Scare

We had our first major scare today. I have been able to feel the baby fairly regularly over the last few weeks. When I am sitting or laying still, I can usually feel the baby move a little. However, this week I have not felt the baby since Monday. I thought I would give it until the end of the week, today, and then give the doctor a call. I wasn't too stressed out about it, but I just wanted the doctor to tell me it was completely normal. I did not expect the response I received.

My doctor was not in the office today, so I spoke to one of the nurses. When I explained to her that I am 18 weeks and haven't felt the baby move in four days, she freaked out. She told me I had waited way too long to call the doctor and that I need to go directly to labor & delivery to have the baby monitored and get an ultrasound. After she lectured me for a while longer, I went to the hospital.

Once I got to the hospital, they told me there was no reason for me to be there and that I needed to go back to my doctor's office. A doctor that works with my doctor was there at the time and he said he would see me when he was done there. So, Kurt and I went over to the doctor's office (it is connected to the hospital) and waited on the doctor. We had a great nurse that went ahead and listened for the baby's heartbeat to calm us down a little bit. The baby's heartrate was 152 bpm. We finally saw the doctor and he said he thought everything was fine, but he was going to send me for an ultrasound just in case. So, we got to have an ultrasound a week early.

During the ultrasound, we found out why I haven't been feeling the baby. Our baby was curled up in a little ball and would not move for anything. The baby was so curled up that it's knees were touching it's nose. We did see the baby move an arm or leg here or there, but it would not move out of it's curled up position. We were able to get a few measurements and the baby is measuring exactly 18 weeks and 2 days like it should be. The baby weighed 9 ounces which puts it in the 58th percentile for weight. This does not surprise me.

Since the baby would not change positions, the sonographer was not able to get the pictures she needed of the heart, kidneys, etc. She was also not able to tell us the sex of our baby. That means we get to keep our appointment for next week and get another ultrasound. She told me to drink a huge sugary drink before the ultrasound to make the baby move around. I hope that works!

That was our stressful day. Kurt said it's amazing how much you love and care for something so tiny you haven't even seen yet. I have to agree. This baby is stressing out mom and dad already!

Below are a few pictures of our baby all curled up in a little ball. I couldn't tell if they were better scanned in as black & white or color, so I did a couple of both.

Above: You can probably make out the head to the right side. The baby is looking toward the left side of the picture. The white line making a "J" coming from the head is the baby's spine. That's how curled up he/she is.Above: You can make out more of the face in this picture. Once again you can see the spine curved up toward the left side of the picture. The baby's knees are touching it's nose.Above: This is the first picture again scanned in black & white instead of color.