A Long Day at the Doctor

On Tuesday I had a routine appointment with my OB. It was at 11:10am, and I figured we'd be home by noon. I was a little off on that estimate, as we didn't get home until 3pm. So what happened?

Well, first of all the doctor was running significantly behind. It would have been nice to have had a heads-up on this before we were sitting in the lobby for 45 minutes, because we would have skipped out to eat lunch while we were waiting... but oh well.

When we finally got back to see the doctor my blood pressure was a little elevated... Quite possibly an indicator of how I had been feeling out in the lobby. I also wanted to talk to her about the fact that I had felt him moving less in the last couple of days. Those two factors combined led to the decision to do an NST - a non-stress test. In this test they hook up a monitor to sense contractions, and another monitor to measure the baby's heartbeat. You then sit there and push a button every time you feel the baby move... for about twenty minutes.

Well, Little Bit didn't much care for the monitor. He was kicking directly at it, and then he'd move away. After the first attempt, they were unable to read the results because he moved so much. So then they tried it again while holding a doppler, instead of trying the strap on monitor. This too did not work.

At that point, we'd been there for at least two and a half hours. We were starving and tired, and I think they took pity on us... so they decided to send us to an ultrasound room. So I got my only good surprise of the day - another look at our little boy. It was pretty quick because they were only checking for activity, but it was nice to be able to see him.

How was his activity level? Fine. And he was taking "practice" breaths with his diaphragm, which is one of the major things they look for. So he is okay. And although it was a long day, I am happy that I got to see him again.

Why was I feeling him less? Well, they aren't sure. Educated guess is that it is because I have more amniotic fluid then normal, not too much to be concerning, but it could be providing more of a cushion between him and me. This means that I am not feeling all of his movements right now. And we heard several movements during the NST that I did not feel - so I think this is a good guess at an explanation.

What did I learn? Bring more snacks. A LOT more snacks. And more water. Next time I will be prepared. And since we go to the doctor every week until the end now, next time is not far away!