Week 30 Doppler Exam
Hello to you all.
Good news for Rebecca, she has gotten two nights of descent sleep thanks to her little Ambien helpers.
This afternoon we had our doppler exam. I am bummed this was not a growth exam; somewhere between last week and this week they changed the interval and failed to mention it to us (or we heard it and it went in one ear and out the other). As it stands now, growth exams are every three weeks, so next week's exam will be more comprehensive. I asked Tianne, our sonographer (whom we've had once before) if she would do a quick growth check anyway, but she did not. I even bribed her with a dollar. (if she would have done the measurement, I would gladly have negotiated a higher price :) ).
Tianne did cursory checks of the heart, the cranial arteries, the bladder and a few other items. She slipped the sensor a little and got a peak at mom's bladder today also :)
Xavier's heart rate was 149, which Tianne said was a good heart rate. His bladder was full (always good to see that!), but his amnio was lower than Tuesday. Though still a nice sized amount, most of his fluid was between his face and belly today.
His dopplers were a little worse than last Thursday, Dr Wheeler, a Partner at the hospital and someone we've not met before, came in to discuss the results. An older woman, her manner reminded me of a crusty country doctor who had seen it all. Sitting down, she told us the ratio might be OK for now, or we would be checking Rebecca in to the At-Risk Mothers ward, or we would be checking Rebecca in to the Labor and Delivery for delivery.
She wanted to see the amnio amounts for herself before deciding, but it seemed to me she was of the mind Rebecca needed to be checked in to the hospital for more frequent observation. She was surprised we were not having two NST appointments a week.
After measuring the fluid again and probing around, she did not like the high doppler measurements and low fluid level. I countered some of her thoughts, saying his amnio measures more today than last week(3.3 cm today!). Rebecca mentioned that his amnio has been much lower. She left the room and returned several minutes later. She went to study in greater detail Xavier's history.
When she returned, she was more comfortable seeing that Xavier has had a long history of low amnio. She did have us schedule NSTs twice a week and we have one tomorrow morning.
We got a few more pictures of Xavier, one of his face, and three others I can't remember what they are (one is of his arm), but none of these three are very recognizable. If we are interpreting the scale on the face image correctly, and if a baby at his developmental age maintains the same proportions as a new-born, then we estimate Xavier's length to be ten or eleven inches!
Of course, I will let you all know what tomorrow's NST results are. Thank you for your prayers. They have kept Rebecca from returning to the In-patient floor. Also, Rebecca and I think Xavier may have hit a growth spurt. Wouldn't that be something! Since we have another week to wait for growth measurements, we are encouraging Xavier to put on at least another three to four ounces, an impressive, but obtainable goal given his current growth rate.