Yes, I'm still here and so is my big belly... which means we had to go to the hospital again this morning, for our DD+7 consult. Again, everything was fine. Little man was sleeping in the beginning and awake in the end, so his HR was somewhere between 130 and 150. My BP was back into its normal range: 115/63. No contractions registered to speak of, which is consistent with the last few days: the BH contractions don't really start until around lunchtime and get more frequent (but not more regular) in the evening.
More mucus plug / bloody show late yesterday afternoon and this morning, but other than that, no impending labor symptoms at all. The last consult is now scheduled for Sunday late afternoon - after that they'll either admit me directly and start induction by preparing the cervix early Monday morning with a prostaglandin gel, or if the cervix is ripe enough, I can go home again Sunday after the consult and come back on Monday morning to start the induction with oxytocin. Of course I still hope this won't be necessary after all and I'll go into labor on my own in the coming hours/days (the clock is ticking...)!
Showing posts with label monitoring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label monitoring. Show all posts
Friday, July 3, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
41w1d - 3rd past-due-date consult
So we went to the hospital again this afternoon for the DD+5 consult. They put me on the fetal heart monitor for almost 45 minutes - little man was awake and quite active, so his HR in a range between 130 and 170 bpm this time. The contraction monitor also showed more contractions than two days ago, although still mostly painless and irregular.
My BP was a little higher than before: 124/74. They also did a urine test, which came back fine. Cervix check showed basically the same as during the previous checks. I had hoped it would have maybe already changed a bit, since I lost the mucus plug this morning (yay! at least some development, although it is not a real indicator of impending labor).
The midwife told me that since I've passed the due date, I can no longer deliver in the 'pôle physiologique', as they want to monitor the baby constantly during labor, to make sure there won't be any complications or at least to catch them early. I really hope I go into labor on my own in the coming days, otherwise it'll be induction on Monday and I'd like to avoid that, because that also means that I can't do the first part at home and will be on the monitor (= restricted movement) quite soon.
Currently quite some BH contactions - rock hard belly most of the time, but all still rather painless. Next consult (DD+7 ) is scheduled for Friday morning...
My BP was a little higher than before: 124/74. They also did a urine test, which came back fine. Cervix check showed basically the same as during the previous checks. I had hoped it would have maybe already changed a bit, since I lost the mucus plug this morning (yay! at least some development, although it is not a real indicator of impending labor).
The midwife told me that since I've passed the due date, I can no longer deliver in the 'pôle physiologique', as they want to monitor the baby constantly during labor, to make sure there won't be any complications or at least to catch them early. I really hope I go into labor on my own in the coming days, otherwise it'll be induction on Monday and I'd like to avoid that, because that also means that I can't do the first part at home and will be on the monitor (= restricted movement) quite soon.
Currently quite some BH contactions - rock hard belly most of the time, but all still rather painless. Next consult (DD+7 ) is scheduled for Friday morning...
Monday, June 29, 2009
40w6d - 2nd past-due-date consult
So, nothing happening yet... A few more BH contractions and lower back pains, but that's about it. We went for our second past-due-date consult (DD+3) this afternoon - again about 30 minutes on the HR monitor for the little one, who was mostly sleeping - his HR moved between 112 and 145, all fine. My BP was 110/60. The other monitor on my belly registered a few BH contractions, but not much. She asked if I wanted a cervical check or not - I said yes, not that I like them, but I wanted to know if something had changed. Well, no... she even said it was still quite long and also mentioned that as long as the contractions don't increase, it'll probably remains unchanged, which makes sense of course (so no, having eaten fresh pineapple this weekend did nothing...). Next check-up on Wednesday.
Friday, June 26, 2009
40w3d - due date
Yeah right... It might be my due date, but so far the baby has shown no intention of wanting to come out. No signs of impending labor at all.
So we went to the hospital today for the first 'post due date' check-up. Normally this takes place on DD+1, but since that's in the weekend, and the consults are only from Monday-Friday, we already had it today.
First 30 minutes monitoring the baby's heart rate (between 122 and 151, depending on whether he was asleep or awake) and my contractions (none to speak of). They also checked my BP: 113/67. Then cervix check: not much change from the 9-month check-up I had three weeks ago - about a finger dilated, shortened and soft. The baby's head is putting quite some pressure on it, as it's super low in my pelvis (but that was the same three weeks ago too).
After that it was on to another room for an u/s: still head down, back to the left, in perfect position to come out. Baby in fine condition. Placenta too, although a little bit calcified, but apparently that's normal at the end of a pregnancy. Still enough amniotic fluid everywhere. Baby's estimated weight: about 3 kg (6lbs 10oz).
So everything's ready for a smooth delivery. Now, where are those contractions?!?!?!
(If nothing happens this weekend, we'll have the next check-up on Monday afternoon.)
So we went to the hospital today for the first 'post due date' check-up. Normally this takes place on DD+1, but since that's in the weekend, and the consults are only from Monday-Friday, we already had it today.
First 30 minutes monitoring the baby's heart rate (between 122 and 151, depending on whether he was asleep or awake) and my contractions (none to speak of). They also checked my BP: 113/67. Then cervix check: not much change from the 9-month check-up I had three weeks ago - about a finger dilated, shortened and soft. The baby's head is putting quite some pressure on it, as it's super low in my pelvis (but that was the same three weeks ago too).
After that it was on to another room for an u/s: still head down, back to the left, in perfect position to come out. Baby in fine condition. Placenta too, although a little bit calcified, but apparently that's normal at the end of a pregnancy. Still enough amniotic fluid everywhere. Baby's estimated weight: about 3 kg (6lbs 10oz).
So everything's ready for a smooth delivery. Now, where are those contractions?!?!?!
(If nothing happens this weekend, we'll have the next check-up on Monday afternoon.)
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Abdominal pain
I've been experiencing some abdominal pain since Wednesday evening. Of course I immediately though I would be overstimulated and they might have to cancel my IVF cycle, but at the check ups everything was normal. I had told myself to ask the doctor though, but Dr 'Speed' really didn't give me any chance...
Because I was driving myself crazy speculating, I decided to call the clinic yesterday and talk to my own doctor. He wasn't there. So I told the assistant, who asked me why I hadn't talked to Dr 'Speed' about it, but she seemed to understand somewhat when I explained why, looked at my file, said nothing seemed abnormal (estrogen levels Mon: 310; Tue: 503; Wed: 882, Thu: 1388 - about 10 follicles, between 10-14 mm in size on Thu), and advised me to lie down a bit and maybe take a dolipran (=tylenol/paracetamol), and talk about it with the other doctor on Saturday.
Yoga class was a good distraction yesterday evening, and today I hardly have any pain either. Maybe it's only between my ears...
Because I was driving myself crazy speculating, I decided to call the clinic yesterday and talk to my own doctor. He wasn't there. So I told the assistant, who asked me why I hadn't talked to Dr 'Speed' about it, but she seemed to understand somewhat when I explained why, looked at my file, said nothing seemed abnormal (estrogen levels Mon: 310; Tue: 503; Wed: 882, Thu: 1388 - about 10 follicles, between 10-14 mm in size on Thu), and advised me to lie down a bit and maybe take a dolipran (=tylenol/paracetamol), and talk about it with the other doctor on Saturday.
Yoga class was a good distraction yesterday evening, and today I hardly have any pain either. Maybe it's only between my ears...
Friday, September 26, 2008
Dr 'Speed'
Dr 'Speed' has a regular OBGYN practice, but here at the clinic he's also the expert 'echographiste', i.e. ultrasound expert. I'm slowly getting used to his way of working, but he can still make me feel completely rattled.
He is always late. Most of the time around 15 minutes, but sometimes half an hour, and one time even 45 minutes, which made all of us women with full bladders in the waiting room feeling like we were going to explode any minute.
When he's finally there, you get the impression he tries to make up for his lateness by speeding us all through the ultrasound exams in no-time. If, heaven forbid, your bladder is either too full or not full enough (so he can't see your ovaries on the ultrasound), he'll send you back to the end of the line (which is a real bummer if you initially were second in line, and suddenly you're nr. 10), no mercy. He sees the follicles on the ultrasound, measures the biggest and then is able to write down the size of the rest as well. It seems to be pretty accurate... Before you have time to pull up your pants, he already opens the door to summon the next patient in.
Last year, when I had to come in for my IUI cycles, he somehow realized he was making me very nervous, so he started making jokes to make me feel a bit more at ease. Which helped, more or less.
However, last Wednesday he got me completely confused. While doing the ultrasound he said something like "it's Friday", so I reacted surprised. "Yes, yes, because we'll skip two days... - if you're OK with it" which made me think that he was talking about the time between triggering and egg collection, which confused me even more, because he had just measured the largest follicle being at 13mm, so not big enough at all to trigger ovulation. I already started to panic that I hadn't brought my Ovitrelle, so I mentioned that to him. "No, no, you don't need that". So I told him I was now very confused. "You just take 125 IU of Puregon tonight and come back tomorrow. Au revoir, Madame". Ugh.
That night I had a nightmare: Dr 'Speed' had forgotten to tell me how many IU of Puregon to take, so I asked my own doctor, who told me 500! Which freaked me out, because it was way to much, but no, no, it was necessary, because my follicles were not growing quickly enough... Luckily I woke up at that moment.
The next day I wanted to ask Dr 'Speed' about some abdominal pain I was experiencing, but again, the whole thing went so fast, and then he got a call on his cell phone, and walked out of the room... Before he got the call he'd made a note for the doctor who would do the ultrasound on Saturday, to say that maybe we'd trigger on Sunday, and had written down how much Puregon to take that evening, but had not given any instructions for Friday, which I needed since there would be no ultrasounds that day. The whole thing started to ressemble my nightmare a bit too much...
While the doctor was on the phone, I told the nurse about it all. He's great and we had a good laugh. Finally Dr Speed was done with his phone call. So the nurse asked him about the instructions for Friday 'for this woman who's triggering on Sunday'. "No, that's not what I said, I said MAYBE trigger on Sunday, that's up to the other doctor who'll do the ultrasound on Saturday!" So he added four more question marks to his note, gave the instructions for Friday and off he was.
Before I left, the nurse told me that if I would wake up screaming that night from another nightmare, I should think of him, because he was probably having one too!
He is always late. Most of the time around 15 minutes, but sometimes half an hour, and one time even 45 minutes, which made all of us women with full bladders in the waiting room feeling like we were going to explode any minute.
When he's finally there, you get the impression he tries to make up for his lateness by speeding us all through the ultrasound exams in no-time. If, heaven forbid, your bladder is either too full or not full enough (so he can't see your ovaries on the ultrasound), he'll send you back to the end of the line (which is a real bummer if you initially were second in line, and suddenly you're nr. 10), no mercy. He sees the follicles on the ultrasound, measures the biggest and then is able to write down the size of the rest as well. It seems to be pretty accurate... Before you have time to pull up your pants, he already opens the door to summon the next patient in.
Last year, when I had to come in for my IUI cycles, he somehow realized he was making me very nervous, so he started making jokes to make me feel a bit more at ease. Which helped, more or less.
However, last Wednesday he got me completely confused. While doing the ultrasound he said something like "it's Friday", so I reacted surprised. "Yes, yes, because we'll skip two days... - if you're OK with it" which made me think that he was talking about the time between triggering and egg collection, which confused me even more, because he had just measured the largest follicle being at 13mm, so not big enough at all to trigger ovulation. I already started to panic that I hadn't brought my Ovitrelle, so I mentioned that to him. "No, no, you don't need that". So I told him I was now very confused. "You just take 125 IU of Puregon tonight and come back tomorrow. Au revoir, Madame". Ugh.
That night I had a nightmare: Dr 'Speed' had forgotten to tell me how many IU of Puregon to take, so I asked my own doctor, who told me 500! Which freaked me out, because it was way to much, but no, no, it was necessary, because my follicles were not growing quickly enough... Luckily I woke up at that moment.
The next day I wanted to ask Dr 'Speed' about some abdominal pain I was experiencing, but again, the whole thing went so fast, and then he got a call on his cell phone, and walked out of the room... Before he got the call he'd made a note for the doctor who would do the ultrasound on Saturday, to say that maybe we'd trigger on Sunday, and had written down how much Puregon to take that evening, but had not given any instructions for Friday, which I needed since there would be no ultrasounds that day. The whole thing started to ressemble my nightmare a bit too much...
While the doctor was on the phone, I told the nurse about it all. He's great and we had a good laugh. Finally Dr Speed was done with his phone call. So the nurse asked him about the instructions for Friday 'for this woman who's triggering on Sunday'. "No, that's not what I said, I said MAYBE trigger on Sunday, that's up to the other doctor who'll do the ultrasound on Saturday!" So he added four more question marks to his note, gave the instructions for Friday and off he was.
Before I left, the nurse told me that if I would wake up screaming that night from another nightmare, I should think of him, because he was probably having one too!
late nights
No ultrasound or blood work today, the doctors and nurses have Friday evening off. I'm glad, because the whole week I haven't arrived back home before 8.30pm and then we'd still need to eat (not such a strange dinner time in France, but still). At those times I really miss all the great take-out places we had in the US, no such thing here...
Stimulation
Started follicle stimulation on September 16. Six days of 150 IUs, then first blood test and ultrasound on September 22. I thought I had brought the whole 'how much water to drink to have a full bladder without feeling I'm exploding' down to a science after six IUIs, but apparently the break was too long, because my bladder was too full, so it masked the ovaries on the ultrasound! Luckily it was not doctor 'speed' (who would've sent me to the back of the line) this time, but a more gently one, who just waited while he let me pee (just a little bit, which is pretty difficult if you have a full bladder). The ultrasound just showed 7 follicles - 2x 7mm on one side and 5x 5mm on the other side. I was a bit disappointed, but the doctor said everything was fine, I should continue with 150 IU Puregon and come back the next day...
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