Bed Rest for Baby

Some of you read my sister Nancy's blog and have read a little about what is going on with me. Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. I am so grateful.

Yesterday morning I headed to my normal prenatal visit. I am to the point where I am going every two weeks. Some of you may have read about my visit two weeks ago and how I was saying that my baby was big so far and probably going to weigh 10 pounds or something. Well, things can change quickly and it now appears that probably will not be the case. As Guy (my CNM and also my father-in-law) performed the ultrasound he kept looking at things and I asked, "What are you looking at?" He said, "Just looking." I began to notice something. Finn wasn't surrounded by lots of dark stuff. "Is there plenty of fluid in there?" I asked. "Um..." Guy said, "I'm measuring that right now." Guy is very calm and doesn't like to alarm anybody unduly. But he did say, "Let's go do a non-stress test and see how his heart is doing. And I'm also going to call over to the hospital to have you see the perinatalogist."

As I sat in a recliner with a monitor strapped to my tummy, I listened to Finn's heart and watched the little strip of white paper as it printed out of the machine. I'm not a doctor, but I could tell that the way it would stay steady at 160 then drop down to 120, then spike up and down could not be good. I called Chancho to have him come home from work to go to the hospital with me. I arranged for the kids to be taken care of by my sister, Amy, and good friends for the rest of the day. As Guy walked me out of his office, we stopped to talk with Dr. Marriott. He is the OB/GYN who kind oversees Guy and the other CNM in his office. Guy consults with Dr. Marriott when there are problems and Dr. Marriotts performs c-sections with Guy if they are necessary. Dr. Marriott asked about the fluid, and Guy told him it was about 4cm. Dr. Marriott made a grimace. I didn't like that. Normal amniotic fluid levels can vary greatly between 8 and 20 cms. 4 is not good. Guy showed him the strip of paper of Finn's heart rate and he grimaced again. He then indicated that I would be staying in the hospital for quite some time.

Chancho and I spent quite some time with the perinatalogist, Dr. Draper, doing more ultrasounds and answering lots of questions. He said that the level of fluid itself is not necessarily a huge concern. The question is why the fluid was so low and not replenishing itself. We did several tests and it appeared that my membranes are all intact and the fluid isn't leaking. The bigger concern was Finn's growth, or lack thereof. As mentioned, 2 weeks ago he was measuring large but yesterday he was measuring several ounces lighter and his abdomen was very small, only in about the 2%. Dr. Draper was encouraged that the placenta looks good and the blood flow through the chord is strong. Guy was surprised, but Dr. Draper did not admit to the hospital, rather sent me back to Guy's office for some blood work and a few additional tests. We then went home with me ordered on bed rest.

I had a terrible night. I could not sleep and Finn was not moving much at all, whereas until about 10 days ago he was so active it would make me sick. By 6:30am I was really scared and was just waiting until everybody woke up so we could head back up to Guy's office to do another ultrasound and non-stress test. Finally at about 10:00am we got the his office. The ultrasound looked about the same and Finn was starting to move about. His heart rate this morning looked much better than yesterday. Guy told me that I could either go home and promise to stay in bed except to go to the bathroom or else he could admit me to the hospital so that they could make sure of that. I opted to come home and have been resting all day. Chancho has made dinner and been good to me. The kids have thrown major fits from tiredness and lack of attention, but they each got individual reading time with me in bed and went to sleep early.

At this point all I can do is drink and eat lots and stay in bed so that all the blood goes to the uterus rather than muscle that I might otherwise be using. On Monday we will find out the results of some of the blood work. To my surprise, Dr. Draper was very interested in my alopecia and my other autoimmune conditions. He is wondering if I am dealing with something, ie Lupus, which might be causing problems for the baby. I will go daily in for non-stress tests and ultrasounds with Guy and will see the perinatalogist weekly. We have no idea what will happen from one day to the next. Dr. Draper was full of lots of if/thens. If they find a condition with me then they may be able to treat it and then maybe things will be better for the baby. If Finn's heart starts having problems again, then they will admit me to the hospital for constant monitoring. If he doesn't grow in the next 2 weeks, then they will perform a c-section. If things stay mostly the same then they will just continue to monitor me closely and hope that nothing happens for at least 3 more weeks. Wait and see.

Thanks again to all of you for your prayers on Finn's behalf. Mostly I feel buoyed up by them and am grateful for all of the blessings that we do have. I feel so lucky that my father-in-law is my CNM and that he takes lots of time with me and does thorough ultrasounds every time I come in. I'm grateful that my brother is our pediatrician and that all the people caring for us truly do care for us. I'm grateful for modern medicine. I am into a lot of old school medicine (herbs and acupressure and things) but am so grateful for all the advances of modern technology. I know that even if Finn had to be delivered tomorrow, he would have an amazing chance at survival. There are medications that can be given to me now to help his lungs develop more quickly and all kinds of cool things. So, I am focusing on those blessings and try to force out scary thoughts and stories that tend to creep in at night when all is quiet.

Well, time for more water and sleeping for me. It looks like that is how things will be for awhile now. No church tomorrow and no work. It is strange because usually I feel guilty if I am resting when there is always so much to be done. Now I have to try and remind myself to feel guilty if I get up and start to do laundry or whatever.

I was hoping for a good photo of Finn to share but he keeps his face buried most of the time and the lack of fluid makes it hard to get a good shot so you'll just have to look at the cute one of his face at the right taken quite awhile ago.

Thanks again for all of your support.