Well Baby Emerson almost came a little sooner than we expected!
On Monday I had an ultrasound scheduled to follow up from last weeks concern with cord blood flow. My appointment was at 7am, so I had a feeling our Maternal Fetal Medicine Doctor, Dr. Murphy, wasnt going to be there. She usually comes in after 8.
We had the same ultrasound tech as we had the week prior, and we started the Biophysical Profile. The BPP test measures the baby's heart rate, muscle tone, movement, breathing, amount of amniotic fluid around the baby, and cord blood flow. We got through the BPP pretty fast, Emerson is usually pretty cooperative early in the morning like that :) We scored 8/8, and everything looked good. I asked the tech if I should stay and wait for Dr. Murphy but she said everything looked good and I'm all set.
As soon as I got in my car my phone rang. It was the tech telling me that Dr. Murphy would actually like me to go up to Labor and Delivery and have an NST done just as a precaution. I thought it was a little strange, but Dr. Murphy has taken excellent care of us so thought she was just monitoring as much as she could.
When I got up to Labor and Delivery, the nurse said, so we have NST and steroid shot. Did they mention that to you? I said um, no. She asked why dont we go over the concern for an NST, and I went over the last ultrasound and the concern with the cord blood flow. And she said yes, the cord blood flow and amniotic fluid has decreased since last week so the steroids will help develop the baby's lungs in case we have to deliver. I said, I was just at the ultrasound and scored 8/8 on my BPP. I didnt think that was possible since every appointment has never been that good. She said well lets get you set up for NST and I will have the midwife on call come talk to you.
Well as she started the NST, my blood pressure was high. Of course. It is high at every appointment, my anxiety going into these appointments has gotten the best of me resulting in high blood pressure. So they wanted me to do the NST for an hour and check my blood pressure every 15 minutes. Meanwhile Dr. Murphy, our midwife, the OB and neonatologist on call were all getting on a conference call to discuss if I should be admitted. That was difficult because the on call doctors kept getting called into surgery.
So 2.5 hours later, might I add an emotional 2.5 hours later, they did decide that I should be admitted. The NST looked good and the blood pressure came down, but they wanted to have me on a 24 hour monitor to see the baby's reaction to the steroids and to monitor his movement and breathing from the issues with the cord blood and amniotic fluid.
The triage nurse got me settled into a room. A nice big suite room! And got me checked in and set me up to order some food because I was starving! She said the L&D nurse would be in soon to hook me up to the monitors and Dr. Murphy would be up to talk to me within the hour.
The first nurse I had was a sweetheart. She could tell how upset I was and sat down with me for a little while and went over any questions I had. We than attempted an IV, that took 3 veins. Ouch. And got me set up with the NST monitors. She explained what all the screens were showing, what they were looking for, and turned them so I could keep an eye on them to. They were concerned that I may have preeclampsia, so she explained how we would need to collect my urine for 24 hours to check for protein. Fun times. And than started the steroid shot. There would be two shots that are 24 hours apart. And they would work for up to 2 weeks. After that point the baby will be almost 34 weeks, and steroids are not needed after that point.
Shortly after the nurse got me set up, Dr. Murphy came up to see me. She explained how the BPP did look good but the amniotic fluid did decrease from 10cm to 7cm. And the cord blood flow was actually absent. She was concerned that the blood flow was reversing, which would mean that the baby would have to be delivered. She did say that he is looking great on the monitors, and the steroids should help with the blood flow, and the lungs if delivery is possible. But at this point she isnt planning on a delivery tomorrow. She said we will monitor you for 24 hours just to see how everything is doing and see if things are steadily decreasing or low flow is the norm for right now.
I did feel a little better after talking to Dr. Murphy. Just overwhelmed. Things were happening way to fast! So for the next couple hours I just kept my fluids up, enjoyed some day time TV, and updated Grant every hour. I got a visit from the OB on call, midwife on call, and anesthesiologist through the afternoon. All very compassionate and helpful, going over any questions I had, explaining what the next steps were, and also commenting how good the baby was doing on the monitoring. It was good to hear that every time.
The daytime nurse came to check on me one last time before her shift ended and said she hoped to be assigned to me in the morning. Grant came up for a few hours to and we had dinner together. A little normalcy always makes things feel better. Grant headed back home to finish up packing, and take care of the dogs and I passed out for most of the night. I woke up every few hours from those dang NST monitors. And ended up wide awake at 3am. The night nurse came in and sat with me for a little while and she was telling me how great his montioring was going. His accelerations on movement were going perfectly, and he is as active as a baby thats a couple weeks older. We got to talking about my pregnancy, and she said some really sweet things about the Down Syndrome babies she has had as patients. She got me all tucked back into bed, got me some more pillows and told me to get some more rest. And most importantly to order the blueberry pancakes for breakfast :) I got a good 4 hour span of sleep after that.
Around 8am, I got a visit from the OB and Midwife on call, which were the same two that were taking care of me the day before. They asked how I was doing and if I had any questions. And than went over what was going to happen today. We were going to wait for the 24 hour urine test to rule out preeclampsia, my steroid shot was scheduled for 11am, and than we would do another ultrasound and BPP to see if the fluid and cord blood flow as changed. At that point Dr. Murphy will make the decision on if I should be released or stay in the hospital on bedrest. They said they were going to send up a physical therapist to go over some exercises I can do in case I am on bedrest, and said they could bring in the birth ball in case I was getting tired of the bed. They also said we will send up the massage therapist if I was going to stay in the hospital, its been a hard 24 hours for you! lol
I did ask them if the baby is doing so well, how is the fluid and blood not? And they said that since Dr. Murphy has me on very close monitoring it was caught very early. So the baby is not in distress yet. So its not really affecting the baby yet. Which is good so we can catch when we will need to deliver and it will be the best outcome for the baby. If the baby was in distress it could be a very complicated situation. That was comforting to hear.
They gave me their numbers and said to not hesitate to call with any question at all. They were going to send in the neonatologist for the questions I had regarding if we do have to deliver.
So an hour went by before I saw the neonatologist and she went over everything that could go happen if we deliver. It was so scary to hear. From issues with the lungs, to the brain, a feeding tube, digestive, and the list went on. But she said its hard to say with the Down Syndrome and heart defect diagnosis, its really hard to say if any or all of these could be a problem. But she is confident that we are at the right place to handle any issues that might come up. I probably could of done without this conversation!
Finally, around 1pm they came in to get me for the ultrasound. Baby is so inactive in the afternoon, and I hadnt eaten lunch yet, so the ultrasound took over an hour. They had a hard time getting him to move, so it took some coaxing. But I scored another 8/8 on the BPP. I was sent back up to my room, and got a visit 15 minutes later from the on call midwife and OB. They said we have great news! Your BPP was great, the amniotic fluid was back up to 10cm, and the cord blood flow is moving! Your urine had came back negative so we have also ruled out preeclampsia. The baby did great on the monitors all night, so Dr. Murphy said you can come home and rest until your follow up appointment on Friday. YAY!
I was so excited! Lets keep cooking baby boy!
What an emotional 36 hours! Its amazing what a little rest can do for you. I really need to take it easy for baby and me.
I can not even begin to express how thankful I am for the team of medical staff that took care of me and the hospital. I am so glad we chose Henry Ford West Bloomfield! Its so comforting to see the OB's, midwives, nurses, doctors all working together as a team for me. They would all come in together and refer to each other for additional information. And every single one would sit down, take their time and answer every question I have. I know whatever happens in these next 10 weeks, Emerson and I are in the best care!
On Monday I had an ultrasound scheduled to follow up from last weeks concern with cord blood flow. My appointment was at 7am, so I had a feeling our Maternal Fetal Medicine Doctor, Dr. Murphy, wasnt going to be there. She usually comes in after 8.
We had the same ultrasound tech as we had the week prior, and we started the Biophysical Profile. The BPP test measures the baby's heart rate, muscle tone, movement, breathing, amount of amniotic fluid around the baby, and cord blood flow. We got through the BPP pretty fast, Emerson is usually pretty cooperative early in the morning like that :) We scored 8/8, and everything looked good. I asked the tech if I should stay and wait for Dr. Murphy but she said everything looked good and I'm all set.
As soon as I got in my car my phone rang. It was the tech telling me that Dr. Murphy would actually like me to go up to Labor and Delivery and have an NST done just as a precaution. I thought it was a little strange, but Dr. Murphy has taken excellent care of us so thought she was just monitoring as much as she could.
When I got up to Labor and Delivery, the nurse said, so we have NST and steroid shot. Did they mention that to you? I said um, no. She asked why dont we go over the concern for an NST, and I went over the last ultrasound and the concern with the cord blood flow. And she said yes, the cord blood flow and amniotic fluid has decreased since last week so the steroids will help develop the baby's lungs in case we have to deliver. I said, I was just at the ultrasound and scored 8/8 on my BPP. I didnt think that was possible since every appointment has never been that good. She said well lets get you set up for NST and I will have the midwife on call come talk to you.
Well as she started the NST, my blood pressure was high. Of course. It is high at every appointment, my anxiety going into these appointments has gotten the best of me resulting in high blood pressure. So they wanted me to do the NST for an hour and check my blood pressure every 15 minutes. Meanwhile Dr. Murphy, our midwife, the OB and neonatologist on call were all getting on a conference call to discuss if I should be admitted. That was difficult because the on call doctors kept getting called into surgery.
So 2.5 hours later, might I add an emotional 2.5 hours later, they did decide that I should be admitted. The NST looked good and the blood pressure came down, but they wanted to have me on a 24 hour monitor to see the baby's reaction to the steroids and to monitor his movement and breathing from the issues with the cord blood and amniotic fluid.
The triage nurse got me settled into a room. A nice big suite room! And got me checked in and set me up to order some food because I was starving! She said the L&D nurse would be in soon to hook me up to the monitors and Dr. Murphy would be up to talk to me within the hour.
The first nurse I had was a sweetheart. She could tell how upset I was and sat down with me for a little while and went over any questions I had. We than attempted an IV, that took 3 veins. Ouch. And got me set up with the NST monitors. She explained what all the screens were showing, what they were looking for, and turned them so I could keep an eye on them to. They were concerned that I may have preeclampsia, so she explained how we would need to collect my urine for 24 hours to check for protein. Fun times. And than started the steroid shot. There would be two shots that are 24 hours apart. And they would work for up to 2 weeks. After that point the baby will be almost 34 weeks, and steroids are not needed after that point.
Shortly after the nurse got me set up, Dr. Murphy came up to see me. She explained how the BPP did look good but the amniotic fluid did decrease from 10cm to 7cm. And the cord blood flow was actually absent. She was concerned that the blood flow was reversing, which would mean that the baby would have to be delivered. She did say that he is looking great on the monitors, and the steroids should help with the blood flow, and the lungs if delivery is possible. But at this point she isnt planning on a delivery tomorrow. She said we will monitor you for 24 hours just to see how everything is doing and see if things are steadily decreasing or low flow is the norm for right now.
I did feel a little better after talking to Dr. Murphy. Just overwhelmed. Things were happening way to fast! So for the next couple hours I just kept my fluids up, enjoyed some day time TV, and updated Grant every hour. I got a visit from the OB on call, midwife on call, and anesthesiologist through the afternoon. All very compassionate and helpful, going over any questions I had, explaining what the next steps were, and also commenting how good the baby was doing on the monitoring. It was good to hear that every time.
The daytime nurse came to check on me one last time before her shift ended and said she hoped to be assigned to me in the morning. Grant came up for a few hours to and we had dinner together. A little normalcy always makes things feel better. Grant headed back home to finish up packing, and take care of the dogs and I passed out for most of the night. I woke up every few hours from those dang NST monitors. And ended up wide awake at 3am. The night nurse came in and sat with me for a little while and she was telling me how great his montioring was going. His accelerations on movement were going perfectly, and he is as active as a baby thats a couple weeks older. We got to talking about my pregnancy, and she said some really sweet things about the Down Syndrome babies she has had as patients. She got me all tucked back into bed, got me some more pillows and told me to get some more rest. And most importantly to order the blueberry pancakes for breakfast :) I got a good 4 hour span of sleep after that.
Around 8am, I got a visit from the OB and Midwife on call, which were the same two that were taking care of me the day before. They asked how I was doing and if I had any questions. And than went over what was going to happen today. We were going to wait for the 24 hour urine test to rule out preeclampsia, my steroid shot was scheduled for 11am, and than we would do another ultrasound and BPP to see if the fluid and cord blood flow as changed. At that point Dr. Murphy will make the decision on if I should be released or stay in the hospital on bedrest. They said they were going to send up a physical therapist to go over some exercises I can do in case I am on bedrest, and said they could bring in the birth ball in case I was getting tired of the bed. They also said we will send up the massage therapist if I was going to stay in the hospital, its been a hard 24 hours for you! lol
I did ask them if the baby is doing so well, how is the fluid and blood not? And they said that since Dr. Murphy has me on very close monitoring it was caught very early. So the baby is not in distress yet. So its not really affecting the baby yet. Which is good so we can catch when we will need to deliver and it will be the best outcome for the baby. If the baby was in distress it could be a very complicated situation. That was comforting to hear.
They gave me their numbers and said to not hesitate to call with any question at all. They were going to send in the neonatologist for the questions I had regarding if we do have to deliver.
So an hour went by before I saw the neonatologist and she went over everything that could go happen if we deliver. It was so scary to hear. From issues with the lungs, to the brain, a feeding tube, digestive, and the list went on. But she said its hard to say with the Down Syndrome and heart defect diagnosis, its really hard to say if any or all of these could be a problem. But she is confident that we are at the right place to handle any issues that might come up. I probably could of done without this conversation!
Finally, around 1pm they came in to get me for the ultrasound. Baby is so inactive in the afternoon, and I hadnt eaten lunch yet, so the ultrasound took over an hour. They had a hard time getting him to move, so it took some coaxing. But I scored another 8/8 on the BPP. I was sent back up to my room, and got a visit 15 minutes later from the on call midwife and OB. They said we have great news! Your BPP was great, the amniotic fluid was back up to 10cm, and the cord blood flow is moving! Your urine had came back negative so we have also ruled out preeclampsia. The baby did great on the monitors all night, so Dr. Murphy said you can come home and rest until your follow up appointment on Friday. YAY!
I was so excited! Lets keep cooking baby boy!
What an emotional 36 hours! Its amazing what a little rest can do for you. I really need to take it easy for baby and me.
I can not even begin to express how thankful I am for the team of medical staff that took care of me and the hospital. I am so glad we chose Henry Ford West Bloomfield! Its so comforting to see the OB's, midwives, nurses, doctors all working together as a team for me. They would all come in together and refer to each other for additional information. And every single one would sit down, take their time and answer every question I have. I know whatever happens in these next 10 weeks, Emerson and I are in the best care!
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