32 Weeks

Following a rough night of frequent contractions and insomnia, today's ultrasound was also somewhat disturbing. While the baby is still looking normal and healthy overall, he only gained 2 ounces in the past two weeks. With so little growth, he slipped from the 60% percentile to the 33rd. Dr. P. feels like it's too early to be overly concerned right now as this could just be an anomaly (maybe due to the terrible cold/flu I had last week?). However, if his growth doesn't pick up within the next two weeks, then we may be looking at a problem requiring intervention...

The other possible issue is that one of his kidneys is retaining slightly more urine than is normal. Normal range is less than 4mm, and his measured 5mm. Again, Dr. P. said not to worry about it yet as slight abnormal readings are common with baby boys and usually resolves by birth. However, if we continue to see a trend over the next few weeks, then he may need a procedure to correct it.

In better news, my blood pressure is still looking good and the ulcerative colitis flare I've been coping with is possibly starting to settle down. We're really hoping it does so I can avoid a scheduled c section... Speaking of which, we also have our delivery date set! If I'm induced, it will be at midnight on August 5th. If I have a c-section, it will be at 7 AM. For the time being, Dr. P. has the OR booked for the c-section route since that is currently the most likely scenario.

We finally have a picture to show today; however it's not the greatest. Since the baby is head down, we're not likely to get many more decent photos.

Following my ultrasound, I spent the next 40 minutes in the monitoring room while the nurse chased the baby around with the monitors in an attempt to do a non-stress test. He wasn't very cooperative and kept moving away from the monitor every time she got it placed! Eventually she got it in the right spot long enough to determine that everything looks good.

This Week's Stats:
Gestational Age: 32 weeks, 1 day
Weeks until delivery: 6 (!)
Weight: 3 pounds, 13 ounces
Heart Rate: 125 bmp baseline with accelerations up to 155 bmp
Fruit Comparison: Winter Squash
My weight change: +10 pounds (no change from last time)
Stretch Marks: nothing obvious; maybe a tiny one in my belly button.