God is Good!!!

December 3, 2009

What a busy afternoon! I had my sonogram with the perinatologists. Baby is still growing. I am 31 weeks 5 days. Baby measured right at 31 weeks, and approximate weight 3 pounds 13 ounces - how cute is that? I have felt from the beginning that this baby is a little girl. The tech couldn't confirm, but she thought the baby was a little girl as well. If it is a girl, her name will be Grace Elizabeth Butler.

Now on to the results of the sonogram. The heart has become significantly more enlarged and thickened. The bladder was HUGE. The doctor theorized that maybe there was a bladder obstruction to begin with that prevented the baby from urinating. This then caused the urine to back up into the kidneys, causing an increased amount of pressure withing the kidneys and ultimately forming the cysts. Or, it could be that there are two problems - a separate bladder obstruction and multicyctis kidneys from the start. The bottom line is the kidneys still don't function, there is still no amniotic fluid, and the lungs have not developed. Plus the heart is so big it is compressing the lung tissue. So, when the baby is born, it will still die from breathing problems.

Now for the good news! My placenta has moved completely out of the way!!!! It is no longer covering my cervix! This means I do not have to deliver by c-section, but instead naturally! What a relief that was. I had come to accept whatever God's will was in regards to the method of delivery, but was overjoyed to know that I wasn't going to have to have a c-section!!!! God is so good!!! Thank you to all who prayed that my placenta would move!!! :)

I discussed with Dr. Bruner how my blood sugars have been increasingly difficult for me to control. For those of you who do not know, I developed gestational diabetes with my 2 previous pregnancies, but fortunately I was able to control with diet. This pregnancy has been a challenge to maintain my blood sugars - they are all over the place. In a normal situation, they would put me on medication to manage my sugars. But Dr. Bruner point blank said it would be in my best interest to just deliver the baby instead of trying to treat the diabetes.

So we headed over to Dr. Molland's office. Between the two doctor visits, Rick and I spent hours in waiting rooms! But we finally saw Dr. Molland - fortunately Dr. Bruner had already called him with the results of the ultrasound. Dr. Molland performed an internal exam and discovered that I have already started to dilate (1 cm only, but it's a start)! He will recheck me in one week, and the tentative plan is to admit me on Monday, December 14th to induce labor. It's hard to believe that in only a week and a half our little baby will be here!

Thank you again to all of you who have been praying for us! I humbly ask that you continue to pray for us, as the hard part is almost here!