My visit to Labor and Delivery today
This morning I had my regularly scheduled appointment at the OB and was scheduled to take my glucose test. That drink is so nasty!! Anyway, everything was fine, but I told my doctor about all the braxton hicks contractions I’ve been having and that I’ve been feeling quite crampy lately. She didn’t want to take any chances so she sent me to Labor & Delivery to be monitored with a fetal non-stress test (NST) and to take the fetal fibronectin test (fFN) to see if I was at risk for pre-term labor. It definitely was a tad bit scary, but I wasn’t overly worried. I knew that I was probably just dehydrated and needed to drink more water. It is SO hot here and I know I don’t hydrate myself enough.
I was in L & D for a while (this was after a little over an hour at my OB’s office, which thankfully is connected to the hospital). Everything seemed ok on the monitors except there was a slight dip in the baby’s heart rate. The nurse said it was totally normal, but since she saw it, she had to recognize it. So, they then sent me for an ultrasound. I wasn’t going to complain at the chance to see my baby again. I waited an HOUR to be seen. This sucked as I was starving and a little nauseas from drinking the nasty glucose drink. I was getting a headache and feeling weak, and was just about to ask if I had time to run downstairs and get some food, but they finally called me in.
Then the ultrasound took an hour. They had to focus on the baby’s diaphragm for 30 minutes to check for the breathing movement, which never happened. I know that sounds worrisome, but apparently it’s not. The tech said it is hit or miss and only happens for like 30 minutes total out of the entire day. The baby looked great. His heart, spine, fingers, toes, everything. I got to look at his little face for a while and I can tell he is going to be a cutie. Oh and he is definitely a HE!!! No questions there. LOL!
The diagnosis is that I was just a wee-bit dehydrated and need to drink a lot more water. I could have told you that without spending 5 hours at the hospital today, but better safe than sorry.
I had trouble staying hydrated so carried around a water bottle with me everywhere to encourage me to drink more. Just an idea.
I'm so glad you guys are back home, and your little man is staying put. Cool that you got to take such a good, long look at him though!!!! I wouldn't complain about that either. The one time I went into L&D with weird stuff going on (leakage), I just had to sit there the entire time and twiddle my thumbs. I didn't get to see C. Boo!
Glad you're ok! But, you're right, better safe than sorry.
Can I just mention that I sometimes HATE the internet? So, I decided to look up the whole breathing movement/breathing episode thing and of course it says that if there is no breathing movement in the 30 minute time frame, that it is abnormal and could be cause for concern (i.e intrauterine growth retardation, pre-term labor). Everything else checked out fine, but this still makes me nervous. I have another OB appt in 2 weeks so I will definitely talk to her about it then. I know that I'm still a little early in pregnancy for the test they gave me, which is called a biophysical profile or biophysical fetal assessment. They are usually given at about 32 weeks or higher....so hopefully that is all it was.
So try not to worry too much
Sorry you had such a long scary day! Glad you and baby are doing good.