1 Down - 2 To Go

Thanks to President's Day on Monday and a much needed 3-day weekend - yesterday marked the first day of my new hectic work/doctor appointment schedule! I have to say though, it wasn't that bad!

If you remember, Dr. C recommended that twice weekly I am to be scheduled for non-stress tests in addition to my regular (now every two week) OB appointments. I'm really thankful that my job is accommodating me during all these appointments and letting me change my schedule from 8am-5pm to 7am-4pm however getting up that extra hour earlier this morning was brutal! I didn't prepare myself and stayed up way too late on Monday night. I'm sure I'll adjust to that quickly though.

I was a little nervous about starting these appointments just because of the nature of them - basically having GD considers me in the High Risk Pregnancy category and also because, I've never been to the hospital... ever... for anything...

Anyway, I made it down there ok, found parking, paid my $2 for said parking, and proceeded to wander around the Women's Maternity Center of the hospital until I finally gave up and asked where the heck I needed to go. Mr. GB gets irritated with me because I'm like a man - I hate to ask for directions - so I'm glad he wasn't with me :)

So I finally figure out which part of the hospital they had me scheduled in - the Women's Center for Fetal-Maternal Medicine - and I took note since I'll be spending a lot of time there in the next 5 weeks. They hooked me up to a monitor that they told me would be similar to one they'd use up in L&D when I actually go into labor. Someone freaked me out and told me that these NST's would be simulating a contraction - that's not the case! Basically, one strap around my belly monitors Baby GB's heartbeat and another strap monitors if I'm having any contractions. The tech also gave me a little clicky deal that I had to push every time I felt Baby GB move. She said that they'll monitor him for a minimum of 20 minutes and they need to get at least 2 good movements with significant raises in heart rate. Apparently when a baby moves their heart rate raises and that's what the whole test is about.

Of course, it couldn't just be that easy right???

Baby GB was asleep... fabulous. His heart rate was right around 140 but for the first 5 or so minutes she let me just sit there waiting to see if he'd wake up. He didn't. So she got me a cup of cold water to see if that would help. It got him going a little bit but every time I'd feel him move and click the button she kept saying, "Come on little guy, we need that heart rate to be higher." Which of course... freaks me the eff out?!

After another 5 or so minutes she says we're going to use a little device that uses a combination of vibration and sound to really wake him up. She said it won't hurt him in the slightest but the second that vibration hit my stomach I got the hardest kick I've ever felt. He was awake!!! :) After that it was kick after kick and HR rise after rise. She said this was good and put my mind at ease telling me that they wouldn't let me leave their office if they thought something was wrong. They'd either call Dr. C or send me upstairs to L&D. So that was reassuring at least - I still think that lady needs to learn some tact when making comments about what she's looking at though.

I did end up having to sit there for 10 extra minutes because I guess once he was awake the cover line of his HR was bouncing from 140 to 135 and without 10 minutes of a consistent cover line I'd have to keep sitting there so they could monitor.

So that's it... fun stuff!!! Today I have my 34 Week appointment with Dr. C - hopefully all will go well and then on Friday I get to go back for my last appointment of the week back at the hospital. I'm really excited for Friday's appointment because it's an ultrasound so I get to see Baby GB again!!!