Week 35...a St. Patty's Day baby?

Week 35 was a pretty interesting one.

I had another doctor appointment on Wednesday, March 17th, St. Patrick's Day. It was at 2:30pm, so Mackenzie drove me. The Dupage Medical Group has many locations and usually I have appointments at the RollingRidge Office, which is near my parents house. Occasionally, I go to their Spaulding Office, which is located at Edwards Hospital, where I will deliver. Fittingly enough that is where we were headed for my appointment on Wednesday.

Week 35 began my weekly fetal non-stress test (NST). Before I see the doctor from here on out, I will be hooked up to the fetal heart rate monitor and contraction monitor in order to see how reactive McKenna's heart rate is with her movements.

At 2:30pm, Mackenzie and I headed in to the NST room and began the monitoring. The nurse came and checked on me a couple of times - about every 5 minutes - to see how we were doing. McKenna's heart rate wasn't responding in the manner they wanted to, so at first they brought me some apple juice to drink and wake her up. The apple juice didn't do the trick so, the nurse took a buzzer and pressed it against my belly, McKenna practically jumped out of my skin, but the next couple of times they did it, she didn't move much at all.

The nurse had said that her heart rate wasn't reacting enough. It was staying steady rather than increasing and decreasing the way it should be when a baby moves. Three times the nurses ripped the paper off of the machine to show Dr. Weeks.

The primary goal of the test is to measure the heart rate of the fetus in response to its own movements. Healthy babies will respond with an increased heart rate during times of movement, and the heart rate will decrease at rest. The concept behind a non-stress test is that adequate oxygen is required for fetal activity and heart rate to be within normal ranges. When oxygen levels are low, the fetus may not respond normally.

The next time the nurse entered the room, she so very nonchalantly stated that we would be heading to the hospital for observation. Mack and I looked at one another stunned. Uh...What?!
(this is why it turned out good that we were already at the Spaulding/Edwards location!)

Before walking over to Labor & Delivery, Dr. Weeks wanted to see me. He filled me in on why they were sending me over to L&D and went over the few things we usually talk about at these appointments. They found a small amount of protein in my urine. (the amount was so small that it wasn't an issue) He also checked to see if McKenna was still breech. He couldn't feel with his hands, so he grabbed the ultrasound machine. There we got to see that she had TURNED!!! YAY! Good girl! (We're thinking that it occurred the other night, when I woke up at 3am with a lot of pain in my abdomen - I thought I was having a contraction)

At this point, we are all thinking that Miss McKenna just may end up being a little St. Patty's Day baby...depending on how things go, the doctor's may decide to just get her out.

....and at this point...I'll admit...I was more then ready...

Once I got to the hospital, they put us right into a room for observation. They hooked me up to the fetal heart rate monitor and the contraction monitor once again to see how baby girl was doing. Mom and Brian arrived and they soon whisked us away to have another Biophysical Profile. This is our second biophysical ultrasound, we had our first one just a few weeks ago when they sent me to the hospital for high blood pressure. With the biophysical, the tech is looking for movement (flexion and extension of the limbs - at least 3 movements in the limbs within 30 mins) breathing (through the nose and the rise and fall of the chest), amount of fluid in the sac, the placement of the placenta, and the heart valves. We were in there a good 30 mins this time watching and waiting for McKenna to show the tech all of her skills. It took awhile for the woman to detect her movement - she just didn't seem to want to move at all. The tech even got to the point where she kept pushing my belly with her wand to try to get McKenna to kick her back. After a few minutes of worry and glancing between Brian & I , she kicked and flexed her hand.

If she hadn't passed the biophysical profile, then the doctor's may have made the decision to deliver her, but because she did ...we were good to go.

Brian & my Momma inquired about bed rest...asking to see if I should be on stricter bed rest rather than modified, but the nurse said no, I was fine to continue on modified.

The nurse also confirmed that from here on out, this could possibly become routine. It all depends on how McKenna reacts during her NST at the doctor's office. The doctor will always send you to the hospital for observation for precautionary reasons. It's obviously fine with me to be overcautious, but seriously, wouldn't it just make sense to deliver her if week after week there are questions??? I think I'd just rather her be here! But, we'll see, what happens next week!

Thank you very much for your continued thoughts, prayers, love and support. Brian & I greatly appreciate it! Love you all!

poor Krissy had strep this week and because she wants McKenna and her mommy to be healthy she wore a mask when she was downstairs....what a good sister and aunt!

we just had to document Mackenzie checking Kristen's throat! haha!

Brady & Megan stopped over on Wednesday while house hunting!
Here is Uncle Brady giving love to Kenna!

NST

...now with a view of the machine...

my photog is so good isn't she?? she made sure to document every step!
Here I am with my apple juice!

...same monitoring...different location...
at least they were able to give me a green gown in honor of St. Patty's Day!

what an awesome family!

...more apple juice...

Aunt Lynn stopped by too! How sweet is that!?

Mackenzie was my chauffeur all week...on Thursday we had to head out to David's Bridal to pick up my bridesmaid dress for my friend, Courtney's wedding this weekend. I think it turned out pretty good...the baby belly was able to fit after all!

driver...

...passenger...

Week 35: McKenna doesn't have much room to maneuver now that she's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in my womb, she isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times she kicks should remain about the same. Her kidneys are fully developed now, and her liver can process some waste products. Most of her basic physical development is now complete — she'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.