Update #5

On Wednesday I met my new OB, Dr. Baghdadi very briefly. He seems to be such a kind man! Though he only had a few minutes to spend with me, he had obviously read my file and he asked good questions and listened well. Yay! I was actually pretty nervous about meeting him because he will, seemingly, have so much authority over my labor and delivery.

I'm holding out for as natural and late delivery as possible and so far it seems that could happen! He doesn't expect that I will need to have the baby any earlier than March 31st but that I won't be allowed to go much farther than April 6th. So far I'm not being required to have a specific induction date yet! Dr. Baghdadi said we would try to create a more specific birth plan next week at my appointment.

He sent me over to Tacoma General's Labor and Delivery ward directly following our appointment and called ahead to ask them to give me a short private tour of the floor. He wanted me to meet the charge nurse and give her my file and begin a conversation about what my needs will be. It was "fun"? to get to see where I will be delivering ahead of time and it was lovely to get to talk to someone about some of my specific questions regarding delivery at TG.

Thursday I met with Maternal Fetal Medicine for another ultrasound and doctor consult. This time I had a great experience with a different doctor than I met with last MFM appointment, which was actually really encouraging. She gave us several pieces of good news: 1.) this pregnancy is going great - *I* am super healthy! 2.) Frightful was estimated to weigh 6.1 lbs, which is fantastic (42nd percentile for his age) and indicates his body is growing well (besides, you know, that one side of his heart). 3.) the excess fluid seen around his heart two weeks ago is gone (such fluid could have been normal, and probably was since it is now gone, but it was something that they needed to monitor). 4.) his genetic testing all came back negative for chromosomal abnormalities and other causes for concern (plus they got a better look at his face specifically in this ultrasound and his nose and lips look fully formed - they hadn't been able to see his nose and lips in any of the recent ultrasounds because he always has his hands in the way). One piece of possibly concerning news, however, is that this ultrasound did show decreased blood flow. We aren't worried yet (or at least we're not supposed to be) because this could just be due to suboptimal positioning or the fact that he was really sleepy during the ultrasound (the tech doing the ultrasound had to work really hard to wake him up! I haven't had that experience before!) but it is something that now requires me to get another ultrasound next week.

Isaac's THIRD birthday is on Saturday and Seth is taking the day off to celebrate, so we're all pretty excited for a birthday adventure. I don't know what we will end up doing, but it will be fun to spend the day together. I want to soak up this time with Ezra and Isaac before Frightful comes especially because I am not looking forward to (what feels like) the significant time apart we are about to endure.