Dialysis Day 61

More On The Ultrasound

If you read the Ultrasound Update, then you know that my appointment went well. The baby gained a large amount of weight since two weeks ago. She weighs 2 pounds 12 ounces. And if she continues at the same pace then she could possibly be 6 pounds 8 ounces in four weeks! They are still saying that her head and abdomen are measuring small. But, they are growing at a constant rate. That's good news.

I asked lots of questions at this OB appointment. The one that was most important to us was "What should we expect after delivery? Will she be whisked away or get to stay in the room with us?" Jason and I are really concerned about this. We just want to know what to expect. The doc said if she's at least 34 weeks then there is no reason to expect that she'd need to leave us. Jason and I have already talked about what I want HIM to do if she does leave us. I'd rather he go with her than stay in the room with me. I'll be fine.

I asked if I need to talk to our pediatrician about our situation to make sure they are aware. The doc said it might be worth a call but there is no reason to make an appointment.

I asked about steroids to help develop her lungs. The doctor said that she's been through alot of stress and stress is actually good for developing baby's lungs. She said that if MY health starts to decline and they feel like we need to deliver to save me then they'll do steroid shots for the baby. But until then, we'll forget about it.

The OB doctor also said we need to start coming up with a plan for dialysis after delivery. When you deliver you are given fluids, so I'm going to be getting more fluid than I'm supposed to get in one day. If it's not my day to dialyze, they might want to send me down anyway. I'm excited that we're starting to talk about delivery plans. If I knew the baby would be healthy I'd want her out now!

Ultrasounds Yesterday

I had an upper abdomen ultrasound yesterday to prep for transplant. They took a look at my liver, pancreas and gall bladder. The first thing the ultrasound tech said when she started was, "Oh! You're pregnant! I wasn't sure!" I know I'm small, but I think it's starting to become visually obvious that I'm pregnant. She's a new mom, so she stopped the upper abdomen ultrasound and started looking at the baby instead. I think she thought she was doing me a favor, letting me see the baby. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I've seen her enough! She said that when she was pregnant she did an ultrasound on herself once a week. She lost her first baby, so I guess I probably would have done the same thing.

I also had and ultrasound on my fistula to see if it is ready to use. The doctor wanted it to be 7 millimeters in diameter all of the way up my arm. Unfortunately, there were several spots smaller than that. There were also spots as wide as 10 millimeters. So he doesn't want them to use it until he can do an angioplasty. That's when they take a balloon and send it up the vein and stretch it to the diameter that they want. It involves radiation, so he's decided to wait until after the baby is born, just to be safe. That means I'm keeping the catheter until I deliver. Maybe they'll do it while I'm inpatient after the baby is born.

Poor "Monica"

"Monica's" fistula looked nasty. And I guess it wasn't working, either. Yesterday she had surgery to remove it, get a graft and a catheter. She needs the catheter until the graft is mature enough to use. She's a mess now. She's in pain. The doctors gave her lost of pain medicine...but you know how that makes some people react...throw up. Yeah, and she's the loud puker. Can't wait for today!