Dr's visits ...

Well, here we are in December and I begin testing next week. My dr's visit went better than I expected and KP went along and kept me focused and helped address all of our concerns. What I found out with this Dr is that she is much more involved in research in this field than my previous dr's were as she cited so many studies and findings that I acutally relaxed (the nerdy part of me likes research and likes to hear new findings about just about anything).

What we found out was that the early ultrasounds (done at 5 and 9 weeks) are the most accurate for age identification (so our due date one Braden is correct) and the reason he is showing so big right now is either that he is just a gigantic child (hoping not) or that we just caught him at the end of a growth spurt. We are not going to be doing the twice weekly tests that I did with Garrett (non-stress test on Monday's and a Level 2 ultrasound on Thursdays) - we will be doing a Stress test every Thursday starting on 12/14. The difference in a non-stress test (nst) and a stress test is this - a nst monitors the baby for a specific period of time to just see how many movements we get or how long it takes to get 20 movements and a stress test actually monitors the baby while I am having contractions so they see if he is in distress or not. The fun part is how they induce contractions - I thought they'd use pictocin but no ... they want to go with nipple stimulation to cause them so this should be really a load of fun. The reason we're taking this route is that they are finding that results on a stress test are much more accurate in predicting fetal demise than the combo of nst's and ultrasounds. We will have at least one more ultrasound to check fluid levels as the new research is showing that decreased amnioitic fluid levels may be a large factor in stillbirths. So far we are still on for a Jan 10th induction ... unless something shows unfavorable on my test results and then we'll move earlier.

The bottom line is that my fear is subsiding as I feel that this dr not only listened to us (she talked to us for about 45 minutes just to make sure we were both ok with what was happening) but has a plan to make sure that this little boy gets here alive and well. What I am seeing now is that the devil used my son's death (AGAIN) to cause irrational fears in me - he will use anything to take our peace and joy in life. I also saw that regardless of how things appear on the surface that I really need to not react until I have all of the information as otherwise I am just opening myself up for the devil to work in my life.

I am finally starting to really get excited about Braden's impending birth. Honestly, I have been somewhat denying that this was coming our way until recently - I guess that was a defense thing. Anyway ... life is good in the Page household and I am excited about meeting my new little fella!

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