21-week Appointment

Today I had an OB appointment. It felt so good going into it - I wasn't nervous at all, coming off of the ultrasound and starting to be able to feel Ivy's movements.

Weight and blood pressure were great. I asked about what allergy medicine I could use (same as I always do - though I'm still a little nervous about taking it), and if waking up sometimes on my back was bad (not really, as I get bigger it'll be uncomfortable for me to be on my back and it'll wake me up).

Then she went over the ultrasound results. Ivy looked wonderful, she said, but one thing that concerns her a little bit is a fibroid in my lower abdomen that might grow big enough to block the birth canal, which would result in a c-section. She said they'd still let me try for a vaginal delivery, and she'd seen women with 10-12cm fibroids give birth just fine. Mine is 6cm with a potential to grow because of the pregnancy hormones.

We also went over the chronic hypertension issue. Because I'm at a higher risk of pre-eclampsia, I'll be going in for monthly ultrasounds, take a 24-hour urine test (where I collect it for 24 hours and they can measure the protein in it), and then twice-a-week one-hour monitoring appointments (non-stress tests, I think) after 32 weeks.

Then on the way out, the scheduler said I needed to schedule a 28-week appointment, because all women need to come in at 28 and 32 weeks. It just happens to be the week that I'm in Dallas on a business trip, which I explained, and asked if I could do it the following Monday. She said nope. So I said I'd have to call in to schedule it later, which I did, with someone else, for the Friday before my 28th week (27 weeks 6 days). So there.

So it was kind of a mixed-bag appointment. I was happy to see that even though I don't think I've been eating very well, I haven't gained enough for anyone to be concerned. And it is nice to know that they're taking such great care with me, making sure that they catch any potential problems early. But the c-section possibility is weighing heavy on me. I know that the important thing is a healthy baby at the end. Everyone says that having a birth planned out and pinning my hopes on the plan happening the way I want it to is silly. But I can't help wanting the best of both worlds - a healthy baby born naturally. Today's news wasn't a death knell for natural birth, but it makes me sad that it eventually might be.