38 week appointment

Well this morning my appointment was with Dr. Masciello. I hadn't seen him in the office before, but he is always so sweet at work, asking me how I'm doing, etc!

My appointment was at 10:15 and I only had to wait a few minutes before the nurse took me back. My weight was much better than last week's weight- I was 4 pounds less than last week (I'm chalking it up to my 2 jackets and tennis shoes haha). She took my BP and had me pee in a cup. She also said there would be a cervical check since I was 38 weeks (I wasn't sure if I wanted to have one done this week since I have had no contractions and anticipated no change, but I am glad I did it!). It was a short wait until Dr. Masciello came in and immediately mentioned that my BP was higher than normal (for me) at 128/86 and I had 1+ protein in my urine! Not what I was wanting to hear. He discussed having me check both at home over the weekend and going from there and then he said I might as well have a Non-Stress Test (NST) today as well. He listened to Sadie's heartbeat on the doppler (135 bpm) and then just kind of pressed around on my belly. While he was feeling her, he got kind of a funny look on his face and I got kind of suspicious. During the cervix check, he informed that Miss Sadie is in fact, in a breech (bottom down) position! And I'm not dilated, effaced, zip, zilch, nada (bottoms don't dilate cervixes (cervii? haha)). He said, "I could be wrong about these things, but that very rarely happens."

To be honest, I wasn't really that surprised when he said she was breech because I've just had a feeling for several weeks that she is (even though I have nothing to compare to). So he said after the NST, I would also be having an ultrasound to confirm positioning. He went ahead and told me my options are to have a cesarean section scheduled or attempt an external cephalic version. During a version, 2 OBs basically maneuver the baby from the outside to try to get her to flip. It would have to be done at the hospital and typically it would be OBs from Wake Forest (not my OB practice) that would do it. There are several risks to doing a version and it could even be unsuccessful.

So I went into a different room for my NST, where I sat for ~20 minutes hooked up to fetal heart rate monitor and contraction monitor. Every time I felt Sadie move/kick, I had to press a button that recorded it on the strip. Her heart rate was supposed to accelerate when she moved and it certainly jumped up to 170- 180 bpm (baseline was between 130- 140) when she had big movements!! Dr. Masciello said she passed with flying colors!

I had to wait a few minutes for the ultrasound tech. As soon as she put the wand on my belly, she said, "Oh, there's her bottom." And she moved it up to the top of my bump and there was her head! And the tech said she thinks she'll have a lot of hair!!

I got to speak to Dr. Masciello again about options and I really wasn't drawn either way. But a version does scare me- especially with this blood pressure and proteinuria mess! And I'm a poor candidate for induction (if the version was successful and I had to be for health reasons or postdates), so the chances of having a c-section in the end would be higher than normal.

I brought home a large, orange container that on Sunday will have to reside in our fridge and I will be filling it with 24 hours worth of urine. Good times! I'll take it in on Monday morning because I have another NST, blood work, and an appointment with Dr. Braquet at 10AM!

So all in all a surprising appointment!