Great's abdomen is falling a little further behind in development. His belly is now lagging over 3 weeks behind the rest of his body. As many of you that read Sarah's blog know, the baby's body will always take the nutrients it needs for the development of the head / brain so it is normal for the abdomen to begin to fall a little bit behind if there is any kind of issue. The technical name for all of this in case you are interested is Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR). This is actually a very normal occurence with "Heparin" babies and it is due to the increased workload that the placenta is under. This is also why I have literally only had one doctor appointment in the last 8 months when I did not have a sonogram. They watch very closely for IUGR along with a few other triggers to tell them when there might be a developing issue with the baby.
So, anyway, the 3 week marker is apparently the point where they begin to get a little concerned about the baby's development. Dr. Maxey is having me go see some friends of his (literally two guys that he grew up with) that specialize in high risk obstetrics so that they can perform a Level 2 sonogram and get more precise measurements. My appointment is tomorrow at 2:00.
What does all of this mean?
- Well, first, it does NOT mean that there is necessarily anything wrong with the baby. Every other sign points to him being OK. In fact, there is plenty of amniotic fluid which is a really good thing. It means that his bladder is working just fine... The rest of his development is right on track.
- Second, it means that we will have lots of doctors appointments in the next few weeks. I will know for sure after tomorrow's appointment but Dr. Maxey's feeling is that they will all probably want to see me twice a week for the next few weeks (that means one appt. with Dr. Maxey and one a week with the specialists) so that they can watch our little one very closely.
- Third, it means that we will probably be welcoming our sweet little boy sooner than we thought. Likely within about two weeks. The reason for this is that ultimately we will be better able to nourish him outside of the womb than I can with him inside. The placenta just becomes less able to cope as the baby gets bigger.
- Finally, this probably also means that unless I go into spontaneous labor in the next few weeks (which I hope I do not...I want Great to stay inside as long as possible so he can grow as much as he can) we will be having a c-section. The reason for this is that when your body has not prepped itself for labor and natural delivery of a baby it is a fairly difficult thing to begin. It would require lots of drugs and it would take a long time (24-36 hours) which means that the baby would have to rely heavily on the placenta during this whole period. As I am sure you could guess, the placenta is most likely not up to this challenge. The doctor told me that if it was really important to me that we could try a natural delivery but that there is a high likelihood that we would end up having an emergency c-section. I really just want what is best for the baby and right now I believe that is a c-section. I don't want to put him under any more strain than I have to.
In summary, I am just so thankful that I have a doctor that is proactive and takes this all very seriously. PLEASE do not worry too much about what is going on. We are taking every step possible to protect the baby's health as well as my own. This all may be too much information but I would rather write it out once than go over it several times individually. Little Great is fine... we just want to make sure he continues to be fine. At the moment he is just a little skinny with a big head. (Sarah and I had a good laugh about that... We decided that this just means we are bringing another genious into the family!)
I will know more tomorrow. In the mean time, keep us in your thoughts~
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