Baby Update!

Well, we just got back from our appointment, and we got to see the little one on ultrasound! We didn't get to find out whether or not it is a boy or girl because the ultrasound machine was not very high tech. We will find that out presumably January 8th. However, we did get to see that the little one has two arms, two legs, a beating heart, a brain, a bladder, a spine, ribs, etc, and I couldn't be more pleased!!

Can't see much here except its hand, legs, head, and brain, but I am pleased as punch!

I also got a chance to discuss with the doctor in more detail what options we are looking at for delivery. Last time I was in they found a concentration of Strep Group B in my urine. About 25% of the population are carries for Strep Group B. While this is not a problem for those carriers, it can, though rare, have potentially fatal consequences for babies born to those parents. Because of this, all pregnant women are now tested towards the end of their pregnancy for the presence of Strep Group B in the vagina. If they test positive they have to have penicillin during delivery to cut down on the risk to the baby. This is what happened when I was pregnant with Jessica. If I had tested negative this time, they probably would not have given me the penicillin, but since they found it so early in my urine, we do not pass go, and we do not collect $200. This means that I have a fairly concentrated colonization, so no matter what the tests say later I will be getting penicillin during delivery.

They have to give the penicillin to you in the form of an iv because otherwise too much of it is metabolized before it gets to where it needs to go, so I will be hooked up the entire delivery no matter what. They also like to give you at least two rounds before the delivery, which takes several hours. This was of concern to me because we suspect that delivery of this child will be less than 6 hours and we live almost an hour away from the hospital to begin with (David actually works even farther than that from the hospital). Therefore, we decided that although it is not medically necessary, it would be good idea to do a scheduled induction for this child to avoid any unnecessary risk of complications. The doctor also said that given what we know about Jessica's delivery, we will probably start me on the penicillin before we start me on the petocin (usually it is done the other way around) to make sure we get 2 rounds of penicillin in me before delivery. He said it was unlikely that we would do an induction before May 23 (the week before my due date); however, we will know more once May gets here and we can see how things are progressing.

I did not have an epidural with Jessica, and I had hoped to avoid an epidural and petocin with this one; however, I think given the available information, an induction is the best choice for the baby. I still hope to avoid an epidural again because I just do not like having drugs in my system if I can help it (It makes me feel weird); however, since each labor and delivery is different that is a decision that will have to wait for the labor and delivery room.