27.5 weeks pregnant

We had our follow-up with the maternal fetal medicine specialist today, so I thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and knock out the glucose tolerance test for gestational diabetes since I had to be at WKSouth anyway. It turns out that wasn't the best idea I've ever had. When you're faced with the possibility of not-so-good news (because they can't tell you anything bad quickly), it's probably better to have at least a little bit of food in you. I thought I might have time to grab some fries or something between the lab work and the appointment with the specialist, but no such luck. So we get to the specialist's office and wait in the waiting room for a solid hour past our appointment time. Do you know how much food I could have consumed in that hour? Most of you would probably be embarrassed to know what all I could have shoved in my mouth in that amount of time. Anyway, we get back to the examination room and the tech does her deal. The kidneys are still dilated, with the right measuring 6 mm and the left measuring 7. They still describe this as slightly dilated. As she's wrapping up, the nurse starts to walk out the door and the ultrasound tech says "something, something, she's got Polly". Now, I don't know exactly who Polly is, but here I am thinking that she's down the hall and another nurse is with her. Not so much. When the doctor comes in they discuss the fact that I've got poly - polyhydramnios - which is an increase in amniotic fluid. Sounds potentially scary, right? The tech later explains that the upper limit of normal is 20 (ccs, I guess - not sure of the measurement) and mine is measuring 21.something, and that it's not uncommon for it to be in the normal range on future ultrasound. So now we've got slightly dilated kidneys and slightly increased amniotic fluid. So I'm slightly worried at this point.

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The doctor goes over the possibilities, but starts with something to the effect of: there's no structural explanation for the dilated kidneys or increased fluid, and his experience is that in 99.9% of the cases where they see no structural explanation for the findings, they deliver a healthy baby. There's a possibility that the baby has issues swallowing, which would explain the increased fluid. There's the possibility that I have gestational diabetes, which could explain the increased fluid (although we should know tomorrow whether this is the case or not). There's the possibility that he's not urinating properly, therefore he's not swallowing as much fluid . . . I think the possibilities are endless. He offered us an amniocentesis to rule out a chromosomal disorder, which we again declined.

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I had a non-stress test today, which I guess I passed. The nurse came in to check the print out and asked me if I was experiencing any tightness or discomfort. I explained to her that I had a lot of Braxton-Hicks contractions, and she relayed it to the doctor, which must have satisfied him for the time being. There for a minute I thought they were going to put me on bed rest. Because that would be my luck, right?

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The verdict: I have to go in twice a week for non-stress tests and ultrasounds until a) he decides there's no reason to keep going, or b) I have the baby. What the hell they think that will accomplish is beyond me.

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I'm pretty angry about all of this, because in my heart of hearts I don't think there's anything wrong with my baby, but with all this freaking information flying around I can't help but second guess my gut. I'm mad that Dr. Pineda had trouble finding the heart rate that day back in December, because if he hadn't had that issue we wouldn't be sitting where we are now. I realize that means there's a chance we could be oblivious to a problem until his birth, but I'm wondering if it might be better that way.

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So that's it, in a very long nutshell.

p.s. They said he weighed 2 pounds, 5 ounces today. And he really does have arms, contrary to what a couple of those pictures seem to show. The tech was pushing pretty hard on my belly trying to get him to rotate, and it distorted the picture to where it looks like his arm just stops. In another couple of shots that I didn't scan he has his RIGHT hand in front of his face. Seems he's taking pointers from his big brother already!