30 week appointment

**harmonybear** · 09-08-2012, 04:07 PM

Well. This certainly has been an eventful pregnancy.

At least my blood pressure and blood sugar are much better in control than last time. And at least I haven't fainted yet. But my body does seem to have devised new ways of making me nervous! lol

I ended up getting very sick on Wednesday and hardly eating or drinking anything all day because my stomach hurt too much when I ate or drank. DH had to take a sick day to watch DD. I lost 4 lbs (mostly water weight, I imagine - I think I drank a total of about 10 oz all day long, and maybe a total of 500 calories

), and then I had to go in for my 30-week appointment the next day.

So at my appointment the midwife decides to do a blood draw to make sure my illness wasn't gallbladder problems (I don't know the results of that yet). Then I did my urine sample, which was the darkest orange color I can remember. Yep, definitely dehydrated, even after drinking a ton on Thursday to try to make up for the previous day. Then they weighed me, and I had lost a lb compared to the previous appointment. Then my fundal height was only 25 (that's 5 weeks behind). Now I'm used to measuring behind - with DD I was measuring a month behind by 34 weeks - but this is a little early to be measuring 5 weeks behind. Hopefully some of that was due to the dehydration. The midwife confirmed that she wanted me to go back for the follow-up ultrasound that the OB requested last time because he was measuring small.

All in all, not the best appointment. But baby's heartbeat was in the 140s, and the midwife let DD hold the doppler all by herself and let her find the heartbeat on her own. DD was beside herself with excitement.

And no one is worried - but with all my regular BHs, I think everyone just wants to make double sure he's growing okay in there.

It's at times like this I'm so glad to be with the practice I'm with. My midwives have an induction rate of 13%, a c-section rate of 9%, and a VBAC success rate of 80% (not that I'm VBACing, but it's a data point), and the high risk OB they work with is amazingly NCB friendly for a high risk OB. At many other practices they would have started talking worst case scenario with the placenta previa, or having BHs every 5 minutes for hours on end, or with a baby measuring below the 25th percentile and a fundal height 5 weeks behind. There have been plenty of opportunities to panic!

But here I mostly just get reassurances that everything will be fine and I'll still get the birth I want, but still let's keep an eye on it just to be safe. It's a good feeling.

**alwayssmile** · 09-08-2012, 09:24 PM

Sounds like a great practice! Those are great numbers - especially compared to most of the US. I felt really excited just to find a place with a 70% VBAC success rate. lol. Anyways, glad that they're reassuring and not panicking. Hope that the u/s shows everything is doing well, just small.