20 week appointment and paint color decided!

Yesterday I had my 20 week appointment at the OB's. It started out with all the usual goodies: call your name, weigh in, blood pressure check, p17 shot in the bottom - the nurse once again asking if it hurt (nope she always does a good job - better than the IM ones I've given myself before), transvaginal ultrasound to measure my cervix and check the cerlcage, sitting down to go over everything with my OB afterwards, internal exam to check my cervix and exam for him to look at the cerclage stitch. Best part of the appointment was when my OB was doing the internal exam, little girl Spot actually moved so much that he felt her head pop up on my abdomen with his other hand. How he knew it was a head is beyond me - I guess that's why he's the doctor. But I got to see it while it was happening, which I didn't think I'd be able to see movement that clearly from the outside so early. Our little girl probably feels like someone's always knocking on the door of her home with all these cervix checks - and probably jumped back when we startled her yet again. Still, seeing (and feeling) such definite signs of life inside of me from our little girl brought a smile to my face.

Blood pressure, weight, and p17 shots - all smooth sailing as always. Cervix - ever problem child was 1.9 soft and squishy - not the best - but I guess can always be worse. Contractions - yes, there are still contractions. Huge ole contraction during exam, and my OB whom I love was not thrilled (not that I thought he would be). We discussed more game plans. Next week I'll pick up my script for the steriod shots to make sure that I have them filled and available for when I turn 24 weeks (three and a half weeks away only!) Monday August 18th when I turn 24 weeks we'll do the first round of steroid shots, and then the next day on the 19th we'll do the second round. For now we'll continue the p17 shots twice weekly and add indocin (to be discontinued in a few weeks). We'll continue frequent cervix checks, and add another growth scan to monitor little Spot's progress in a week and a half. If my contractions pick up to 6 or more an hour then he wants terbutaline and me to be monitored up in L & D. He told me that it may make me feel a little better if I had a little bag packed at home that I could grab and take with me to the hospital, "Just in case I needed it." Since my OB is a calm, cool collected type and not ever trying to get people all worked up or excited he quickly added, "Don't worry, just because if you end up in L & D and have to get terbutaline, and have to stay for a few days does not mean that the Mag Sulfate gods are going to appear and start dancing in front of you - holding you captive for weeks on end in the hospital. I want you to be home as much as you do, and we will do everything possible to keep you there for as long as we can."

I then laughed and smiled and said, "well I hadn't thought that far ahead to even start getting the fear of Mag in me quite yet. But it's good to know that just because I may have to go in for a few days in the future - it doesn't mean I will never return home before I deliver." Some docs will start terbutaline without the patient being monitored at the hospital, or up in L & D. But I think my OB just doesn't want to start me on anything that major, without keeping me on a monitor to see exactly how I react. There are a gazillion approaches to the same problems in medicine and that is just his - more than one way to skin a cat I guess. Hopefully when that happens I can just respond beautifully to some Terb, stay for a few hours and get the heck home. But I guess time will tell.

So that's pretty much what's going on for now. I'm not sure why I'm so reluctant to pack the little bag he talked about. Perhaps when I do that I feel as though I'm throwing in some proverbial towel and admitting defeat? Or perhaps it's the ugly stepchild named Denial that I'm fostering inside right now. Who the heck knows...all I know is that I'm having a little trouble making myself do that right now - at the 20 week mark. So instead I chose to come home and pick a paint color for the nursery at last - and it's a color I feel good about :-) Maybe I'll have a picture of the room actually painted that color sometime next week to share - that'll be a nice feeling. And a few people asked me what bedding I've picked out. Truth is I haven't actually decided on anything specifically yet. We have the bassinet - and the bedding that goes with it is the same that is in the picture I posted earlier. As far as for the crib bedding I'm leaning towards this one - but nothing set in stone. I found it at Restoration Hardware's new baby line, they have some cute stuff. It's not very frilly - but neither am I.


Hope everyone's week is going great - it's almost the weekend! As always, I truly appreciate all of your kind words, and asking how appointments went, and good wishes for the cervix and all- it has made the weeks fly by instead of dragging so much. If you get a chance go give Irish Girl a little reassurance or good thoughts - her IVF cycle just got done and her first beta was not that reassuring aka she is in beta limbo land hell. On a happy note Adriane had her twins at 33 weeks and they're doing great!