A Big Swimming Pool

So, after last night's doctor's appointment I think we have a slightly clearer picture and evidently I don't just have a lot of amniotic fluid, I have a LOT of amniotic fluid and this is known as polyhydramnios. Google it - lots of fun! So, like I said last time, I am 34 weeks (now approaching 35), baby is the size of a 36 week baby, and my belly is...full term, the size of a 40 week belly. Which explains an awful lot about why people think I'm about to go. So, the reason for my enlarged belly (besides the obvious baby growing inside of it) is that there is a lot of fluid. I heard this at the last ultrasound around 30 weeks, so I didn't realize it was a big deal. At that last ultrasound, I had 21 units (I don't really know what kind of units - I'll ask that next time) of amniotic fluid and in the meantime, that jumped up to 30 units, thus creating a swimming pool for baby. So, while most large sized babies might feel a little squished in there, our little darling still has lots of room to stretch, swim, and flip (so she still could flip around....but I trust her not to). This also means more tests. We'll be going for non-stress tests twice a week and a Level II Ultrasound. This kind of ultrasound will look more closely at all of baby's body parts, notably her GI system to make sure there are no blockages. The non-stress tests will monitor baby's movement and I can tell you without any monitors that this baby moves, no problem! So, we'll see what they say.

My first non-stress test appointment is tomorrow afternoon. The most stressful part about this was scheduling the appointments - I called one place, they told me I was supposed to call my office. My office said I could call the first place, but they could do it, but then they couldn't do any times next week, so I had to call the first place again. Then the first place told me that if I had appointments in two different places insurance might not cover it. So I called my office back to check on that - they said it was a bunch of bologna. But, just to be safe, I called my insurance company, who reassured me that I could indeed have the testing done at different places so long as they were in-network. What a stress! And then on top of that, getting coverage the day before and writing sub plans is always fun.

The doctor indicated that sometimes this condition can be due to gestational diabetes, but we ruled that out already when they were looking at the size of the baby. Some other reasons were exposure to different viruses which I have not (to my knowledge) had. Then last was idiopathic - no real explanation. I think that's what it is, especially since it's so close to idiotic. If the placenta hadn't been low, we wouldn't have had an ultrasound to indicate that baby was large, and if we hadn't had an ultrasound to check baby's size, we wouldn't have seen the high amount of amniotic fluid. Though, I'd imagine if the doctor had measured my belly at 40 cm this week, she still would have questioned a few things. Regardless, big picture - what does this mean? (a) The doctor won't let me go past my due date, should we make it that far. So all of you who voted that I would go late - sorry. (b) Since my uterus is 40 weeks big, my body doesn't know why and may start labor early as a result. So, I'm sitting on towels everywhere I go and the bags are packed and ready. (c) Whenever the flood gates open, they'll really open. Did I mention the towels?