Saturday, January 28, 2012

25 weeks, 4 days

Well it sure has been an eventful couple of days.  Oy.

To start from the beginning.... last week I had a check up, and the OB told me I should start counting kicks at 25 weeks.  I'm supposed to feel 10 kicks in 2 hours, and if I don't, call immediately.  He followed up by telling us that "babies die" and even just 9 kicks meant something could be wrong.  Thanks for the pep-talk, right?

So naturally I started counting during week 24.  I mean, baby was active and I was able to count 10 kicks in less than 40 minutes.  I felt great.

Then this week there was a little change.  On Wednesday I wasn't able to sit down to count until pretty late.  I'd felt baby moving a lot at school, but I still wanted to officially count.  When I did, I felt nothing.  Like, not a poke, not a twist, nothing.  I drank OJ, I laid on my left, I pushed on my tummy.  Still nothing.  I laid awake in bed hoping for at least one sign of movement, and never felt anything.  I told myself that since I felt movement during the day, things were okay.  I had a nightmare that night that a doctor told me I wasn't pregnant (like, not even possible) and I fought with him over it.  I grabbed the ultrasound wand and gave myself a scan to prove I was pregnant.  His response was, "Well I'll be damned..."

On Thursday (conference night at school) I once again couldn't count kicks until pretty late.  I hadn't felt as much movement, or maybe just hadn't been thinking about as much because I was so busy, so when I sat down and felt nothing again, I really panicked.  I tried all the tricks from Wednesday, and even added some dance music via iPhone direct to the belly, and got no response.  I laid awake in bed again and had another nightmare that night.  This time I pushed on my belly, it deflated, then I had two bellybuttons, you could see into my stomach through one of them, and there was nothing in there.  Creepy and scary.

When I woke up Friday, I was super conscious of waiting for movement.  I still wasn't feeling anything.  I called the nurse at my OB at exactly 8am (when they open) and got a wishy-washy response.  She was neither concerned or reassuring.  She told me I should try drinking OJ and laying on my side.  [I did that!!]  I told myself I would keep waiting for movement until my planning period (at 12:45) and then I'd call a different office with the same OBs but different nurses.  At 12:45 I called and explained everything to a different nurse.  She wanted me to come in pronto for a non-stress test.  At her alarm, I was both nervous and relieved to be taken seriously.  My principal all but kicked me out of school and said everything would be taken care of.

The NST was not what I expected.  I guess I thought there would be an ultrasound or something, but instead they hooked me up to the belly Doppler and monitored baby's HB and kicks.  There was a little printout that showed how it was all going.  Baby wouldn't kick at first, so I drank loads of icy water.  The nurse also used this zapper thing to startle baby into movement.  He did kick after all that, but it was much more faint than it had been last week.  After a half hour I'd counted 13 kicks and the HB was steadily ranging from the 140's- 160's.  The nurse and OB were both pleased with the results, they reassured me that I had been totally right to be worried and come in, and then sent me happily on my way.  

I cannot tell you how relieved I was/am!  I guess the little nugget has moved to a spot where I can't feel him as well.  I think he's actually kicking my bladder as I have to pee about once every hour.  And, of course, he's been active ever since I left the NST.  I don't regret going in, because I know I would be a hot mess this weekend without knowing what I know now.  

So yeah.

In other baby news, I purchased two of the most adorable woolies last night off etsy.  The first is a soaker and the second, shorties.  Aren't they cute!?


I have to pee (again) so... goodbye!  (Sorry for no 25 week photo--I'll post one next week!!)

2 comments:

  1. Wow, such a hectic experience! My OB did not instuct me to count kicks (yet) but I know my little one kicked up a storm up until Christmas. We traveled by airplane and ever since there is a lot less action. I bought a doppler for home use ( I knew if ever a moment like yours came I needed to be able to reassure myself) and I hear a strong heartbeat on it.

    I hope your LO starts to move around again more often. Whenever I sit down in the classroom I get kicked in the bladder a lot too. I guess baby just likes to sit low.

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  2. It's interesting... he's been kicking like crazy since my NST! I went to see Jersey Boys today and he jammed and danced to the music the whole time. Crazy boy!!

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