One way or another, little Billy is arriving no later than the early morning hours of Thursday, 4/23, although I think he'll actually be arriving the night of 4/22. At this point, Antoinette is still very much on track to make it all the way to her inducement date, which is Wednesday, 4/22. She will be induced at 8 AM in the morning, although we have to arrive by 6 AM. And with the change of her flight schedule, Antoinette's Mother will get to be there for the birth of her first grandchild if she holds out that long. The clock is definitely ticking.
Yesterday, we were at the doctor for her second to last appointment. We learned a lot at this appointment. Namely, that the BPP test I elaborated on in the previous blog update was actually far less complicated than I had thought. Turns out, the majority of the BPP's are done prior to the due date for women who have suspected complications, which is why the intense detail is needed. Those that are performed after the due date have minimal goals in mind. While they still take a measure of the heartbeat, the breathing, and the movement, they do so quickly and from visual observation. Detailed observation is not necessary.
As far as some of the results we did measure, the first is the width of the head. As you can imagine, this was considered a very important measurement by Antoinette. It looked like the width was approximately 9.62 cm if I was reading the screen right, which is just under 4 inches, which the tech told Antoinette was an average sized head. She estimated (reluctantly) that the baby would be approximately 8 to 8.5 lbs. That would be slightly larger than average. The average 41 week birth coming in at 7.93 lbs. They also measured his amniotic fluid levels, which were the primary goal of the test and they came in perfect. Billy has plenty of amniotic fluid to allow him to make it all the way to the day Antoinette is induced, which the tech felt Antoinette would make it to since according to her, the baby had still not "engaged" yet from what she could see.
As far as the baby fully engaging, this is not a factor in being able to deliver a baby. For some women, the baby doesn't engage until active labor. The negative aspect though is that according to a couple studies, if the baby is not engaged, the risk of the birth needing to progress from vaginal delivery to cesarean doubles or triples. We are hoping the baby engages because generally speaking, some believe that having one cesarean could lead to always having cesareans. Thinking this is always the case is an untruth. The danger lies with uterine rupture of the scar tissue during future labors. The numbers indicate that for women who have had a previous cesarean, those who have a cesarean the second time around, the incidence of uterine rupture is 1.6 in every 1,000 births. For those who attempt vaginal birth the second time around, the incidence of uterine rupture increases to 5.6 out of a 1,000. Still pretty low, but also still triple the previous second time cesarean figures. Anyway, one in four pregnancies are delivered by cesarean in the United States, so we figure, if it happens, it happens. Antoinette's doctor does not believe in cesareans unless its medically necessary, so that's good enough for us. By the way, that brings me to an interesting story. One of my roomates in College has a sister who believed up until her High School years that a "C-Section" was so called because the scar was cut in the shape of the letter "C". Needless to say, she drew quite a few blank stares.
The final note on this test is that we did get to watch the ultrasound, which is the image you are seeing in this picture. Hopefully it is apparent to you that you are seeing his head. If not, look at it from a distance or try tilting your head to the right. If you do, you will be lined up with his face. Two thirds of the image is head, so you really can't miss it once you realize what you're looking at. The top of his head is the right side of the image, which then moves down to his chin toward the bottom left. From the top of his head moving left, you'll see his forehead, his two eyes, his nose, his mouth (which the tech said appeared quite large), and his chin. To the left of his head is a hand, which is tougher to make out in this picture, but easier in some of the others. Those others have a blurrier face though. When you are seeing the image move, it is much easier to understand what you are looking at and looks a little less like a Jason mask, but what the hell. For now, these are the best photos we've got of the little guy. Remember when he was just a tiny little oval shape with arm and leg buds? I believe he had a tail back then, too. Those kids grow up so fast, don't they? We could see how cramped he looks in the live feed, watch his head move back and forth, watch his mouth open and close, see his hands and arms move over his head, see his heart beating in his chest, check out his spinal cord, see the top of his head and the two hemispheres of his brain, and see some images briefly of his legs and arms.
Antoinette has her final doctor visit on Monday (I thought this one was the last, but they figure they want two per week and since the last one was on Tuesday, another was in order before she is induced). At that visit, we will check dilation, the baby's engagement level (what station the baby is at on a scale of zero, which is fully engaged, to -5, which is 5 cms from fully engaged), heart rate, position, and any other Q&A's we need to get out of the way before Wednesday's big show. If we're lucky, we'll get Antoinette to get us one final belly picture for the Monday update and then you won't see an update again until after he arrives. Quite the journey, but its almost over.
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