The Pearsalls

35 weeks, 2 days

Our weekly appointments were today; and as usual, we wondered if we would "pass" and get to go home, or have babies. At our first appointment, the growth ultrasound and BPP, we saw some concern about the results. First of all, baby girl's fluid is low, so she scored a 6/8 on her BPP. Secondly, she measured 4lbs 8oz, and he measured 6lbs 4oz - quite a difference. Because of that difference and the low fluid, the technician seemed concerned that we may be admitted today. However, when we saw the doctor, he was fairly nonchalant about those issues and just said that we should "call it quits" by 37 weeks. Chuck and I were both surprised at his decision, but we thought he should know best and went on our way to my OB appointment.

My OB appointment was an entirely different story. She was immediately concerned with what they found this morning and said that basically it was ridiculous to wait until 37 weeks to deliver these babies based on the risks posed by low fluid and discordance. She told me to stop the Procardia, but stay on bed rest. The Procardia can cause low fluid; and if I go into labor at this point, then I'll just have the babies - no reason to stop it at this point. She is on call this Saturday and next Tuesday, so she said Tuesday would be the latest day she would wait to deliver the babies. She wanted to look at the report from the ultrasound and would call me after she decided which day would be better for me and the babies. We all hoped we could put it off until Tuesday because I will be 36 weeks, which reduced the chance of NICU time drastically. To try to hold off labor until at least Saturday, she said I could take the Procardia if I had more than 6 contractions in an hour, but if I get contractions 5 minutes apart, I need to go in no matter what.

A few hours after we left, my OB called to let me know she saw the report and decided Tuesday would be a good day to deliver the babies. Now I'm just waiting to get a call from the hospital telling me what time. This evening, however, I've had several contractions (probably from being up and about so much today), and I took a Procardia to try to get them to stop. I would really like my OB to deliver these babies, not the on call doctor. So, just 5 more days of bed rest (at most), and we'll have two new additions to the family!