After returning from Winnipeg late on April 17th, Jeff and I stayed in Halifax because I had a prenatal appointment for the next afternoon. With a suitcase full of dirty laundry and wanting to get home as soon as possible, I wasn't really excited about my doctor's appointment. After speaking to my doctor about a few things and answering some questions, she took my blood pressure (which was fine) and then put the doppler on my belly to listen to the baby's heartbeat. As soon as she did that, I knew something was not right. It sounded very slow. It was 108 bpm, which is below the normal range of between 120 and 160. Baby Crocker has consistently been around 136-137 bpm. So needless to say that made me wake up and take notice. My doctor then sent me to the IWK for a planning score, which included an ultrasound and fetal monitoring. Before I left her office she explained all the tests to me and indicated that the worse case scenario would be that the baby might be in distress and they would take it from me that day. Holy carumba...talk about a panic attack. When I came out of my doctor's office, Jeff was all set to go home and I burst his bubble by telling him we had to go back to the hosiptal (we had already been there that morning to pre-register). I then proceeded to tell him the worse case scenario, so that he would be prepared. I think I was more worried about him than the baby at that point. He then declared "well, I only have the underwear on my back!!" I found that kinda cute and immediately informed him that if this baby arrived today we would have bigger things to worry about than his underwear situation!!!
So we arrive at the IWK and they immediately took us in, even though the waiting room was packed. They then did an ultrasound and a bunch of tests to see how baby was doing. Thankfully, the baby passed all the tests with flying colors and I was reassured that everything was OK. They weren't sure why the heartbeat had went so low, but weren't concerned because it came back up during the tests and the baby was very active. It was fun to see the baby on the screen and watch it move around. Poor thing looks pretty cramped in there! We also found out that the baby is a bit big for its age. They predicted the weight that day as being 5 lbs. 1 oz., which is what it should weigh in a week or two. Ouch.
So, lessons learned: 1) Babies have a schedule of their own and will do what they want, when they want...even if Mommy and Daddy aren't prepared, and 2) Mommy needs to pack proper hospital bag and tuck extra underwear in the glove compartment for Daddy.
Monday, April 18, 2005
Mommy and Baby Crocker travel to Winnipeg!
On April 8th, Mommy and Baby Crocker travelled to Winnipeg so I could work at the 2005 Canadian ringette championships. I was 31 weeks and 5 days when I left and exactly 33 weeks when we returned on April 17th. Being away from home (and Daddy) for nine sleeps was rough, but we made it through. I was a bit worried flying but everything turned out OK. Baby Crocker didn't get much sleep because I kept poking my belly to make sure baby was moving. I am sure Baby Crocker will pay me back with late night awakenings after being born. Work was very busy and I didn't get to rest as much as I hoped I would, but overall everything went fine. I was VERY glad to be back home!
Pregnancy buddies..
Alayne and Anick showing off their bellies on April 8th. Anick is due two weeks after me and is having a little girl!!!
