On Wednesday 17th I had an appointment with the dermatologist. I had noticed some red spots in the last few months and I was due for a check anyway. It turned out well. The red spots were just little blood spots. The doctor said they may fade after birth. If they do not I can have them removed.
Then on Friday I had an appointment at my normal OB-GYN. They only checked the heartbeat with the doppler, checked blood pressure and etc. I brought up being induced after the discussion with the MFM. The PA I met with said that the MFM had agreed with their recommendation even though the MFM had told me that they thought the recommendation was good but that they would work with me if that wasn't what I wanted. I think the notes likely said that we discussed it but I think the PA exaggerated that the notes.
I also tried to discuss what would happen during the induction. The PA said that it was too soon to discuss. That made me so angry. After all my sister's doctor had explained what he would do and he isn't my doctor. So how could it be too soon to discuss. I left pretty frustrated with them but scheduled for the 28 growth scan and gestational diabetes 1 hour test.
The next day I had a prenatal massage. My mom had a gift card that she needed to use and with covid numbers being down we felt comfortable going. It felt so
Since late January early February I have had some pain in my pelvic bone. At first I thought it was a yeast infection. I generally do not have any symptoms with those but I thought it could be different when pregnant. But the pain did not go away from the treatment.
I didn't have any pelvis pain and when I did it was usually in the morning. It also hurt when I would move from one side to the other when sleeping. I wasn't too concerned at first since it wasn't too bad and not frequent. Then I was watching a vlog and someone said they had lightening crotch. So I thought that was what it was. Since it was in the area and even though I tried the description of the lightening crotch are pretty vague and variety. So for a while I thought I was having that.
Around the first week of March week 27 I heard about symphysis pubis diastasis (SPD). It sounded like me so I looked it up and it is the separation of the joint without a fraction. During pregnancy your body creates more of the hormone that helps the pelvis relax and become stretchy but sometimes it becomes too relaxed and stretchy. If the bones pull apart too much or misalign to much then it can cause pain. It is normal to widen 2-3mm during last trimester but more than that can be uncomfortable. In rare cases if the gap is 10mm it can cause diastasis symphysis pubis which I think is similar to when abs diastasis during pregnancy.
My symptoms fit much more with SPD and if I do exercises and stretches for SPD it helps relieve the pain. However if I have a bad night turning over in bed several times then it seems like all my hard work gets wasted. I wake up much worse than the night before. But usually by the afternoon it will be more manageable and some days are much better than others. I would say the highest my pain has been is 4. If it stays like this it does seem tolerable since I have stretches now, so hopefully it doesn't get worse. Hypermobility runs in my family so I think it might be that we are more prone to being flexible and stretchy so that may have made it more inevitable. I read that 1 in 300 women experience spd but it might be closer to 25 percent of women. I know that I have yet to bring up to my doctor as it doesn't really seem like there is a lot they can do, I may see a physical therapist to help. They may be able to do adjustments or help with more exercises.
On the last weekend in February I got together with my sister and mom to plan the baby shower. I had been playing it by ear but with Covid numbers down and vaccines up I feel comfortable having a baby shower in April. At this point my sister and I have the biggest risks and since we are both ok with the risk I felt like it was ok to plan. I decided on a little cutie theme a while ago. I think probably it is a gender neutral theme however it is also a spring theme. So I wanted the bright spring colors. I am a naughty guest of honor though because I bought some of the decorations, party favors and invitations. It is fun for me to do that stuff and not so much my sister or mom. So I was trying to make it easier on them but also I like doing the planning so I didn't want to get left out.
On March 2, I had a follow up with the MFM it was week 27. It was only an ultrasound. The baby was laying transverse, (horizontal). The tech said oh she is laying so nicely and we need to do all these pictures for our annual evaluation can we try to get them with your baby. Of course I said sure because I love more pictures. So in addition to looking at the heart and a picture of the face she was able to get every other part, crown/head size, legs, arms, hands, feet, face, kidneys, cord etc. I don't think we would have looked at all of that otherwise. So I ended up with a few dozen pictures and videos. The tech also said the fluid was down even more than the first visit. When I looked at the scans later she was measuring at least 1 week ahead of her due date which was the 87th percentile.
I think it was after this visit that I decided to change obgyns. I was trying to decide between using the MFM or going with my sister's doctor. I liked the MFM but he wouldn't be my doctor now. I at least know a little bit more about my sister's doctor than the ob's at the MFM's office so I decided to switch to my sister's doctor. Since I wanted to see her doctor and he is a pretty senior doctor I had to book the appointment for the 19th. I didn't want to have a lapse in care so I didn't cancel my appointment for the growth scan or glucose test, with the glucose test I think it is supposed to be done by week 28. So cancelling might make it harder to test later.
The next day I had a meet and greet with a pediatrician that is part of the Phoenix Children's Hospital group. She was very nice and I liked her a lot. When I was leaving however I remembered that my pediatrician as a kid was pretty young and I thought maybe he was still working. So I looked him up and he is still working at the same place. So I scheduled a meet and greet with him as well. I loved him as a kid and I think using the same doctor will be fun. The office is a little farther away but I think it will be worth it especially after the first year is over with. If he is different than how I remember than I will probably use the doctor I visited on the 3rd.
Ten days after the follow up with the MFM I had the growth scan and my glucose test. The drink for glucose tasted like little hug fruit barrels from what I remember as a kid. So it wasn't terrible but it was a lot of sugar. It did make me a little nauseous until I ate something after the visit. The scan was not as fun as the MFM scan. The tech is definitely not as good. Plus the baby had her hands and feet in front of her face so the tech could not get the baby's face. She was also moving around a lot and the tech kept making me roll over to different sides. It hurt my pelvis to do that but I didn't say anything.
I had thought that the baby had moved so she was not transverse on that Tuesday because when she is transverse it feels like my stomach is pulled more but it felt less taunt on Tuesday and the night before there was a so many flutters and squirms. I was correct that she was not transverse but at the scan she was now completely breech. It stressed out my mom a little bit because I was breech, but she still has 36 weeks until she can no longer turn on her own, and it isn't until 32 weeks that there is a real concern.
When I met with the PA after it was the one PA that I liked at the office. So I was happy about that but even with her I felt like I was being rushed through, brushed off and I felt like she hadn't reviewed my file prior to meeting with me. She said that their measurements for the fluid was still higher than what is normal but not by much and since the MFM has the better equipment/tech she was believed the MFM results more. She also said the baby was not measuring 34 percentile. I don't know how a baby goes down 50% in ten days but she that it was likely between the two but closer to the MFM numbers since they had better technology. I guess as long as the baby is not large or small for gestational age they aren't too concerned with the difference even if it's that big.
They also sent me home with a kit to collect my urine over 24 hours. I think because at the MFM I filled out the form saying my dad had a heart attack and I'm over 35 the MFM felt that taking baby aspirin was a good preventative step against preeclampsia. However because of this MomDoc thinks that I need a baseline for protein levels to watch out of preeclampsia. My blood pressure has been really good thus far and none of my urine samples previously have tested high for the protein. So I don't know if it was really necessary to test for that but since I knew I was switching obs I didn't question it too much. I let them schedule me for two weeks later but I plan to cancel as soon as I am fully transferred to New Horizons.
On Saturday we decided to visit my Grandma in Tucson. She has been isolated for almost a year. She only goes to chemo, doctors, and most of her visits consist of my Uncle delivering groceries. She turned 90 in December and we didn't get to celebrate with her. When she turn 85 she had done 10 pushups on her knees when my Uncle and cousins all did an bunch of them. The last 5 years she caught up more with her age. She is still living on her own but she agrees that she is ready to move to an assisted living of some kind. She has a hard time keeping up with the chores at the house, she also will be able to socialize with other residence and do activities, and it can help with medical care. So that might be what happens in the next year or so with her. I think everyone is a little reluctant since people in assist living have been even more isolated in the last year. So no one is in a rush to move her. Now that she has a hearing aid she does much better keeping up with conversations so her mind isn't declining more than normal.
Visiting with her was very nice. We all chatted and were happy to see her. My aunt and Uncle came over as well. Naomi was very friendly with them but she also wanted to explore the house. We were only there for the afternoon but it was a lot of fun being with everyone again. Dad, Uncle and Grandma are fully vaccinated and my Mom and Aunt both have one dose so they will be fully vaccinated soon. So it was also nice that we didn't need to distance too much. Oh and the night before the mountain got snow on it so it looked really pretty from my Grandma's back porch.
I had to reschedule my meet and greet with my old pediatrician because of a conflict at work so I didn't get to visit Dr. Aaron on Wednesday. On Friday I had my appointment with my new doctor. I went into the appointment and every one was super nice. Since I was transferring the staff went over the cost of the birth and appointment. It was pretty much the same amount as at MomDoc so not surprising. She asked me why I switched practices so I just said that I felt unsatisfied with care and ignored. I didn't want to be too harsh, but I didn't change on a whim either.
I was then called back and the PA checked the heart 140 bpm. She didn't even have to move the doppler and she found it right away. Then she checked blood pressure before leaving. She also asked why I changed doctors. I waited a little longer for the doctor but he came in. He asked why I had switched too. I told him and I also said that he was my sister's doctor. I knew she liked him and I felt comfortable switching at almost 30 weeks because of that. So he asked about my sister and I think that helped him remember the conversation he had with her in January about me. He also remembered my mom from over a year ago! He already had already looked over all my records (I had requested the transfer after the glucose/growth appointment) the night before so he was familiar with my file. He saw the scans with the fluid on the heart from my doctor and the MFM as well. He said that he felt that everything looked good there but he wanted to schedule an ultrasound, the next for his own look. He can do high risk pregnancies but the fluid might be too high.
Then he said that since I was "advanced maternal age" that starting at 32 weeks (about 2 and a half weeks from then) that I would go in twice a week. Once for a non-stress test (NST) where they put sensors on belly and monitor for 20-30 minutes and once for an ultrasound also 20-30 minutes. At the ultrasound they are looking at the fluid in the sac and placenta. The two tests can help tell them if I might be going into labor or if I need to be induced or have a c-section. The appointments are either Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday so there is only ever 4 days between appointments. I liked that he explained what would happen and why it would happen. It's not exciting to go in twice a week but now that I understand that makes it better. Hopefully with all this monitoring I can maybe push to delaying an automatic induction at 39 weeks if everything is still looking good then. However, I think since I feel more comfortable with this doctor already and they explain things to me in a reasonable way I will be more willing to accept being induced early. I feel like they are interested in making sure that we are both receiving the best care and that will help me trust being induced more.
After that he did a pelvic exam and measured my stomach. My cervix was still high and closed so that is good. The cervix moves closer as delivery approaches and obviously opens as well.
The lady checking me out scheduled my scan for this Friday. I also needed to sign another medical release since the glucose test results had not been transferred over. She said that she would work on getting me all scheduled out for my bi-weekly appointments. She asked if I preferred Monday/Thursday or Tuesday/Friday more. I have meeting some Thursdays so I said Tuesday/Friday. She asked about time preference, if I could be scheduled at gilbert location and if I needed to see Dr. Swarup every time. I said I preferred mornings, that I would go to Gilbert if I have to but it is pretty far from me, and I like the doctor I saw but seeing a different doctor sometimes was ok. At the hospital I don't really have a choice on which doctor will be there and the doctor I saw only works at the hospital every other Tuesday. So meeting the other doctors is ok with me.
On the 21, my mom, sister and I got together to get some things done for the shower. We finished ordering decorations, ordered the cakes (one cake and a few cupcakes for gluten free friends), planned the games and made a decision on the food which will be ordered this week. It was fun but walking around the stores so much made my pelvis hurt a lot more last night and today.
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