IVF One Day at a Time: Follow-up on baby's brain

We had our follow-up ultrasound this morning to check on the development of baby's brain. At our 24 week heart echo the doctor thought that baby's 3rd ventricle was larger than normal. So he said we should come back to check on it at 32 weeks. After 8 long weeks, the verdict is finally in. There is nothing wrong with baby's brain! Yay!! I was pretty worried about it at first, but after a week or so I became at peace with the situation. There still was anxiety about it of course but I didn't google too much and tried to have faith that baby was fine. The weeks went by fast too which helped. I was preoccupied with showers and getting the nursery in order. But now we have our proof that baby does not have hydrocephalus or anything else wrong with him for that matter. Phew! Baby had his head down (same as with the earlier ultrasound) which is good, but that meant a lot of poking and proding at my lower abdomen to get a good look at his head. So I'm a bit sore now. I'm glad I emptied my bladder beforehand though! My bladder control hasn't been the best lately and I'm not sure I would've been able to hold it. We got 3D pictures of baby's face which was unexpected! The tech asked us if we wanted to see it. I hesitated because babies sometimes look deformed and ugly in those pictures, but said 'yes'. I'm glad I did because he is looking so cute! I posted the pics below along with the regular ultrasound pics. He had his arm and hand up by his face at first. The tech got some shots and then tried jostling him around a bit to get him to move his arm. He did but the expression on his face after that was priceless - he looked pissed! LOL!

After ruling out the brain issue, a great deal of time was spent this morning figuring out how big baby is. Like I said the other day, I have been very curious about this! They started measuring - first the head, then belly, arms, and legs. The numbers that appeared on the monitor have the measurement in weeks right next to them so we could see if the size was big for his age or what. So his head came up at 34 weeks, arms & legs at 32 weeks, belly at 36 weeks. Whoa. Then they combine these numbers to come up with an approximate weight. Average weight for 32 weeks is 3 lb 12 oz. Our baby is coming in at 5 lb 3 oz! Almost 1.5 lbs over the average. Yikes!! At first the tech thought that they might want to redo my gestational diabetes test but the doctor said that since my hubby was big too, they will probably just assume it's genetics at play and forgo the additional testing since she said my levels 4 weeks ago were pretty far below the threshold. They'd leave it up to my regular OB though. So we'll see what she says next week at my check-up. Hubby asked the doctor how long they let women go if they have babies measuring very large and she said that as long as I didn't have gestational diabetes, the cutoff for an early delivery is 11 lbs. LOL!! I really hope this baby is not that big at delivery! Hubby said jokingly that I may have to tone it down on the ice cream since baby is turning in to a little porker. NEVER! Besides, I don't eat the full-fat kind and it's giving much needed calcium to the baby! Fat is good for baby too. It'll keep him warm when he comes out of the womb.

Honestly, I'm not shocked at how big he is. But it does make me a bit more apprehensive of a vaginal delivery than before. I try to remind myself that my mother-in-law delivered my hubby (who was a giant baby) vaginally and she is teeny tiny. So I'm just going to buck up and use this time to increase my tolerance to pain. Hopefully when the day comes, baby's head will fit inside my pelvis. That's really the only parameter that matters during labor - well that and a cervix that dilates properly. Lord knows my pelvis has been stretching a lot - that's all the pain I've been feeling down there. I'm thinking that I should try and tone up my arms a bit though. They are so weak after months of inactivity and I will need them to push! So I may start doing some bicep curls with a 5 lb dumbbell. Perhaps some tricep extensions too. Wish I could do the chest, but push ups are a no-go (can't use my ab muscles - don't think I have any of those left anyway!) and I can't lay flat on my back because the weight of the baby and uterus would cut off blood supply to my legs. I do have these bands though that have an attachment that I can hook up to a door - so I could do chest presses standing up. Hmmm, we'll see.

We had our 3rd childbirth class last Thursday (the 4th and last class is this week). This included a tour of the maternity floor which was so exciting! The maternity suites have a huge bathroom, men's lounge area (LOL) complete with wireless internet, futon-type couch, microwave, refrigerator, 2 tvs, & a desk. Our hospital utilizes the LDRP concept - patients stay in one room for labor, delivery, recovery, & postpartum. They have a nursery for the newborns but most moms choose to have their baby stay with them in their room which is awesome too. Of course if you want a good night sleep after delivery you can have the nurse take baby to the nursery. It all seemed very intimate. You can have as much privacy as you choose, while still being in the hospital. Seeing the suites and maternity floor eased the anxiety of giving birth even further. We may not be in the comfort of our own home, but we'll still be comfortable and will be taken care of well. These classes have been really great at easing the anxiety too. I definitely recommend taking advantage of these if your birthing hospital offers these! We have our last class this Thursday which will go over basic newborn care. Then we have a separate class next Monday on breastfeeding and another in a couple weeks on infant CPR. Then we'll be pros! Not quite, but we fully expect to learn how to be parents as we go. We won't know everything right away!