Update on Samuel

We had an appointment last week for our 32 week checkup.  I was 31 weeks 5 days on the day of the appointment.  We were scheduled for an ultrasound so that Dr. Cole could check Samuel's growth.  Since I have mild hypertension (and have for about 3 years - controlled on medication) she wanted to be sure his growth wasn't being restricted.  I was very pleased to find out that he is head down!  I could have sworn he wasn't, but apparently that is his little booty pressing into my ribcage, not his head..  The tech looked around and measured his head, abdomen, and length of his femur.  He was measuring a week ahead, and an estimated 4 lbs 4 oz!!  She then took some pictures of his little profile.  Such a handsome guy I think :).

Profile shot at 31 weeks 5 days

After a minute, she began to check his umbilical cord.  She stayed in the same spot for a while, and then she asked if she could go bring in another tech to take a look at something.  That was enough to get my heart racing.  I wanted to know if everything was alright with our baby boy.  The other tech came in and they both looked for a minute before saying anything.  It felt like forever!!  Then our tech assured us that the blood flow through his cord was great, so that wasn't their concern.  Apparently they saw what appeared to be excess Wharton's Jelly in his cord.  I wasn't sure what that was until I got home and googled it, but apparently it is the lubrication that keeps everything in the cord from crimping or rubbing together.  So it's a necessary part of the 'stuff' inside the cord, they just saw an area that had a little too much.  The rest of our appointment went wonderfully, and Dr. Cole scheduled us for another ultrasound this past Wednesday (a week later) to check Samuel's cord. 

We went in this week for our ultrasound, and the tech immediately checked to make sure he was still head down.  Then she took lots of pictures and measurements of the cord.  Great news - excess Wharton's Jelly was gone!!  She took a few shots of his profile for us, and even got this sweet one of his nose and top lip :).  You have to use your imagination, his leg is in front of his face.  His nose is the triangle looking thing above the leg (you can see his two little nostrils in it). 

Front view shot of nose and lip (covered by his leg) at 32 weeks 5 days

Dr. Cole said that everything looks great with me as well!  My blood pressure is still doing good, still no signs of pre-eclampsia or other complications.  From the beginning of this pregnancy, I have had pre-eclampsia or some other blood pressure related issue in the back of my mind.  I've tried not to worry about it and to give it over to God (and for the most part I have succeeded).  I watched my best friend have some terrible complications and eventually develop HELLP Syndrome with her first pregnancy so I have been pretty aware of the possibility of that the past 8 months.  I really think that after this week's appointment I finally felt some relief from that worry.   God is blessing us with a healthy pregnancy, and we both look forward to holding our precious baby boy in our arms!!!

-Lessa