The timeline

I have been meaning to post for a couple of days, but I've had the blahs. I'm not feeling bad, just quiet and unmotivated to do much. I'm 33 weeks along, I've been in the hospital for three weeks now, and instead of becoming more and more restless, I seem to be sort of melting into my bed, increasingly content with virtually no activity at all. My days revolve around meals, blood sugar checks, insulin shots, my daily non-stress tests, the three or four hours my mom and son are here in the late morning/early afternoon, and Ed's visits in the evenings. Every other day I get a shower, and that's a highlight. Every Monday I get to leave my room, riding in a wheelchair down the hall to have my weekly ultrasound. It's a weird sort of feeling of being in suspended animation here, a step removed from my real life. I'm not complaining - I know that real life will descend with a bang when I go home with a new baby. I'm looking forward to that, but in the meantime I'm just checking off days and happy for each one that passes uneventfully.

I talked to both my regular OB and my perinatologist this week about the expected timeline for the delivery. Since I arrived here, they have been referring to 34 weeks as the beginning of the countdown to delivery - the time at which they intend to perform amniocentesis, check for lung maturity, and schedule a c-section if the test is positive. I've had that date in my head for a couple of weeks now. But 34 weeks is only a week from today, and it suddenly feels really soon. Things are pretty quiet, and I'm not in a hurry to have this baby. Every day she stays in the womb is one more day for her to grow strong and healthy.

When I raised my concerns about the timetable with my doctors this week, they both agreed that if all still looks stable and uneventful at next Monday's ultrasound, we should be able to schedule the amniocentesis for the following Monday, December 26. That will put me at 34 weeks and 5 days. That five days could make a significant difference at this point in the baby's development, and I'm happy to wait the extra time.

If the test shows her lungs have a good chance of being well-developed, we can schedule delivery - but again, they can give me a few extra days if all is looking good. As I get further along, the baby will be monitored more closely, but assuming that nothing out of the ordinary occurs between now and then, I'd like to deliver as close to 36 weeks as possible.

If the test on the 26th shows that the baby's lungs are not yet mature enough for delivery, we will wait a week or so before scheduling the surgery, hopefully reaching that 36 week mark.

I feel relieved that my doctors seem calmer and less rushed to deliver the baby than they did when I first arrived. I hope that things stay stable throughout the next several weeks and the feeling of calm continues through the birth (although much more calm and I might end up as a puddle in the center of my hospital bed).

My doctor did order more frequent monitoring after my ultrasound this week because the baby has now turned head down. With the vasa previa being a risk factor, that's not really the good news that it would be in most pregnancies. If she starts to "drop," her head will rest on the very area that we are concerned about - that edge of the placenta covering my cervix and the cord insertion there with the exposed blood vessels. So they are listening to her heartbeat more often to make sure that she doesn't start compressing those vessels, but the doc feels it's just a precaution - he is not expecting it to become a big problem.

I did get to have a meeting with a neonatologist to go over details of what to expect as far as the baby's care and what she might need if she is born earlier than we plan. I also met with the anesthesiologist and my doctor to discuss the c-section and what to expect in a scheduled surgery as well as what might happen if an earlier delivery becomes necessary. I feel calmer when I have a good sense of all the what-ifs and know what will happen in different scenarios.

Honestly, though, I am feeling good about the coming few weeks. We're being cautious, but I fully expect things to work out exactly the way we hope. The baby will be healthy and well-developed and born around 36 weeks, and she'll get to come home with us after a normal length post-birth hospital stay. I can't wait.