Pregnancy Update

Well, here I am at 35 and a half weeks, and it's a little hard to believe things will be happening so soon. We're officially one month from our due date on Friday. There has been a lot of doctors visits recently, I'm there at least twice a week these days. You may remember from this post that our Docs had been worried about too much fluid, and that they checked the little girl out for problems. Well, she doesn't seem to have any, but I still officially have the diagnosis of "polyhydramnios" (March of Dimes has a pretty informative article about it here). Basically, this is diagnosed by getting the Amniotic Fluid Index (AFI), which is when they take a linear (height-wise) measurement of each of the 4 empty quadrants of your uterus (i.e., the places where the baby isn't), and add those measurements together. "Normal" AFIs are from 5-25 cm. My measurement is consistently 26cm and change. That's right. I'm ONE CENTIMETER above the normal limit, and given that the measurement is the sum of four different quadrants, it could be that each measurement is only 1/4 centimeter above normal. But, nontheless, I meet the criteria for the diagnosis and therefore every week I have to have two non-stress tests (fetal monitoring), one ultrasound, and one regular prenatal visits (all these are usually condensed into 2 weekly visits to the doc, sometimes lasting over 2 hours). The Docs say they have seen women with AFIs of 45 or 60. Mine is 26, so obviously, it's extremely mild. The consensus is that they are confident that she is doing OK and it's probably just "idiopathic" (or, just the way my body works), and that there's nothing to worry about, especially since the baby always passes her non-stress tests with flying colors, and because my fluid levels are stable (i.e., it would be bad if my AFI were continuing to get higher). But they're still applying the recommended standard of care for this diagnosis, just to be safe, and I guess I appreciate that. But, it's a little overwhelming to be poked and prodded this much. I keep reminding myself that if this means that Joe and I (and the docs) can remain confident that she's thriving and healthy, then it's all worth it.

So yesterday they let us know that generally, with Polyhydramnios (even as mild as mine), they will not allow the pregnancy to go past the due date. They said that ideally, they'd like to induce me around 39 weeks, or 40 weeks at the absolute latest. Not exactly words I wanted to hear, but again, if it means it would be best for her, then that's what we'll do. I guess that means that no matter what, this little girl will here NO LATER than October 4th. Mark your calendars!!