35 weeks! Ultrasound and appointment.

We made it to 35 weeks!  I am 35 weeks and 2 days pregnant today!

On Friday we had a detailed ultrasound and then doctor's appointment.

Cute little baby feet!

I love this picture of her face.  You can see that she's getting some precious chubby cheeks!

She seems to like having an arm up by her head.

Overall, she looked pretty good.  The doctor who measured her last week was just doing a quick bedside ultrasound, so he probably mismeasured a bit.  This ultrasound showed her to weigh approximately 4 lbs 6 oz.  Her stomach and femur were both measuring really small for her age.  She was placed into the 3rd percentile for weight.  This is her lowest percentile measuring yet, and she is definitely growth restricted.  We are okay with the news, and actually expected that last week's ultrasound might not have been completely accurate.  My amniotic fluid level was 24 cm (They want it under 25), so that's still looking better than last month.  They did doppler blood flow measurements, and they all looked wonderful!  This means that the blood flow from me to her appears to be adequate at this time.  We really enjoyed this longer ultrasound and the chance to see our little girl moving around and reacting to the pressure from the ultrasound wand!  Matt noticed that we had the same ultrasound technician that we had at our 20 week anatomy ultrasound.  He was able to thank her for the amazing job that she did catching Elise's VSD.  If we hadn't of found the heart defect, and just saw the cysts in the brain, we would have never done any additional testing to find out that she has Trisomy 18.  Although this has been a difficult journey, I feel blessed to have found out when we did.  It has given us a chance to prepare for multiple scenerios, and to bond in a very different way with Elise. 

After the ultrasound, we met with a Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor.  She felt that the ultrasound went well and that Elise was progressing as expected, even though she dropped percentiles in weight.  We made a plan for the remainder of the pregnancy at this time (whoa! you know we're getting close when we can make these plans!).  From here on out, we will have testing and appointments with MFM at least weekly.  We will be having a biophysical profile (BPP) every week, followed by a Non-Stress Test (NST) if the BPP result comes back too low. 

A BPP is an ultrasound where the technician is screening for 4 different things.  The BPP is scored by giving the baby 2 points for each item, with a highest possible score of 8.  They will be checking for 1)adequate amniotic fluid, 2)practice breathing, 3)large movements (such as turning, rolling, moving an arm or leg), and 4)movements showing tone (such as opening or closing the hand, or moving the head at the neck).  If the score is 8, we will be done.  If the score is 6 or less, we will move on to an NST.  An NST monitors the babies movement and heart rate.  It specifically looks to see if the baby's heart rate responds appropriately to movement.  It also monitors overall heart rate and contractions. 

If  the testing shows that Elise is possibly declining, we will discuss induction.  Induced labor, however, is  more difficult on babies than natural labor.  The contractions are often stronger and closer together, giving the baby less time to recover between contractions.  Also, any time you try to force the body into labor before it's ready, you face an increased risk of the induction failing and labor not progressing.  For this reason, we would much rather I go into labor naturally when my body is ready.  We stopped my contraction medication, and have decided that we will not do anything to discourage labor from here on out.  I carried my son 1 day past his due date, and my daughter until one day before her due date.  It is completely possible that I will not go into labor naturally before my due date.  We are leaving it up to God and my body at this point, and would be thrilled if I went into labor on my own before we felt the need to induce. 

In the meantime, I am in full nesting mode!  My husband woke up to a long "To Do" list on our white board, and a waddling pregnant wife trying to cross off as much as I can in between rest and snack breaks.  I am finally getting that wonderful excited feeling that generally hits me towards the end of my pregnancies.  The anticipation, the hopes, the daydreams of how it will all happen and what it will be like when she is here.  :) I am one happy (and nervous at times) mama!

Here are some pictures that my wonderful husband took before our appointment.  Ainsley was not interested in the photo shoot, but Isaac was cheesing it up as usual!

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." -Romans 12.12