Kanaan 31ish week updates

Now that we are home I go to the local hospital on Monday and Thursday for ultrasounds (biophysical profiles) and NSTs and see my doctor after that on Mondays. I've decided to call these weekish posts because I turn weeks on Tuesday, but it's easier to keep track of updates in the same calendar week. So technically I was 30w6d on Monday not 31weeks, hense the ish.  During the biophysical profile Kanaan is scored on a point system. He gets 2 points for each area they are looking for to reach a total of 8. They are looking for: Movement- he has to make a series of movements to pass. Tone- they are looking at his muscle tone when he moves. Fluid- they are measuring his fluid. Breathing- he has to do a series of practice breathing.

Monday 7/22/13 Kanaan was head down and his fluid was still at 5. He scored a 6/8 on his BPP because he did not practice breathe. Practice breathing does not mean his lungs will be able to support him, it's a reflex type thing babies do. This does not mean anything about if he will be able to survive birth. His NST looked great as normal.

Thursday 7/25/13 Kanaan is still head down!!!! That's the way we want him to stay. He got an 8/8 because he met all the requirements and his fluid is at 6.91. That is considered normal fluid level! It barely meets normal range but we'll take what we can get. NST was perfect as usual.

30 Week Growth Check Ultrasound and Coming HOME!

On Wednesday 7/17/13 we had our growth check ultrasound. They measure his growth every 4 weeks. He was head down again YAY!!! The fluid was at 4.97 so they are rounding up to 5!!!!!!!! HOW AWESOME IS THAT!!!!!! Kanaan is measuring at 3lbs 14oz, which is a couple weeks ahead of his age. I was born at 35 weeks and only weighed 4lbs 10oz, according to the chart I found I was slightly smaller than average, but still he's only a little over half pound less than I was at 5 weeks later. If he keeps at it I'm going to have a HUGE baby!!! We tried to do a 3D ultrasound to see what he looked like, but with the low fluid and his position we couldn't get one. I'm so excited about today's news!!!! God is so GOOD! Keep praying, as we are still very low on fluid, but are slowly getting out of the danger zone for cord compression. We won't know anything about his lungs at all until he is born, but the doctor did indicate that his kidneys must be starting to work better and that's why the fluid is starting to go up. The doctor said that once the fluid gets to 5 or higher that the risk of compression drops. He said that since Kanaan has never shown signs of distress, even when the fluid was much lower, that he feels it would be ok for us to go home.

I got home last night 7/18/13 around 9pm. I will go in to the hospital in Quincy twice a week for a NST (Non Stress Test) and have an ultrasound to check the fluid, as well as seeing my regular OB once a week. The specialists from Springfield are in Quincy once a week so they will be checking in with Dr. K here as well. If they find anything concerning during any of the tests I will be transported back to Springfield. I will see Dr. A from Springfield on August 8th for another growth ultrasound. I'm on modified bed rest and have to do kick counts twice a day. I will also be checking my blood sugar 4 times and giving myself 5 insulin shots each day. I will still be on the same meal/snack schedule as I was in the hospital. I'm still pretty tired because I have to wake up early for breakfast and stay up late for night time snack. I try to take naps between meals but I have to check my blood sugar 2 hours after I eat and give my insulin shot to myself 30ish minutes before I eat, which doesn't leave a very good stretch to nap. So my days consist of poking myself with needles, eating and sleeping, basically the same as the hospital, but it's so nice to be home with Andy and Pogo.

Update on Kanaan!

Here's an update on what's been going on with Kanaan and I the last few weeks.

On 7/1/13 we had another ultrasound to check Kanaan's fluid. It was at 2.5cm still and he had moved to head down. They also started checking my blood sugars. When I got here they did the 1 hour glucose screening test for Gestational Diabetes and I failed it. That doesn't necessarily mean that I have Gestational Diabetes, and the next course of action would be to do the 3 hour test. However, they didn't want to wait to give me the betamethasone, which is the steroid shot they give any mothers who are at risk for delivering early. The betamethasone helps lungs to mature, it will not help Kanaan's lungs if they are not developed because of the low fluid, but if they are developed it will help them mature if he has to be born early. Anyway the steroid makes blood sugar high so they decided to wait a few weeks before testing my sugars again, so they wouldn't treat me with Gestational Diabetes if I didn't actually have it. So they started testing the sugars again they were a bit high so they put me on the controlled carb diet. That helped for a few meals then there was a couple more high counts so I started on an oral medication. That helped after the first dose, but my sugar was high after the second dose, so they put me on some slow acting insulin. That helped for a few meals then they started the fast acting insulin as well. So I'm currently on 1 shot of slow acting insulin in the morning and again at night, and 1 shot of fast acting insulin right before each meal. They also test my blood sugar early in the morning, and then 2 hours after I eat.

On 7/9/13 I had another ultrasound the amniotic fluid was up to 2.7 and Kanaan was back to breech. I'm hoping that at some point he will flip back to head down. The doctor said that if Kanaan's heart rate stays ok and he flips head down they will induce me at 39 weeks and I won't have to have a c-section. I'm really hoping that I don't have to have a c-section.

His heart rate is continuing to look great on the monitors!!!