Went for my regular prenatal with the MWs and the baby's heart rate was quite low--about 110--compared to 150-160 where it usually is. She was also pretty quiet, and she usually puts on a big show for the MWs. Really they figured the baby was just asleep but they sent me to the hospital for a non-stress test just to be sure. I wasn't really worried, but my poor dh really was.
And, everything was fine. I had a sandwich before we went up to L&D and the baby's heart rate was up where it usually is consistently.
But I did get another reminder why I'm just not interested in hospital OB care for a low-risk pregnancy. Even though the heart rate and movements were all fine, they wanted to do an ultrasound.
: They wanted to check amniotic fluid level. Now I've been drinking 100+ oz of fluid, mostly water, for the last 4 days because it's been exceptionally hot here this week. My belly is quite big and squishy and I knew my MWs would be very pleased with me, which they were (I was a little dehydrated last week).
So the way they measure amniotic levels via u/s is to measure the size of "pockets" of fluid around the baby. Well the thing about this baby is that she's only occupying the bottom half of my uterus at this point because she's so low and she very curled up. There are about 5 inches from her top-most body part to the top of my uterus and the tech never really looked in that area.. There is LOTS of room in there and LOTS of fluid.
The u/s tech said the level was 8.1 (it's millimeters) on a scale of 7-18. Okay, whatever, in the range and I'm term so we're not worried. But then the doctor comes in and tells me the range starts at 9, "but we won't quibble about a millimiter," he said. He then went on to lecture me about how I was severely dehydrated and that I need to up my liquid intake immediately so I don't go into labor and hit a wall because I'm so dehydrated.:
So I just smiled and said thank you and went home knowing all was well.
And, everything was fine. I had a sandwich before we went up to L&D and the baby's heart rate was up where it usually is consistently.
But I did get another reminder why I'm just not interested in hospital OB care for a low-risk pregnancy. Even though the heart rate and movements were all fine, they wanted to do an ultrasound.
: They wanted to check amniotic fluid level. Now I've been drinking 100+ oz of fluid, mostly water, for the last 4 days because it's been exceptionally hot here this week. My belly is quite big and squishy and I knew my MWs would be very pleased with me, which they were (I was a little dehydrated last week).So the way they measure amniotic levels via u/s is to measure the size of "pockets" of fluid around the baby. Well the thing about this baby is that she's only occupying the bottom half of my uterus at this point because she's so low and she very curled up. There are about 5 inches from her top-most body part to the top of my uterus and the tech never really looked in that area.. There is LOTS of room in there and LOTS of fluid.
The u/s tech said the level was 8.1 (it's millimeters) on a scale of 7-18. Okay, whatever, in the range and I'm term so we're not worried. But then the doctor comes in and tells me the range starts at 9, "but we won't quibble about a millimiter," he said. He then went on to lecture me about how I was severely dehydrated and that I need to up my liquid intake immediately so I don't go into labor and hit a wall because I'm so dehydrated.
:So I just smiled and said thank you and went home knowing all was well.
