Friday, February 1, 2013

26 week update....

What's going on with baby this week:  As of yesterday this little one weighed 2 pounds and 3 ounces, or 986 grams.  That is about 2 weeks ahead of norm, meaning the baby was the size of a typical baby at nearly 28 weeks.  The baby should be taking breaths of amniotic fluid, just practicing for breathing air after delivery.  The eyebrows and eyelashes should be formed.  

How do I feel:  Excited to be 26 weeks with a great check-up yesterday!  My BP was good, and weight was down a little from a month ago.  No swelling or new issues physically.  

What I'm looking forward to:  The follow-up ultrasound next week explained below.  Hoping and praying for resolution of the problem discovered yesterday.

The good stuff first...Yesterday's OB appointment was 99% great!  The baby is growing better than average.  My high-risk OB joked that the pharmacy filling my progesterone injections has substituted them for growth hormones.  The baby is at risk for growth restriction due to my age, but not as of now.  Measuring two weeks ahead is wonderful at this point!  There was no glucose or protein in my urine so they weren't really concerned about gestational diabetes yet.  I will have that blood test in two weeks.  As mentioned above, I've lost a little weight in the past month, but since baby is growing so well no one was concerned.  They said sometimes the increased metabolism during pregnancy causes that, but unfortunately the metabolic rate returns to baseline shortly after delivery.  Baby was very active during the ultrasound again.  We did get a few of the 3D ultrasound pics this time, but the baby kept wanting to put a hand in front of his/her face again.  The best are posted below.  

The only concern during the appointment was the baby's heart rate had a little irregularity.  The high-risk OB spent a long time evaluating this.  She believes the cause is premature atrial contractions or PAC's.  This is about the most benign thing they could find amiss with the heart right now.  Every 6-8 beats there is a slight pause as the top chambers of the heart try to contract a little early.  Both OB's tell me not to worry at all about this, most of the time this resolves before delivery.  If it does persist, it usually resolves by a month of age.  We do see PAC's in our babies at work and they cause no problem for the baby nor does it worry us medically.  But just to be sure all is well, they drew some blood on me and I have an appointment next week, on Tuesday, to look again at the heart.  If it doesn't resolve I may see a pediatric cardiologist for a fetal echocardiogram.  So while I'm not happy about having a "problem," I do know that this is minor and unlikely to have any lasting consequence.

My sweet little one.....
In the second pic it almost looks to me like he/she is sending a kiss.  Compare the mouth to the first pic and see if you agree.  (The top of the head is there just doesn't show well in this angle.)