Still Kickin’

Well my friends, we’ve made it to 36 weeks with Baby Vowler! To celebrate the occasion, we had a CHOP appointment complete with a tour of the Special Delivery Unit. We had a BPP (biophysical profile), full body scan ultrasound, prenatal appointment with Maternal Fetal, blood donations to research efforts at CHOP, meeting with anesthesiologist, and finally a tour of Special Delivery Unit and NICU (neo-natal intensive care unit). Phew.

The biophysical profile measures baby’s heart rate, muscle tone, movement, breathing, and the amount of amniotic fluid around the baby. Go Baby V because he/she passed with flying colors again! We’ve also had several non-stress tests (the one where I’m hooked up to the monitors) and baby moves like crazy right on cue as soon as I’m hooked up to the monitors. I’m one proud mom! Once the BPP ultrasound was complete, we met with one of the Nurse Practitioners who started to work through a few labor-specific logistics. The policy at CHOP is that they won’t have you go past your due date before delivering. Guess what that means?! We have an induction date! Unless something happens sooner, we will check in the evening on 12/26 to start the induction process. Merry Christmas to us! As soon as she said that, I could not stop smiling! Somehow having a firm date makes things seem SO much more real and we can officially begin the countdown.

Baby is measuring steadily between 50-70^th percentiles, and weighs around 6 lb 5 oz currently. Take that with a grain of salt, though, because the ultrasounds can be off as much as a pound in either direction. Either way, baby is growing steadily and on pace for a healthy full term birth!

Some people have asked me if anything about the labor is different than a typical pregnancy. The short answer is no. CHOP has been wonderful and highly encourage vaginal birth, of course keeping health of mom and baby as primary concern always. In other words, the heart condition and Down syndrome do not change the delivery process at all. In fact, at this point, the only reason baby has to be in NICU after birth is for monitoring. The Nurse Practitioner reiterated to us that the baby is doing very well currently, and they don’t anticipate an extended NICU stay; they’ve told us to expect somewhere between 4-7 days. Of course that can always change depending on baby’s condition and stability, but we have high expectations for you, Baby! You’re about to make our 2017 our most interesting year to date!

Some of y’all were able to see the baby’s room at the BBQ shower, but for those that haven’t let’s take a little tour, shall we?

Happy weekend, all!

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