38 Weeks-Part Deux

Today I had my final OB appointment. No more ultrasounds. No more NST. No more waiting at the OB office for hours to see my doctor. It's such a good feeling. So here's the good word on what happened today.

1:30-I arrived at my OB office and up first was my ultrasound. Vicki took me back and she was shocked that I had not had my babies yet. She said that she saw my name on the schedule and thought it had to be some sort of mistake. She was certain that I had delivered by now. But no, I had not delivered and there I was waiting for my ultrasound.
Everything looked great. Baby A, still head down, heartbeat was a 140, and her estimated weight is 6lbs 13oz. She did her breathing exercises and wiggled around enough to get a perfect score on her biophysical profile.
Baby B. Well, sweet little Baby B. She has wiggled herself into a new position once again. She is laying under Baby A in kind of a diagonal way. She is still mostly head down but also a little bit transverse. But more importantly, she did all the things that she needed to do and also passed her biophysical profile. Her estimated weight is 7lbs 2oz and her heartbeat was at 143.
Now many of you might be saying at this point, "Holy crap, that's a lot of baby in there." Well yes there is a lot of baby in there. But here is what Vicki had to say about their estimated weight....they get this estimation by measuring the femur bone. So, it's not the most accurate way to measure the weight, but really there isn't a better way to do it. Vicki said that she didn't think that Baby B was really going to be 7lbs+. She said that both babies are probably well into the 6lb range, but not 7lbs or more. That was a bit of relief. I mean, I want the babies to be as big as possible, but I am also hoping for quick delivery on both babies and not much damage to my girl parts (sorry if that was TMI).

2:30-Time for my NST. Beatrice once again took me back. I'm pretty sure that she is the only person who does the NSTs. I keep telling her that one day she will not see me, and yet, I keep showing up for these appointments. She's going to think that I'm lying to her!
Anyway, she got both babies hooked up and the contraction monitor hooked up and left me to rest while listening to Baby B's glorious heartbeat! I was keeping an eye on the contraction monitor and at one point it was even at 0, meaning NOTHING was going on. Well, my irritated uterus must have sensed that I was getting a bit irritated because all of the sudden I started having contractions. At first they weren't any big deal, just a little bit uncomfortable. Then at one point the monitor shot up to 100 (that's as high as it goes). Still I really didn't feel too much because that one really didn't last too long. But there were several contractions noted while I was hooked up to the machine and they were more intense than they have been before. During one, I was breathing heavy and sweating a little bit because it was relentless. Usually I can deal with the pain because it doesn't last too long, but this one was pretty uncomfortable and lasted for some time.
Anyway, both babies passed their last NST. YEA!

Sometime after 4-Nolan showed up to see the OB with me. Before too long she was in the room. It had been 6 weeks since I had last seen her. She went over the results of the ultrasound and NST. She was very pleased with the babies and with me (my BP and weight are all really good). She did an exam and not only am I dilated 3cm, but she could also feel Baby A's head. She thinks that once labor starts, it's going to go very quickly, especially for Baby A since she is so low. Nolan told her that sometimes I feel like this baby is going to fall right out. She said that she could completely understand why I felt that way, because her head is so low. So sorry again about the TMI....I suppose I should warn you before hand. Well, you are reading a blog entry about pregnancy so, maybe you should know that I'm going to be mentioning all of this.
The doc wanted to set me up with a date to induce. She said sometime next week. WHAT? That's not what the other OB or the NP said on my last two visits. They said sometime between 38 and 39 weeks. Well, Dr Voelkel said that she waits until 39 weeks. I informed her that I will be 39 weeks on Friday and she said, "lets do it!"
So here's the deal, if labor has not started by Friday, I will go into the hospital to be induced. She said that she could either start pitocin right away and then get an epidural and THEN have my water broken or I could have my water broken first. I'm leaning towards breaking my water first. Dr Voelkel is really worried that she will not get there in time to deliver Baby A because she has a surgery scheduled that morning as well. So we are waiting on the office to get back with  us about a time. I told her that I really didn't care who delivered my babies at this point....I would love for it to be her, but I just need someone who knows what they are doing down there to catch them. I'll take care of the rest.
As we were getting ready to leave, Dr Voelkel did say that she would be surprised if I make it to Friday considering the contractions I'm having and that I'm already dilated and Baby A is so low. So, we will see. I have been having contractions since we left the office. Nothing major, nothing to make me think that I'm going into labor right now, but just enough that I know things are working down there.

So it sounds like before the week is over Nolan and I will be welcoming two more daughters into our family. It's such an exciting time, but it's also pretty nerve racking. At least we have wonderful family and friends to help us along the way. It really does take a village and we will be using that village! We will keep you posted ever faithful readers!