When your pregnancy goes into overtime, additional testing is required and today I arrived at the Queens Medical Center for another AFI (amniotic fluid index) and NST (non-stress test). This is my third NST and my second AFI since last week. It’s definitely made us more familiar with Queens and now we’re not worried about getting lost on the big day. I almost opted to deliver at Kapiolani for the mere fact that it is nearly impossible to get lost there, whereas Queens can seem like a labyrinth of hallways. The thought of being in labor and getting lost on our way to the Labor & Delivery Unit is frightening to a first time mama like me.

We started with the AFI, the ultrasound administered by a new technician who just moved to Hawaii. Last week’s ultrasound took all of 15 minutes, but today it lasted nearly 45 minutes. I can’t blame the technician completely, though. Baby Champuru was being pretty uncooperative, moving around and making it tough for the ultrasound tech to get a doppler reading of the blood flow in her brain. She kept moving her head, which was apparently in an odd position. So, the technician ended up calling in a more experienced staff member who was able to get the reading despite Baby Champuru’s hyperactivity in the womb. “She’s rockin’ and rollin’ in there,” the technician remarked.

Twice during the scanning, I started to feel faint from lying on my back and had to ask her to stop while I sat up to recover. I suspect that the uncomfortable position that I was in, with my back arching, my knees locking, and my feet dangling off the edge, contributed to the problem. The baby was likely putting pressure on the inferior vena cava, causing my lightheadedness. Thankfully, I managed to get through the test without passing out and the test results were good.

We then went upstairs to the Labor & Delivery Unit for the NST. Baby Champuru was still bouncing off my uterine walls when they hooked me up for the NST. I was pushing the button to track her movement almost continuously for the first several minutes. During this time, her heart rate was running higher than normal. I wonder if my discomfort during the ultrasound test had stressed her out? Or maybe it was the exciting episode of Monk that we were watching TV that was making her excited? The nurse kept me on the monitor for almost an hour and had the on-call doctor review the results since she thought her activity level and heart rate was running high at times. The doctor looked at the graph for a few minutes and said that baby was fine and that he would be more concerned if she wasn’t moving as much. Very active is better than lethargic, which may indicate a problem with the baby. With that, the nurse let us go and said, “see you Friday!”

9/29/08 Stats:
40 weeks and 5 days
Blood Pressure: 107/68
Weight gain so far: 12 pounds (no change in weight since 9/22/08)
Fetal Heartbeat: Good
Cervix Dilation: 1 cm

The day started with a trip to the OB’s office for my weekly appointment. We went through the same routine: urine sample, weight, blood pressure, fetal heart rate, and cervix check. Everything looked good and the best news of all is that my cervix is finally starting to show progress at 1 cm dilation.

I asked the doctor about whether it was an option to delay the inducement to sometime after the two weeks overdue point, but she said that it is preferable to induce sooner than that to reduce the risk of complications. I’ll be 41 weeks and 2 days by then. She answered my questions to my satisfaction and so she bid us farewell for now and proclaimed, “see you at the hospital on Friday!”

In the meantime, Hubby and I are making it a point to go walking every day and perhaps I’ll indulge myself in a nightly foot massage, too. Maybe Baby Champuru will surprise us and beat the inducement date.

I spent most of the day lounging around the house, watching the Discovery Channel (MythBusters and Planet Earth), and napping for the better part of the afternoon. For some reason, I felt exhausted today even though I didn’t do much of anything — well, besides two loads of laundry. I decided that it wasn’t a such a bad idea to allow myself to rest in preparation for the upcoming big event: labor and delivery. Whenever that may be.

After my appointment with the OB tomorrow morning, perhaps we’ll get a better idea. At the very least, I’m hoping that I’ve moved past zero on the dilation and effacement progress. Also on the agenda is discussing the possibility of postponing the inducement date, which is presently scheduled for this Friday, October 3. I’ve been thinking about it, and I’d like to go as drug-free as possible — and using drugs to induce labor just doesn’t feel right to me. Of course, if the health of the baby necessitates it or it is deemed medically necessary, then I am not opposed to inducing. But, inducing just for the sake of inducing — or for my personal convenience or comfort. No.

The subject of inducement came up only because I inquired about it. At my last appointment, I asked my OB, “at what point would you consider inducing?” I don’t know if she thought I was asking because I wanted the inducement, but immediately she started looking at the calendar and said, “let’s schedule it for Friday, October 3.” I suppose I should have asked more questions at the time, but I always feel somewhat rushed during my OB appointments and I often need time to process my thoughts before questions come to mind. Now that I’ve had a week to think about it, I hope to get some things clarified.

I’m hoping that the doctor will order a BPP (biophysical profile) on Baby Champuru. I’d like to know how large the baby is. After all, that is one of the big concerns when you have gestational diabetes. Of course, if Baby Champuru is already pushing 8-pounds, I’d opt for the inducement. We’ll see what the doc says tomorrow. Hopefully she won’t just dismiss my concerns and insist on staying with the original plan.

I notice that the baby dropped a little and I am breathing a little easier, and as expected, there is more pelvic floor pressure and some minor discomfort in my lower abdomen from time to time. The Braxton Hicks contractions are picking up and it seems that Baby Champuru has been more active today than before. I am hoping that these are signs that Baby Champuru is getting ready to make her big debut.

More updates to come!

Last night, Hubby and I joined Mahealani and Lucy for dinner at Phuket Thai (pronounced “poo-ket”) at the Mililani Town Center. As a vegetarian, Mahealani was pleased to discover Phuket Thai’s extensive vegetarian offerings on the menu. All of us have a pretty decent tolerance for spicy food, so we decided to order everything “hot.” I was a little concerned, since I didn’t know what to expect. I mean, how spicy is “Thai spicy”? Normally, when dining out at restaurants and “hot” is offered, it barely registers on my taste bud thermometer. However, Thai food is known for setting people’s tongues aflame, so I wondered if I could handle it.

Green Papaya Salad

First out was the green papaya salad. Oh. My. Goodness. The first bite already had my tongue tingling and beads of sweat immediately surfaced on my cheeks. You know it’s spicy when the first bite already evokes a physical reaction. Obviously, I wasn’t the only one feeling the effects. Everyone at the table was reaching for their water glasses to put out the flames.

This worried me. If everything we ordered was that spicy, I would not be eating much - lest I find myself going into labor right there in the restaurant.

To finish my modest serving of salad, I had to empty my water glass. Woo. That bugger pretty much kicked my okole — and for me to admit that, well, it’s got to be hot.

Oyster Sauce Chicken

But then the other dishes started appearing and while they were spicy, they were not nearly as spicy as the green papaya salad. In fact, they were all very tasty, with just the right amount of spiciness to keep things exciting and the water glasses nearly empty. I say “nearly empty,” because the service is good and the servers are very diligent about keeping your glasses full. I guess you have to be at a Thai restaurant.

Sweet and Sour Fish

My favorite of the night was the Sweet and Sour Fish. The little chunks of pineapple and the tender pieces of fish made it a delightful dish.

Thai Fried Rice

The Thai Fried Rice was delicious, too, although I had to eat that in moderation due to my carb-restricted diet. If not for the gestational diabetes, I would have eaten two bowlfuls.

Vegetarian Peanut Curry

And of course, the obligatory peanut curry…

Needless to say, I managed to finish dinner without going into labor. Maybe next time.

I consider myself an animal lover as much as the next person, but sometimes I think PETA goes too far.

PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an organization that lobbies for the animal rights, recently sent a letter to the founders of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream urging them to replace the cow’s milk used to produce their ice cream with breast milk.

They’re concerned about the welfare of dairy cows — but what about the welfare of the women producing the breast milk? Does animal rights trump human rights?

Sure, we all know “breast is best,” but really, would you eat ice cream knowing that it was made from human breast milk?

I intend to breastfeed Baby Champuru for at least 6-12 months, knowing the health benefits for her. But would I consider spiking Hubby’s breakfast cereal with my breast milk or using it to cook up some corn chowder for the next family potluck? Um, no.

Honestly, I’m not sure what it is that freaks me out about it. I mean, if it’s good enough for my baby, why wouldn’t I consider consuming it myself? I’m not sure, but it just seems so… wrong. What do you think?

If Ben & Jerry’s decided to go with PETA’s suggestion, I guess they’d have to change their logo, now wouldn’t they? I wouldn’t want to imagine what that would look like.

Hooked up to monitors for the non-stress test.
Queens Hospital, Labor & Delivery Unit

I went in today for my second NST (non-stress test) at Queens Hospital, 10th floor Labor & Delivery Unit. The room they set me up in today was a bit smaller than previously, but comfortable enough. This time, the nurse showed me how to use the TV controller, so Hubby and I watched The Price is Right, hosted by Drew Carey. (Somehow, the show doesn’t have the same energy it had when Bob Barker was host.) Sadly, there really isn’t much of interest on daytime TV.

The nurse offered me ice water, which I graciously accepted. When I drank it, almost immediately, Baby Champuru started moving and her heart rate increased to 170 bpm. (Normal fetal heart rate is 120 - 160 bpm.) It appears that the dousing of ice cold water startled her and rudely awakened her from her slumber. After that, it seemed that she settled back in and went back to sleep, because she was pretty still for most of the test and her heart rate went back down to ~150 bpm.

About 15 minutes through the test, the nurse came in and studied the scroll of paper that the monitor was spitting out. “Hmm… is baby sleeping?”

“I think so,” I replied. “She was moving earlier, after I drank the water.”

“Try switching positions, maybe it’ll wake baby up,” she recommended. “Shift to your right, then come back this way.”

I did, but Baby Champuru didn’t budge. The nurse shook my tummy a bit, then put the TV remote (which contained a speaker) against my stomach, hoping that it would rouse my sleepy baby. Still nothing.

“I hate to do this, but I think we’ll need the buzzer,” she said and left the room.

I looked over at Hubby. “The buzzer?”

She returned with a handheld gadget. “Where did they say baby’s head was?” she asked. I indicated that at the last ultrasound on Tuesday, they said that her head was down. So, she positioned the buzzer against the top part of my abdomen and pushed the button. A sharp buzzing noise and vibration hit my tummy. Although it was not painful or uncomfortable to me, it was enough to scare the living daylights out of Baby Champuru because she kicked suddenly and started moving around.

Satisfied, the nurse left and returned a few minutes later with my OB who had been doing her morning rounds. The doc took a quick glance at the results and said everything looked fine.

So, unless Baby Champuru decides to come over the weekend, we’ll be seeing the OB on Monday again. I wonder if there’s been any dilation/effacement in the past week?

I was wondering what would happen with my baby ticker once I hit my due date (yesterday). The counter was at zero yesterday (see image to the left), but today it’s showing “1 day to go”. I guess the baby ticker creators didn’t take into consideration the late-comers like Baby Champuru and didn’t write that into the program.

Today, I’m not feeling much different from yesterday. The baby still feels like she’s sitting pretty high, right under my ribcage, and I haven’t felt that “lightening” effect that I’ve read about. Supposedly, when the baby drops into position, there’s supposed to be more space to allow your ribcage to expand, which would make it easier to breathe. But then again, I’ve read that there are also some undesirable effects of lightening, such as additional pressure on the rectum and pelvic floor which causes more frequent trips to the restroom and the feeling that the baby is going to fall out. (Yikes…) I’m not too concerned that I haven’t dropped yet, as it differs for everyone and some women don’t experience lightening until they’re in active labor — while some drop weeks before they’re ready to give birth.

If nothing else, I’m learning that in pregnancy nothing is the same for everyone and I just have to take it as it comes.