A day in the life of Anna Skamarakas
There’s a New Baby Headed Our Way!
This is a bit of a journal that I started to keep you updated on where we are, what we are doing, and how things are going. As most of you know, our history with these things is not good. Besides being blessed with Brighid and Eilis, I have also lost 5 other babies. So far, though, the doctor says we can be cautiously optimistic, so we have decided to spread the word!
NEWS
Today was the last of 3 doctor appointments in a week! It’s exhausting! On Monday, I went in for my second non-stress test. These tests cause me considerable stress for a variety of reasons, and having failed the one last week, I was not anxious to go again. Fortunately, this time, I ended up passing, but not without what seemed like an eternity in the chair, and some doubt from the technician about whether or not the doctor would accept it, since the baby had fallen off of the monitor a few times. From there, I went on to my appointment with Dr. Mackey. So far, everyone at this new office is very nice, and she is no exception. She said that my blood pressure was high when they took it at the beginning of my appointment, and combined with the results of my 24 hour urine from the week before, she was inclined to think I was becoming pre-eclamptic. That is the condition I developed during my pregnancy with Brighid that caused her to be born so early. The doctor decided to redo my blood pressure when I mentioned how stressful the non-stress test was, and found my BP to be 122/70 thank goodness! She had spoken of hospital admission, and I was so relieved to be back in the normal range on the blood pressure scale.
To be on the safe side, she instructed me to repeat the 24 hour urine, and return on Wednesday, 3/16 for a blood pressure check. This time, I met with Dr. Cortese, a very nice man who was glad to give me the news that my BP was normal. He also said while I was there, he would look for the baby?s heartbeat, because he said it?s such a treat to hear it, and after all I’d been through worrying about the test, I deserved a nice treat. He also asked me about names and things, and reminded me that there is an end in sight, now that they have scheduled my c-section for April 29th.
Today, I saw Dr. Rothman at the ante-natal testing unit. The baby measures 4 pounds, 6 ounces, already bigger than Brighid when I brought her home from the hospital! He said everything else was right on target, and suggested talking to the new ob/gyn about either them or the ATU taking over the monitoring of my blood sugars. I have an appointment on Monday for another NST, so I’ll talk to the doctor about it then.
We took Eilis today for the sibling class at the hospital where we will have the baby. She had a good time, and she was so well behaved! The class started off with each of the kids getting a coloring book, and that was followed by watching a movie called “Silly Siblings”. Eilis enjoyed the movie, and really seemed to be paying attention to it. We then got to go on a “baby hunt”. The teacher told them we would be taking a secret tunnel underground over to the hospital, where we would hunt for new babies. Eilis loved the fact that she was going in a secret tunnel, but then by the time we got into the maternity ward, she forgot what we were there to hunt!
We went right to the nursery, where there were no babies, but the teacher found one for us right away. The baby was 2 days old, and was tiny, pink, and so adorable. Eilis took a good long look through the nursery windows at the new little bundle, before hoping off of the bench to continue her tour of the hospital. There were no empty rooms, so they were unable to show the kids where the mommies would be once the babies were born, but on the way out, another new baby was being wheeled out of her mommy?s room for a hearing test. The baby was right at eye level for Eilis, and she got an up close peek at what her new baby will be like.
We went back to the teaching facilities afterwards, and the kids had some snacks. Then the teacher showed them how to hold the new babies, how to feed them, and how to change diapers. Eilis did all of those things without any trouble, and was so proud of herself for getting a certificate with her name on it!
She got to pick the place for lunch after she passed the class, so we headed off to Wendy?s. She called Brighid and Dram and Megan to let everyone know how great her class was. She has been much more interested in the baby since then, even reprimanding me for doing my insulin shots the other day because “they might hurt the baby.” I was really worried about how she would be, but I think she?ll do just fine.
The dreaded non-stress tests began today, and I failed the first one. Again, everyone I encountered today was so wonderful, but it is a devastating blow to fail these tests. The test basically has you lay on a table or in a chair with a monitor attached to you. They want to make sure that in 20 minutes, the baby moves enough times and each time, the heart rate responds appropriately to the movement, like it increases sufficiently but does not stay elevated.
Since I failed the NST, I was sent immediately for a biophysical profile. This is an ultrasound where the baby is tested for four different things. The maximum score for each thing is 2, so you are aiming for a total of 8 on the test. I scored 6 almost right away, but the final 2 points, for “practice breathing”, took almost the full 30 minutes they allow. Had I not passed this portion of the test this week, they would have let me go home, but as my due date gets closer, not passing this part of the test is reason to go to the hospital for further monitoring. Scary.
I had my first appointment today with the new ob/gyn office. They are very warm and very friendly, and everyone spent a good deal of time with me going over things. This seems like a very nice office, and they are pretty organized. I can?t imagine I?ll ever have to wait too long to see anyone here. Everything is organized into pods, and you are sent to the pod you need to be in to wait. There is a pod for lab work, one for ultrasounds, one for NSTs, etc.
They will see me here once a week beginning next week for non stress tests and weekly visits until I am 36 weeks pregnant, then I will be there twice weekly. I am secretly hoping I have the baby sooner than that, but only for selfish reasons. I know it?s better to keep the baby in as long as I can, but I am so tired and cranky all the time! Oh well. I can?t imagine I?ll be any better when I?m the sleep deprived mother of three!!