Today was the usual BPP/NST combo at the hospital.
The ultrasound (BPP) went well. Plenty of fluid, both babies moving around well, etc. We’ve almost stopped referring to either one of them as baby A or B. Neither of them is at all engaged in my pelvis, so it remains to be seen who will “present” first. Baby boy is still head-down, and baby girl seems quite comfortable staying breech. The funniest moment of the ultrasound was when we were getting a good look at baby boy’s face. It was a nice profile shot, and we could see him not only moving his mouth, but sticking out his tongue! We tried to get a 3D picture of it, but no luck. But while we were watching, in the fluid space next to his face, we suddenly saw a shape that looked mysteriously like a little foot! Indeed, his sister was sticking her foot right by his face. The still picture we got doesn’t do it justice. It was pretty neat in motion. In the end, we got a nice profile of baby boy, and a 3D of baby girl:
The non-stress test took a little longer than intended. Both babies were a little more cooperative when it came to being monitored, so that was a good thing. The nurse didn’t need to stand over me, holding the sensors just so on my belly. But after about 20-30 minutes, while baby boy’s heart rate was moving all around as they like to see, baby girl was being pretty steady and quiet (“nonreactive”). I tried drinking some ginger ale to see if the sugar got her going, but that didn’t seem to quite work. So the nurse suggested we get “the zapper.” Needless to say, this was alarming to me. It sounded like she was going to get a taser and stun the baby. But in fact, the zapper is just a little hand-held wand that looks rather like the doppler that OBs use to hear the heartbeat. But instead, you put this one up to the side of the belly where little miss sleepyhead lives, press a button, and it makes a short buzzer sound. That’s all. And, as it turned out, that’s what it took to wake her up and get the readings we were looking for. She even developed an amusing case of the hiccups. Sorry for the disturbance, my dear. We just needed to make sure you were OK in there.
In the end, another good day. I had a couple of contractions while on the monitor, but not too many, and they didn’t seem to bother anyone. Though I know a good result today is no guarantee of what tomorrow will hold, each successful testing session makes me feel like I’ve “made it” for another week. Tomorrow, I’ll be 33 weeks. Discomforts notwithstanding… it just keeps getting better. I can scarcely imagine how far I’ve come. 35 weeks is a big goal for me, and it’s only two short weeks away! 36-plus would be better, and if I start to go past 37, I might lose my mind. But it’s all just so soon!
