Not my most favorite visit

December 22, 2010
Starting off, last week I had my first Non Stress Test at Dr Wells' office which went great. We're doing weekly Non Stress Tests now to make sure Ripplet is moving like he should and his heart rate fluctuates correctly. They also monitor my uterine contractions to make sure they don't interfere with baby's heart beat. I've been only having Braxton Hicks contrations for a month or so, but they still check.

A Non Stress Test is where I'm in a recliner with a monitor on my belly to track his heart and another on my belly to track any contractions. They have me hooked up for about 20 minutes and I have to hit a button every time I feel baby move. They look to make sure his heart rate fluctuates through out the test between 130-170 and that he moves enough.

He gets very wiggly when he firsts gets strapped and causes the technician some trouble as she has to keep adjusting the monitor so it'll either pick up his heart or so he'll stop hitting it causing a false reading. Squirmy little guy! His test came out great so everything is good!

Then we had our usual high risk appointment today- we met with Dr Throp again. I was down after the appointment because the intestines have more than doubled in size since the last visit. He's now at 12mm internal and 14 mm external in dilation. I was worried this meant they would want to get him out sooner, but Dr Throp said the intestines still looked healthy enough- they were just getting bigger is all. It's better for him to stay in and develop more at this point so I guess that was good news. It's hard not being able to do anything to make the swelling stop or go down.
Ripplet had another Non Stress Test (NST) that same day and did great again. So he's feeling great, his organs are developing nicely (except his intestines of course) so we have a lot to be thankful for I guess.