3cm and 3 days to go!!

Well today's dr appt brought no new news. I am about 3cm dilated and had my membranes stripped again. As of now it is just a waiting game until Saturday. They said that very early in the morning, 53o or 6am labor and delivery will call me to tell me what their schedule looks like and to let me know if they will be able to get me in. If they are too busy then I will be pushed back till Sunday or whenever they are not busy so we have to be ready to go whenever they give us the thumbs up and trust me I am ready! I've had enough of this bed rest business and living out of a suitcase has its cons too! Check back on Sat either for pictures of our new little guy or some not so great news of being pushed back another day!

5 days and counting!!

At my doctor's appt today we set up the big induction day for January 30th!! That is only 5 days away but not nearly soon enough! I tried begging and pleading with the doctor for an earlier date but she didn't want to go any earlier as she wants to avoid a c-section as much as possible and if I were to get induced today or tomorrow it would be a long induction process as I would have to fully efface and dilate which can take quite some time . I am only dilated to 2cm's today and she stripped my membranes so we are hoping that helps speed things up. 2cm is good considering last Thursday I wasn't even 1cm! I am still on bed rest which is making me go crazy but I get another big outing this week as I have my regular BPP/NST on Wednesday. I stayed out a little longer today and got myself a pedicure which should be a requirement before any woman goes into labor!

Jared is getting pretty excited as this is his last week working at the Rosemount Armory and he officially starts in New Hope one week from today! We both couldn't be more excited and happy! Stayed tuned for an update after my appt on Wednesday.

Weekly Update

I had my appt for the week today and boy was it a busy one. We started out with the weekly BPP in which he ended up failing with a 4/8. He failed the two movement criteria which are 2pts each. He was either very very quiet or sleeping b/c then we went downstairs for the NST and he failed that also. He wasn't showing any accelerations but had a good heartbeat staying around the mid 140's. They tried to stimulate him with a buzzer a couple different times to try to get some action or movement out of him but nothing happened. When they took my blood pressure it came back at 150/98 which is quite high. They re-took it one more time and it fell a couple points to 143/89. I have been having elevated blood pressures for the past couple weeks but not this high by any means. Since he got 4/10 for the week on his BPP/NST and b/c my blood pressure was so high, we were sent over to the hospital OB triage unit to do more extensive monitoring. We repeated the BPP in which he did much better this time and he was did but better being on the monitor. Before I left my DR's office I was instructed that I am unable to go to work and now need to be on bed rest until I deliver. I promptly said excuse me what??? Bed rest?? I don't think those two words go together in my dictionary so I needed her to clarify what she meant by this. So what she said I can do is pretty much nothing. I can get out of bed to shower, go to the bathroom, make a quick lunch/food, and lay back down. I asked her if I could get up and walk around b/c I get so uncomfortable and she said I can get up to stretch and then lay back down!! This is going to be a rough week and a half! My dr checked my cervix before I left for the hospital and she said I am almost 1cm dilated! WHOA, big progress..NOT!

Since things turned around at the hospital they discharged me and I have to follow up with my DR on Monday morning. My big outing for the week!! Jared and I are going to talk to her about maybe inducing next week for a couple reasons. One, is that I only get 6 weeks of maternity leave and now my bed rest counts towards that time and two, is that Jared starts in New Hope on Feb 1st so he/we would like for him to have some time as a family at home before he starts his new job.

Speaking of, JARED IS OFFICIALLY A NEW HOPE POLICE OFFICER!!! Jared accepted the job offer on Jan 7th pending his passing of a physical and psychological evaluation. He passed both which secured him a position, good thing he isn't crazy!!! On Wednesday this week he went shopping with his captain to get his uniforms, vests, and accessories he needs. He also purchased his gun this week which he was excited about. Jared has said a couple times that he could possibly start his career job and have a new baby son all in the same day!! We have started to look for places much closer to where we both are working and are hoping to move within the next month to month a half. That is all the news we have so far. After Monday morning I will for sure update the blog again if there is any news on inducing. Keep your fingers, toes, and arms crossed for us!

Pediatric Urologist Consult

I just want to preface that this is going to be a lengthy entry as there is quite a bit of information and it always take longer to type out then it does to say verbally in person or over the phone, so bear with me here. I met with Dr. Aliabadi on Tuesday Jan 5th in the afternoon for a 30 minute consult. Wicked nice man and I felt very comfortable and confident with him. Jared was unable to make it to the appt due to work. He started out by having me explain in my own words what I thought was going on from what I have been told by the perinatologist and my OB dr. If you read my last blog entry about the posterior urethral valves and the kidney dilation then that will give you a good idea of how I explained it to him. He started off by saying that it was a good sign to him that I was not crying! I told him that what's the point of crying when there is nothing myself, or anyone can do right now as it is just a waiting game until delivery. Dr Aliabadi then went through everything again with me and told me what the different scenarios would be. Nothing can be done until this little guy is born. Once he is delivered the hospital staff will call/page him and let him know that I delivered. An ultrasound will be done 24 hours after he is born. The dr is in no rush to have this done as it is not hurting the little guy and he would rather have him learn how to regulate his temperature and get used to be on the outside world before they start doing anything on him. So on day 2 or 3 of life little baby Kuyper will have an ultrasound done on him to see more clearly what is going on b/c you can only see so much on him going through my body and as the end of the pregnancy gets closer (REALLY SCARY TO THINK THAT) ultrasounds get less and less accurate.

They will do the ultrasound to specifically find out what is going on with him. There are two different things that could be going on and until the do the ultrasound on him they will not know for sure. The first is that where the kidneys and ureters connect, there could be a blockage in which there is not enough urine passing down the ureters which is then collecting in the kidneys making them dilate. The second is that there could be a reflux happening. This would be from the posterior urethral valves not letting enough urine pass through the urethra so the urine is being pushed back up in the kidneys causing the kidneys to dilate. Think of acid reflux/heartburn being pushed up in your throat and that is like the urine being pushed up into his kidneys.

From the ultrasound they can determine if it is the blockage or the reflux. If it is the reflux then what they can do is go through the urethra and shave down the valves in order to let more urine pass. This is a simple same day procedure that would be done in order to fix the reflux. If it is the blockage then they would actually have to do surgery in which that would require him to be in the NICU for 2-4 days to recover. The dr did not say how soon after birth the surgery would be b/c as of right now we don't even know for sure if it is the reflux or blockage so why jump to conclusions when we could be wrong. I will still deliver at Methodist and the staff there will page him to let him know about delivery. The ultrasound will be done at Methodist but any procedure or surgery that would need to happen with be done at Children's Hospital. I'm sure a lot of you are wondering the size of the kidneys and he said that right now they are dilated to 13mm on the right side and 15mm on the left side. He also said that one side could be reflux and the other side could be blockage. Just because there is bilateral dilation doesn't mean that both sides are the same. In which if one was blockage then they would surgically correct that one side.

I still will be going for my weekly appts, NST/BPP's until delivery. The dr also said that there is no reason to take him early and he would like be to get as close to 40 weeks as I possibly can. If baby Kuyper does need surgery he wants him to be as big and healthy as possible. That is all that I can think of for now. If you have other questions or ones that I may not have answered don't hesitate to call or email. Hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful cold weather!