Week 31

Week 31 began a wild ride that still has not slowed down. I went for another sonogram in Tupelo on Monday, August 6. At this appointment my blood pressure had shot up to 143/97, but I had been talking to the nurse during the reading. She said she would get another measurement before I left the office, but we didn't end up doing that. We really should have. 


On August 6 Lydia was measuring 2 lbs 6 oz. Her heart rate was 140. Her head was measuring 30 weeks, abdomen 26 weeks, and femur 27 weeks. She scored a 10 out of 10 on her biophysical profile (BPP) sonogram. Dr. Patterson decided not to give me the betamethasone shot at this appointment because she didn't want the steroid to affect the outcome of my sonogram with Dr. BK the next day.


That evening we drove up to Memphis because our appointment with Dr. BK was at 7:30 am. It was this evening at the hotel that I noticed how swollen my feet and ankles had become over the course of the day. I blamed it on stress and a normal reaction to being pregnant during the heat of August.

On Tuesday, August 7 at my appointment with Dr. BK, we found out that she was actually in the less than 5 percentile for her due date. They measured her at 2 lbs 4 oz, with her head measuring right on time at 31 weeks. Abdomen and femur measurements were about the same, about 4/5 weeks behind. Her heart rate was 129, and she scored at 10/10 on her BPP. My blood pressure at this appointment was back to normal - 118/70. I forgot to mention the swelling in my feet and ankles, which hadn't gone away overnight.

Dr. BK explained that she had asymmetrical growth -- she was directing her energy into maintaining the growth of her brain and heart at the expense of her other organs, muscle, and fat. Generally that points to some sort of physical deficiency in the placenta or a lack of sufficient blood/nutrient flow through the cord. However, they still did not see any evidence of that on the sonogram and didn't find anything physically wrong with me or with baby Lydia. Blood flow through the cord was good, everything in my womb looked normal, and other than her small size she was a very healthy baby. He explained that the only thing that pointed to a growth restriction was the asymmetrical growth. Because my health was still really good and she was still really healthy other than her small size, everything else pointed to me having just a small baby. 

Dr. BK's plan of action was that me and Lydia would be monitored very closely to make sure that blood flow through the cord continued to look good and that she was growing. I would have biophysical profile sonograms twice a week - one in Tupelo and one in Memphis. He said that his goal was to get me to 34 weeks. That really freaked me out. Dr. BK told me to drive straight to Tupelo to get my first round of steroid shots, and we did. I drove back to Tupelo the next day, Wednesday, August 8, on my lunch break to get the second shot. I was scheduled to have a BPP and to see one of the other doctors in Dr. Patterson's practice on Friday, August 10. I would have another BPP and see Dr. Patterson on Tuesday, August 14. Dr. BK would see me on Friday, August 17.  

At this point, I was really frustrated to have to drive back and forth to Memphis and Tupelo so much. I was missing a ton of work and was having to catch up in the evenings. But, I was reassured knowing that I had two doctors monitoring Lydia’s health and mine. I was still optimistic that everything was fine, that Lydia would make it to her due date. Little did I know that I would be admitted to the hospital in a week.