{An Unexpected Day}

Today turned out quite different than what I expected. It's funny how life throws you a curve ball just as you are feeling comfortable with things.

I dropped Luke off at school and after a quick visit to see my sister and Molly, I headed to my regularly scheduled OB appointment. I got there about 5 minutes early and sat down but was quickly called back. I immediately thought "yay!" because typically I have to wait a bit and I had lunch plans with two friends and now I knew I was going to be able to get there with plenty of time to spare. I headed back and they took my blood pressure and weight and then I gave a urine sample. I then was brought to the examining room and the nurse checked the baby's heart rate. She looked puzzled as she tried to track it, but blamed it on the machine and left and said she would be back with a different doppler to get the heart rate. About a minute later, my doctor comes in with the doppler and she quickly says that the baby's heart rate is very high -- close to 200 (normal is 120 - 160). I laid there as she continues to track it and it remains steady at that number. At this point she says I need to head to the hospital for testing and observation and to go now.

I immediately rushed over to the hospital and they had me hooked up within about 5 minutes. Everything seemed great -- the baby's heart rate was back around 140 and no contractions. I laid there for quite some time and it seemed as though that this possibly was just a blip. Then the baby's heart rate started racing again, heading up to 190 and then 200. It maintained that for about 5 or 6 minutes and then went back to normal. Well, this happened several more times over the next hour. The nurse called my doctor and updated her and everything started going full-speed ahead.

At this point, I was signing admitting papers, changing into a hospital gown, given an IV, gave lots and lots of blood and was told that I would be having an ultrasound soon with a high-risk OB. At this point, I really started to get worried. Luckily when you are an OB patient and there is a problem with the baby, things happen very quickly. Within 20 or 30 minutes, I was up on the L&D floor getting an ultrasound with a doctor. The result?? They discovered the baby has a heart arryhthmia - both an irregular (extra or skip beats) heart beat and tachycardia (beating too fast) heart beat. My heart sunk.

But the more I learned from the doctor, the more comfortable I felt. He seemed concerned but very positive since there were not any other abnormalities. The good news is that most arryhthmias resolve themselves once the baby is born. I was discharged by late afternoon with strict orders to be back in his office within 5 to 7 days, to cut out all caffeine (which can aggrivate arryhthmias) and to montior the baby's movement. If there is any decrease in movement, I am supposed to go in to the doctor immediately. I will now see this high-risk OB to monitor the condition and hoping this is the last of surprises from this little guy.

Speaking of little guy....he is not so little. During the ultrasound, they measured him and he is measuring 3 weeks ahead. I am currently 33 weeks and 1 day and I was measuring closer to 36 weeks. They estimated him weighing 6 pounds and 3 ounces already which is very large for a baby at this gestational point. They seemed concerned about this too, but it will be something we will just continue to monitor as well.

This pregnancy has been very eventful. I am so ready for a few dull weeks with no news to report! Although I am nervous about being a mother of two, I am ready for this baby boy to be here so all of these worries can go away. I am ready to hold him in my arms and know in my heart he is ok. But for now, we are all doing well and hoping for a very boring Saturday!