Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Hiccups!

Had my OB appointment this morning.

At 24w6d, the heartbeat is in the mid-150's, the fundal height was 25, and I'm up 8.5 pounds. All right on track. I now have to go for a bunch of blood tests including the TSH check, and also my 1 hour glucose test to see if I have gestational diabetes. I really hope I don't - I love sugar too much!!

We spoke a lot about timing for c-section if that's needed, inducing if it's not. I have have a big work project that will wrap up at the end of December, and I know I will miss some key meetings, but the more I can plan my leave, the better. Obviously, I know the baby can always decide to make an early appearance, but I like having a definite "no later than" date. Then I can back in 2 weeks of pre-birth disability (the doc says 4 weeks is standard, but if I'm feeling OK, I'd rather just take 2), and have a reasonable estimate of which meetings I might be able to attend, and which I definitely won't.

We also discussed cord blood banking. I have been doing a lot of research on private vs. public. Private is very expensive, but it's reserved for you only, and public is free, but if you ever need any, you have to hope there's a match in the bank. The chances of ever needing it is very small, but I would hate to take that gamble and lose, knowing we have the money to do it (initial cost is about 1500-2000, and then 100-200 per year after). The deciding factor for us is that there is a lack of minority cord blood in the public banks. My husband is a combination of Black, Asian and Jewish, and I'm also half Jewish, so we have a unique mix of ancestry. It would be unlikely we could find a good match in the public bank if we ever needed it, so, with the doctor's recommendation (and usually they advocate public donation) we've decided to go with private banking.

But the best part of the visit was when she listened for the heartbeat. I think I've mentioned that I feel the baby kick all the time, and sure enough, s/he was kicking when the doc was listening. Well, it turns out those weren't kicks, they were hiccups!!! How funny!!! DH and I thought that was pretty cool. I'm not sure I can tell the difference, but the doc knew for sure. She said if they are more rhythmic, and it feels like the whole body is moving, instead of just one spot, then it's a hiccup. She also said that's good, hiccups indicate that things are developing well.

So a good visit all around!

3 comments:

  1. Oh how sweet - hiccups! I'm so glad that every appointment has gone perfectly smooth and all measurements are perfect! Hey, if you can afford to do the private cord blood banking, it's nice insurance to have. As a nurse I know that cord blood is like gold in the eyes of the medical community. So that's great that you can do that, particularly since you and your children will be a combination of ethnicities. Congratulations on a wonderful 25 weeks!

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  2. I LOVED feeling the hiccups with both of my pregnancies, but I had no idea it was a sign of things developing normally and healthy!!!
    We opted to bank our son's cord blood. (Sadly, it was not available when I had my daughter 17 years ago) We felt it was like a little insurance policy. Hope we never, ever need it, but it's there just in case. Let me know if you want the info on the company I used. One thing that was nice about them, they guarantee your yearly fee at the time you bank the blood. So, when I had my son, I locked in at at a $100. a year.
    Awesome things are going well. S/He will be here before you know it. Any name decisions yet?? Or, are not keeping it a secret??

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  3. Almost 25 weeks is middle aged for a pregnancy!

    My daughter was a big hiccupper - even after she was born. It was so interesting to get to know her rhythms during pregnancy, and to have that connection to the semi-unknown tiny person in me!

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