OBGyn Appt - 19w5d

I had an obgyn appt today. I have been so bad about writing stuff down to ask my dr and writing down what he says.

Stats:
Heartbeat: It took her awhile to find the h/b but my phone was interfering with the doppler (damn phone). It was 150something bpm.
Weight: 4lbs - more on this later.
Blood pressure: normal - forgot what it was...I was talking to the nurse about her wedding - which is in 2years but I love wedding talk. :)

My dr told me that I look so much more relaxed this pregnancy. I told him 'oh I am still nervous, but I feel good and I have been doing more'. He said 'well you are out of the danger zone'. Ugh, I don't really believe that...but....He said the danger zone (with no cerclage) is 16-18wks. I think it goes beyond that, but oh well. He said he was happy to see my file and to see I hadn't had any issues in the last 4wks (in his opinion when he thinks things go badly).

He asked about spotting/discharge and I said I have none. I have less than last pregnancy. I do have some milky discharge after a BM, but that was the same as last time. Last time I had yellow discharge if I did too much...my peri thinks I may get more discharge as the baby grows and puts more pressure on the cerclage. The cerclage is a foreign body and the body does put out more discharge with it.

I told my dr that last week I had a bad vomiting spell. I threw up for about 4 hrs straight - everything I ate/drank including water. Ugh! I had a stomach bug. I was finally able to get chicken soup down and small sips of water and gatorade. I never called my dr. I asked him about it and he said it won't hurt the baby and as long as my urine is not dark yellow/orange I probably was getting enough liquid. I was worried that I should have gone in after reading others who had a stomach bug and suffered severe dehydration.

I asked him when I will be tested for GD and he said '28wks'. I said can't it be sooner and he said if they do it at 22wks, they would have to do it again at 28wks. Ugh! I told him I was tested at 8wks and he said he didn't see that in my file. I told him I am kinda eating like I have GD and he said keep doing that. I do cheat a lot though.

Oh, I asked him about my urine and he said it was fine. I told him that yesterday I thought I was getting a UTI or something. He asked if I had burning and I said 'no'. But I never get the common symptoms...I am a crazy patient I guess!

I always forget to ask about weight. I asked the nurse as I was walking out. She said 'well the dr. has your record up, but it looks like 4 lbs'. I said 'are you sure and is that ok?' She said 'well last time you had lost weight and this time you just gained 4 lbs'. She said that was my total. I am pretty happy with that amount. I have really been trying to eat well. I also crave healthy items with this pregnancy and I try to make more food. I am not relying on my husband for food all the time (like last time), so I am eating less junk food. ha!

I am counting down the days until 24wks. I know that is not a magic day really and plenty of people who go into labor then don't have a good outcome.

I feel a little better the last week or so. Not many braxton hicks contractions, feeling stronger somehow, etc.

Thanks for checking up on me!

Big u/s results!

To compare my results last time, please go to August 2008.

I go in for my u/s and then talk to the dr.

The u/s tech is pretty rushed but walks through everything.

h/b is 162bpm
Baby is measuring 18w5d - 19w. I am 18w6d today.
Baby is 10oz - which is strange since last time baby was 9oz but I was measuring ahead by 4days. Who knows?
Cervical length is 2.8cm - that's ok for me (last time at this time I was 3cm and doing very little. Now I have a little one and have to do more...more on this below per DR).

She was moving around a lot and rolling.

The u/s tech said everything looked good. She checked gender again and said that we are still team pink. The baby is head down (right now).

I guess I am surprised they even measured my cervical length. Why you ask? Well, because last time the girl said 'we don't measure it everytime'. Duh, they did last time and I think they should!

Dr. said all was well and asked if I am still having braxton hicks contractions. I said yes, but I have less of them. I told him that I was really out of breath two weeks ago, but I was stressed due to my son having surgery.

He said the baby looks good and it lowers my down syndrome rate to 1 in 1500. I asked him specifically what that meant and he said long bones, good bowel, and a ton of other stuff that I didn't write down. I am so happy that all looks good with her. He said my risk for Trisonomy 13 - I think - is 1 in 52,000 or something like that. Yes, I could still have these issues, but he said that Tri13 is found in 90% of u/s at this point (very obvious signs). Down syndrome could still be a factor, but is less likely.

Ah, about cervical length...he said 'it doesn't matter what the length is'. Then I said 'as long as the stitch is holding and he said 'yes'. He said 2.8cm is normal and they would worry more when it is 2.5cm (more so with someone with a cerclage I kinda gathered from him). He wanted to see me in 6 wks, but then started looking at my dates and said '5-6weeks'. I scheduled it less than 5wks (well by one day....) because the girl asked me which day was better for me. I told her I didn't want an appt on the 13th because I am superstitious. She just laughed. The dr said 'if you are scared and don't want to go six weeks, just give us a call and we will see you'. That is nice of him and I think the first time I ever heard him say that...

I am still scared and taking it easy. I work from home everyday and will go back to work around 23/24wks. I have some friends who help me with my son on the weekends (most weekends). The weekends are very hard especially because he had surgery, had a 24hr bug and is always sick which means he is miserable and throwing tantrums.

Thanks for your support!

Next post: What I did from 4-12wks and also a post about an obgyn nurse that I got to talk to for 30min (my work set me up with a nurse to monitor my pregnancy - more on why, etc).