30 WEEKS!!!!

What a big milestone!!! 30 weeks carries us into a whole new category of "preemies." Each additional day in utero after this point equals 3 fewer days in the NICU! Only four weeks left until Bennett is born :)

We had a biophysical profile ultrasound done this morning. Since several people have asked - a biophysical profile measures the general health of the baby. The baby gets a score out of 10 points, measuring five factors (each worth two points) - muscle tone (such as stretching out limbs), movement, breathing, amniotic fluid levels, and a non-stress test (fetal heart monitoring). A score of 8 or 10 is considered normal; 6 is borderline, and under 6 is abnormal. Today, Bennett scored a 6, so that is borderline. My AFI (amniotic fluid index) was about a 2, which is good for "me" but not considered adequate at this point in pregnancy, so we got two points off for that. The other two points were deducted for muscle tone, as the baby didn't move his limbs at all during the entire 30 minute ultrasound. He is in a complete frank breech position, with his legs outstretched up to his head, and had his hands on his head. She poked and prodded him a ton but he wasn't budging! He would have only scored a 4 today, but they saw an episode of hiccups, which isn't exactly "breathing" but my particular perninatologist "counts" that as just about as good :)

Sooo.....because of these two things, we are going to do another biophysical profile tomorrow morning. If I score a 6 or lower again, they are going to take me to L&D for more extensive monitoring. If it gets to be a 4, they may consider delivering the baby. So, please pray for lots of movement, hiccups (he can't "breathe" with the little amount of fluid he has), and a good fetal heart strip :)

Oh, and the other good news from the ultrasound is that my cervix is still long, which means its probably still closed or just slightly opened. This was a relief to hear, as I have been having many contractions and was getting worried about it. But, the good thing about him being breech is that his head isn't putting additional pressure on the cervix through contractions.

My sugar levels keep bouncing all over the place. The most "worrisome" number is my fasting sugar (when I first wake up before eating). The others range from high to normal at any given time. I'm sticking to the diet to a T. But, at this point, they aren't going to start any course of treatment because I'm getting the second round of betamethasone shots this weekend, which will send my sugar levels out of whack for a few days anyway. So, if after that the numbers are still trending upward, particularly the fasting number, they will put me on medication.

Thanks for checking in!!