January 12 baby update

For my time here at the hospital, I'll post a daily baby update to report on our health. I'm sure other posts will come up as well - being here by myself has given me a lot of time to think of things to write about, so more to come. Here's the quick and dirty update for today:

My blood test came back normal - our little girl's blood is not leaking into mine - there's no leak in the umbilical cord. My mom had raised concerns about anemia since we have some family history, but my iron levels are strong, and there's no indication that the little one is anemic either - Jeremy would have to be tested to be 100% sure. The only answer they can give me is that maybe there is a kink in the umbilical cord, which is wreaking havoc with her heartbeat. They are not suggesting that there is anything wrong with the baby herself - her vital organs look great, which is a relief to me.

The erratic heartbeat is the doctor's biggest concern. If it was just the low amniotic fluid levels (which are slowly improving - Monday was 6.36; yesterday was 6.64; a normal range is 8-14), she would release me and I would come back twice a week for testing. But since little girl isn't showing great signs of improvement on heartbeat rate, I remain here for heartbeat rate monitors three times a day and one ultrasound per day. The good thing is that the heart rate is not getting worse. they'd just like to see her accelerate her heartbeat a bit more (going from say 135 bpm to 160 bpm in a steady motion) and they don't want to see any crazy drops (basically, they said it was like her holding her breath). Today, for example, she dropped to 80 bpm for 1.5 minutes and that concerned them but then she returned to a more favorable level of 150 bpm, so I don't have to be on constant monitoring. I just remain here.

So, my doctor said I should plan to be here through the weekend at least, so I'm preparing myself for that. Our little girl basically has to show remarkable progress in her heart rate - what we're praying for is that if there is a kink in the umbilical cord, it will work itself out because that might solve the problem. My doctor had a patient where this just miraculously happened and she was sent home and went to full-term. So that's the best plan I have - the heartbeat rate remarkably improves, and I can go home and maybe even back to work (this isn't a bed rest issue - it's just about keeping me here in the hospital for monitoring). The next best plan is that things remain the same - they don't get worse, but they don't improve by a lot. If that's the case, we'll keep doing what we're doing and I will remain in the hospital for the coming week for monitoring. I'll be induced January 24, which will be week 34 for baby girl. She will be more than 4 lbs and will look like a giant in the NICU. Fingers crossed, she'll only have to be in the NICU at that point for a few days. Worst case scenario would be if the heartbeat rate dramatically worsens and I would be induced sooner. But all signs are pointing toward at least staying steady, if not improving, so I hope we can avoid that last case!

More daily updates to come...