We had a visit to the birthing center yesterday! No, not a planned visit. And yes, everything is "fine" now... for the most part. I thought the wait times in obstetrics was bad, but this was just as awful or maybe even worse. Come to think of it, the first time I went there I was in and out within 30 minutes so I am not sure why this time took 5 long hours! Thankfully DH was with me because 1) he kept me company and 2) now he knows how my usual appointments feel!
Hopefully this happened because I was low on their list of priorities and they won't be so slow when I am actually giving birth!
I decided to go in because baby was not meeting her daily kick count requirement. Even though she was crazy active the day before, she is not allowed to have a day of rest! From 5am until about 3pm I barely felt anything from her despite my poking, prodding and caffeine/sugar attempts. Knowing that being diabetic and having elevated amniotic fluid levels can pose a risk, I called birthing and they told me to come in immediately.
We got there and they hooked me up to the heart rate monitor for what seemed like close to an hour. It seemed erratic to me, but according to the nurse she was a steady 140bpm. I guess my own movements caused the fluctuations. Usually I can feel her trying to kick the monitors off of me, but this time there was nothing. They sent a student in to take a medical history (have I mentioned how tired I am of students, despite being empathetic to their needs) followed by a resident to do an ultrasound. Heart was pumping away, baby was breathing and everything looked good... but, again, not moving! He shook my belly to get her to move and still nothing. The head resident came in and saw this and asked if I was hungry. YES! I was starving by this point, so she suggested we go and eat and come back to do another ultrasound 30 minutes later.
We went to the cafeteria to eat and came right back up and let them know we were back. They asked us to have a seat and wait... and wait... and wait... for 2 hours!!!! The resident finally said he would be with us in 15 minutes and came to get us 30 minutes later! We had joked that this would happen, but I guess it was just because we know them so well.
So, the verdict? My amniotic fluid levels are still quite high, still classifying me as polyhydramnios. By this stage of pregnancy the levels should be closer to 10 and I am now at 17. So, between baby slightly facing the placenta, cushioning her blows, and an elevated level of water causing her movements to be sluggish and less powerful I am not feeling her move! The resident said that I will likely be induced sooner rather than later which matches what my OB said when I last saw her.
Today I hope to get her going again or it's back to Neverland II for more ultrasounds (instead of the garage to have my car repaired as scheduled). I see my OB tomorrow, but I plan to call this morning and ask someone to review my case for my own reassurance. I am getting increasingly nervous and now I don't know if it is because of the movement/fluid issues or because I know labor is around the corner!
