etc.)

Time is really flying now! I can hardly believe I'll be in Geneva in 5 weeks and shortly afterwards we'll be a family of three.

* you can calculate this: Femur Length x 6 + 4 = total height (or is that length?)