34 Weeks! We made it!

We are officially 34 weeks and 2 days pregnant and still baby girl is swimming around inside of me.   Granted her pool might feel more like a wave pool with the constant contractions I have that she must feel, but hey she's still inside so PRAISE the LORD!

I am so so happy we are here and I think I've finally told myself, okay, let her come now at any time.  Such a paradigm shift from weeks 5-33.  I never thought I'd get here, but the way I feel with constant contractions, to seeing just how big she is, and the reassurance from the doctors that we are in a good place, make me finally ready to say, "Okay little sweetie pie, I'm ready to see your face in real life, other than just the ultrasound." 

As excited as I (and I think Jarrett is too) am to meet her, I go back and forth.  Having just started a new job I would like to have a few more weeks in my new position, before going on leave, as well as to have the full leave over the summer when the other kids will be off of school, would be nice, but I'll take what ever she decides.

As last week wrapped up, I went to my first official Non-Stress Test (NST) appointment where they hooked me up to the monitor and told me to push a button every time I felt her move.  The reality was that I wish I could have pushed a button for each time I had a contraction as that's way more often than she moves.  Luckily, they were already monitoring it and before I was even half way through the NST test the nurse practitioner came in and said, "Do you know you're having consistent contractions?"  I felt like responding, "Um do you know that you're alive?" but since I had just met her and she had no idea about my history, I decided that was really snotty and instead I responded, "Regular contractions."  She said they wanted to monitor me and the baby for a while longer.

After about 10 or so more minutes they came back, disconnected me from the wires and transitioned me to an exam room.  The practitioner returned with the strip of paper that read all the baby's movements along with her heart rate and my contractions.  She reviewed the strip with me and said, "I'd like to check you to make sure with all these contractions you're not going into labor."  She also did another fetal fibernectin test (the one that detects if your body is producing the protein before it goes into labor).  As she checked me she explained that while I wasn't dilating yet, my body was definitely preparing for labor (I'll leave out the specifics).  She also said that my ultrasound earlier in the week showed that I have high levels of amniotic fluid.  Yes, you read that correctly.

After all those weeks of being on Motrin and worrying about the fluid levels being too low (thank God they never were), here we are with the situation of too much fluid.  It's almost comical.  She explained some of the risks associated with too much fluid and mainly said, this probably means you're going to have more contractions.  Just make sure you go to the hospital and get a shot of Terbutaline to slow the contractions if they become stronger and more frequent.  

I left the doctors office with some what mixed emotions... wondering if I should worry about the fluid, if my contractions were going to increase even more than they had been, but mostly I worried about baby.  I just want more than anything to bring home a healthy baby girl.  I don't think I'll ever rest fully until she's in my arms, breathing, alive and healthy.  

Almost as if the nurse practitioner prescribed it, my contractions increased again over the course of the weekend.  I debated going into the ER for the shot, but kept hearing Dr. A's voice in my head... "You're just one of the lucky women who get to have regular contractions."  Each time I questioned what to do, I thought of him and decided to just stick it out.  The contractions are definitely not full on labor contractions, but they aren't the painless braxton hicks ones either.  They are painful, last anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes and shoot pain across my stomach, my lower pelvis and my back.  On Saturday night, I finally decided at 4 a.m. to get up and shower hoping it would  break up the pattern of regularity they were coming in.

Thankfully Nana and Papa stayed with us all weekend, just in case we needed to make a trip to the ER.  We have our crew on-call now, alert to be ready for a middle of the night call at any time.

I've been experiencing the same regularity of contractions since the weekend and therefore I was really excited to return to the doctor today not only for the ultrasound but also to talk to our specialist Dr. E.  Our wonderful friend Marybeth wasn't in the office today as she was moved to another office location to cover a staff member who was out, so we were seen by another ultrasound tech.  She was really nice, but I'd be lying to say we didn't miss our normal weekly conversation with the great Marybeth.  

In today's ultrasound, baby girl was again charged with performing the same activities as last week.  Except last week when she completed them in 4 minutes, this time she wasn't as interested in playing along.  I think she had fallen sleep so we had to force her to wake up.  Eventually she complied with our requests and did her moving, stretching, practice breathing and check of fluid.  When today's fluid was measured I could again see there was an abundance of fluid present.  I prayed that the level had gone down into the normal range.  Instead we learned that the fluid level had increased from last week.  

No wonder I feel so huge!

I recently shared a picture of my belly without a shirt covering it with my sister who responded, "Oh my god!  I can't even believe that. That doesn't even look real."  Now if that isn't a sign your rather large, I don't know what is.  I'd share the same image with all you here, but I'm afraid it would be one of those images you'd have a hard time getting out of your mind... so I'll spare you. 

Back to the story...

I believe they want the levels to be somewhere between 10-20 and currently baby girl is swimming in 27.  Its on the high end but understand it can go even higher (which we don't want).  After the ultrasound Dr. E, (boy do we love this man) came in, greeting us with his normal genuine, caring smile and warm handshake and said, "So nice to see you and I'm so happy to be at this point in the journey with you.  We are at 34 weeks!"  He then went onto explain the causes for the high levels of fluid but was clear in saying he wasn't too worried about them.  He said there are three causes for polyhydramnios (too much fluid)... 1) Gestational diabetes (which you don't have since you passed the test), 2) Baby isn't swallowing (we know she is because we've seen her on several ultrasounds swallowing fluid and she has fluid in her stomach), and 3) We just don't know.... which lucky for you is the best reason and the reason you fall under.  Hearing Dr. E explain it took the worry from my mind.

I then asked him about the contractions and if they hurt the baby.  He said, that they don't hurt her.  He smiled and said, "She's swimming around in all that fluid, she's good."  Hearing that made me feel even better as I was worried throughout the night that all the constant contractions had to be putting her under duress too.

As we finished talking he again said how wonderful it is that we are where we are and that he looks forward to meeting our daughter.  I told him how grateful we are for him and that he helped us get this far.  I fully accredit so much to him, his expertise and the care we were given.  

As we excited the office, which happens to be exactly across the street from Banner Desert where we plan to deliver, I told Jarrett, I'm getting excited to meet her.  He said, "I had a feeling you were feeling that way, since I couldn't convince you to go in for a shot no matter what all weekend."  While our dream is to get to 36 weeks, at this point I feel we've won the lottery and at this point I'm just letting all control go and trusting it will happen when its supposed to.  

I'm feeling like we have everything ready to bring her home.  Her clothes are washed, car seat ready, we've been hauling around my and her hospital bag in the back of our car for weeks now, and now we wait.  What a joyous place to be.

So where ever it is that labor officially starts or my water breaks (speaking of that I'm praying it isn't at work, or church.... well I just hope its at home... I have a feeling its going to be like a tidal wave of fluid.  My optimistic mom said, "Maybe they'll be so much water that she can just slide out with it... isn't that a nice thought").  I will be excited for getting to see our daughter with my own eyes as she takes her first breath.  

What an emotional, healing, life-changing moment that will be.  

Until then, I'm going to cherish each movement in my body I get to feel.  Each jab, slide of her hand, hick-up and kick.  I realize those amazing moments are coming to an end and they are a part of this miracle we've been living as it unfolds.

And until then also, I'm just gonna keep staring at the ultrasound pictures I get each week.  This baby is so loved...

I hope I'm back next week writing about week 35 and the fact that baby is thriving.  Or who knows, maybe I'll be writing sooner to let you know she's arrived.

Stay tuned... exciting things ahead we pray!

Until next time,

Angie