Update on Cosette

Austin going stir crazy at the dr.'s office

I wanted to blog when I got home yesterday but I was absolutely wiped out. I was asleep around 8pm last night and slept on and off until around 7 this morning. I was awake for hour long intervals during that time so it wasn't solid sleep but I did sleep a lot. The evil gut pain wasn't bad yesterday but it's back full force today - meaning it's been there for almost two weeks straight.  That'll wear you out right there. But... enough about me. Let's talk about Cosette.

Cosette Camille is due 5/5/15 so she is currently 24 weeks, 4 days gestation. (Peanut is 13 weeks, 1 day!). She has always measured a little smaller than her due date but it was a day or two days off, nothing major. At her anatomy scan at 20 weeks she was not quite big enough for them to get all the measurements of her heart that they wanted but they stressed to us that it wasn't a problem, she was just a little small. At that ultrasound they said she had a big head and small tummy. At her ultrasound on Thursday she was measuring 11 days to 14 days small and her amniotic fluid was a little low. Still within normal but on the low side. The OB doctor referred us to the Perinatologist and as I mentioned, I consulted with Dr. Google to know what kind of questions to ask while we were there. I mean, heck, if we're driving sixty miles to see a doctor, I want to get the most out of the visit.

Since I haven't really been well over the past two weeks or so with the extra pain, dizziness and stuff, we felt like it was better for Pop to drive us down there (and I'm thankful he was willing - because it was perfect golf weather). I wanted to go along (even though it was a long drive) because I was afraid Austin and Tasha wouldn't ask the questions I wanted to ask and also to support them and... to be honest this is a whole new situation for Austin to navigate and I feel like I need to be along to guide and encourage him. Because Austin does things like this:

Country comes to town

He was nervous and couldn't smoke because we don't smoke in Pop's car (I say "we" but I'm not part of that "we" because I never smoke) and the doctor's office was in a smoke free campus, meaning you have to walk about a mile away to be able to smoke. They put us in a room for an ultrasound that lasted - honestly, I didn't notice how long except that it was very long, close to an hour. The ultrasound tech was getting all kinds of measurements and data that I haven't seen them collect in the other ultrasounds. It was also a smaller screen so I was having to focus really hard to read the data. And they don't allow photos so even though there were some really cute shots, I can't share them. We had one with her mouth open like she was screaming. It was pretty funny.

From my research I had figured out that the worst complication would be the low amniotic fluid because that leads to higher risk of cord compression and other damages in utero. Also, if the placenta wasn't functioning correctly that would be a problem that would lead to premature delivery. I made sure to ask both the tech and the doctor if the fluid was adequate. It was fine. I asked if the placenta was working well and the tech said yes and showed us the blood flow through the umbilical cord which looked good to me (but what do I know, right?). I asked the doctor if the placenta was working right and he said the only way to know is if the baby is doing well and she's small so there is some reason for concern. He wants to follow up once a month with these longer ultrasounds to continue to measure her and monitor the fluid and stuff.

He also feels that we're at higher risk of stillbirth due to some of Tasha's pre-existing health issues (which is not really my story to tell so I'll not go into details there) so he wants to do non-stress tests on the baby twice a week starting at 32 weeks. We are not really sure if it's necessary to do these follow-ups at the Perinatologists office for all of these visits because it really is a long way and in a very congested area but I just keep thinking if the insurance covers it we should err on the side of being too cautious even if it's inconvenient because if we didn't and something happened... well, you know. Now that I'm certain how to get there I think I could manage the drive if we went earlier in the day (i.e. not during rush hour) but we'll let the OB interpret what the Perinatologist recommended and go from there.

The bottom line is that they don't know why she's small. It could be genetics because honestly, Tasha's mom is tiny and Tasha and Austin were both tiny well into their teens. Tasha's working hard to do better with eating a balanced diet and I honestly didn't get the impression that the doctor felt diet had much to do with it. It's tricky because Cosette needs to grow but they're trying to keep Tasha's weight gain between 11 and 20 pounds. She's gained 9 so far so she's on track with that. They told her to keep drinking lots of water and weren't even that freaked out when I outed her on her Red Bull habit. And thank God that Tasha doesn't get mad at me for calling her out on her Red Bull habit. I just wanted to make sure we weren't missing a possible cause of Cosette being petite. Because they don't know why she's so small they'll just keep a close watch on her and if she stops doing well on the inside, she'll join us on the outside. She is small but still within "normal" limits. If she gets below limits then they'll have to do something. And she's breech right now (which could definitely change) which affects the measurements because the angles are different. Or something.

We go back to the regular OB on the 12th and back to the specialist on the 13th of February. Until then, we'll just pray for Cosette to grow, grow, grow!

Now... for a bonus... some cat pictures....

Stubby and Edison - my fat boys

 Little Kitty spends about twenty hours a day on top of me. Either beside the laptop or on the arm of the chair or in my lap.

In the middle of the night - asleep on my lap