Psych!!!

So yesterday I had my weekly "You get to spend all DAY at the doctors' office doing tests" day.

This Friday I got to go in for a Biophysical Profile, a growth scan, and then meet with my OBGYN to find out all the results and to see if anything needed to be done for the baby.  Yesterday, I drove 30 min to the ultrasound and had the baby kicking and moving the entire drive.  As soon as I got into the Ultrasound room, he decided he was tired and fell asleep.  Niiiiiice.  NOT what you want to happen when they are checking for fetal movement.   So we spent 1/2 hour trying to wake the little bugger up - they moved me onto my side, then back onto my back, then made me put my legs straight out, then gave me some apple juice to get him all 'sugared' up, then I emptied my bladder, they put a vibrating buzzer up to him to scare him awake...nothing.  This kid would NOT budge.  Is it too much of me to ask that he sleeps the same way when he's OUT of my tummy too?

Needless to say, he just barely passed the "breathing" part of the test, but he failed the movement part horribly. 

I went to my Doctor's appointment and he talked to me to see if the baby had been moving, which I told him he had.  He asked me if there were changes, and I basically told him my contractions were further apart but more painful.  He asked me if he needed to check me and I said, "Nope.  You and I both know that I'm not having this baby before induction date.  I've been induced with all of my 3 other kids".  Normally I'd at least get a smile from him.  Nothing.  Hmmmmm.

He told me that the baby had failed his BPP and that he needed to send me to the hospital for another test.  I said, "OK".  We discussed when induction would actually be (the 25th) and he realized we didn't choose a time, so he had Megan, his nurse take me to the scheduling nurse to schedule the induction  and even suggested to her that she take me to the hospital.  I informed her I'd been there several times already and I was sure I could find my way.  The whole time I was with them at the office it was if they were waiting for me to FREAK OUT or something....just kind of treading lightly.


C'mon.  Seriously? If I thought that something wasn't right, I'd be the FIRST person to be saying something.  Knowing that something can go wrong at any given time has made me ubber sensitive to what's going on inside me.  If Jacob hadn't moved all morning, I would have been concerned.  Besides, this is NOT my first pregnancy, and it certainly wasn't my first time hanging out at the hospital for some Stress Test to prove what the previous ultrasound had already confirmed...his heart was beating regularly and at the right speed and all was fine.  I just had a heavy sleeper inside me. 

So, anyway...I called Elisha to let her know I'd be staying a little longer than expected. And I called KC (who of course, was in St. Maries and 3 hours away from me with sporadic cell phone coverage)  to let him know I was going to the hospital, but not to worry...just DON'T ignore my phone calls if I try to call again later ;)  I stopped by the intake office (I hadn't turned in my intake paperwork yet for the actual induction date) and they looked at me funny for not going straight up to the Labor and Delivery office.  I just ignored them.

Finally, I made it to Labor & Delivery.  They had been waiting for me and already knew me by name.  They took me to a little room, hooked me up, gave me a TV remote ( I can't remember the last time I've watched TV during the day....nothing has changed.  It's all still CRAP) and left me to lay there for about 30-45 minutes as the machine monitored the baby's heartbeat. 

Funny thing happened....NOTHING. His heartbeat was just fine.  Nice and steady.  No arrhythmia, not stops, no gaps.  He was a normal little baby STILL sleeping.  Though I did get to notice that my contractions were pretty much 6 minutes apart while I was there.  Hmmmm something to keep an eye on.

Elisha Allred: Soon-to-be big sister of Jacob, a boy with Down syndrome

My poor little boy freaked all the doctors and nurses out for nothing.  He's nice and healthy.  So they sent me home.  I was glad to leave.  I was NOT ready to have this baby yet!  It looks like, however, that our family will get to spend the rest of this weekend GETTING the house ready. Just as soon as Elisha finishes up her Saturday Volleyball Tournament! :)

Getting Ready for the Long Haul

I got to spend the last couple of days visiting doctors again.  Yesterday was spent with the pediatric cardiologist doing another ultrasound on Baby Jacob's heart to make sure there weren't any changes.  Luckily there weren't.  It was interesting, though, listening to the Dr. ask me if Jacob's Downs Syndrome diagnosis was going to affect how I 'handled the baby'.  Obviously I said, "No" and informed him that we were all very excited to have the new baby at home, especially the children.  He seemed satisfied by my answer, but I couldn't help but wonder what % of people actually DO change how they are going to 'handle the baby'?  Abortion? Adoption? What do they do? And WHY IN THE WORLD should a poor, helpless,  innocent little child be punished for something that was never his fault in the first place???

Preparing for Baby Jacob and his Down syndrome diganosis

 Dr. Jensen went over what I could expect at delivery and the weeks surrounding our baby's birth. He informed me that Jacob would be taken to NICU and would probably stay for 3-5 days just for monitoring.  He didn't expect them to need to give him any medicine or stick him with needles etc.  It would just be a precaution.  He then said that soon after the birth he would want to see Jacob at his office and would most likely prescribe him some heart medicines.  The medicines wouldn't fix the heart, but it would help with his growth as the babies usually have issues with lower birthrate and growth rates.  He asked me about Jacob's due  date and I told him it would be Halloween.  He was not too happy about this because that would mean that they would normally try to do his heart surgery around what is normally flu season.  So he decided that if possible, we'd prolong Jacob's surgery until Spring when there was less chance of him being exposed to anything with his weakened immune system.   He told me he wouldn't need to see me again until after the baby was born, and I was done!

Today, I met with Dr. Zweisler.  He did the usual - measured my belly, felt for the baby, and asked me if I was "OK".  My goodness, if he looks at me with those concerned eyes and asks me if I'm "OK" one more time I might actually have to scream!!!  It's like he's waiting for me to come out of denial and totally break down right there in his office.  I guess he still has a bit more to learn about the strength of a Cady girl (Born a Cady, married to an Allred - in case you didn't know). 

He then went on to remind me that he'd see me in 2 more weeks then all of the testing would begin.  Apparently, children with Downs Syndrome have a tendency to have low birth weights, and often come with other 'issues'.  So he wanted to schedule me for weekly BPP's (Biomedical Physical Profiles) and monthly growth scans.  I researched the BPP and found this link which explains what I need to expect from the procedure: http://www.webmd.com/baby/biophysical-profile-bpp

He reminded me that the BPP's will be used to see if there are any other health issues to be addressed, and to see if the baby is in distress in any way.  Obviously, if Baby Jacob is in distress, they will take action to fix the problem.  He also told me that the growth scans will be used to see if there are any issues with Jacob's weight and growth.  So, I said goodbye to the Dr, went to the ladies in the lobby and set up my appointments.  18 of them in all over the next 10 weeks.  Ugh! That's a WHOLE LOT of time with the Doctors!!!!  Here's to hoping it all works out!