Fluid Check #4

Today's fluid check went really well! Keagan's heart rate was 139 and my fluid level was 17! Seventeen is a perfectly normal fluid level for this stage in the pregnancy - praise God! I asked Beth, our ultrasound technician, if there was a way they could watch the fluid flow which would allow us to determine if Keagan is swallowing or not. She said that he must be swallowing because my fluid level is normal. More good news! She also said that is was normal for the fluid level to fluctuate, so the fact that it was 20 before and now 17 doesn't have much significance. We are so thankful that I have not developed polyhydraminos as this can be very uncomfortable according to my anencephaly mom's support group. Several people have asked me my plans with work to which I always respond I plan to work until our last school day unless Keagan comes early. I love my job, my co-workers and my students - the latter is truly what gets me through most days and I am grateful for that fact. All of that is to say I am glad I do not have polyhydraminos because I think that could make it difficult to make it through a work day and I hope to be there through the remainder of the year. Now, back to the appointment. Keagan's stomach is measuring right on, at 33 weeks 5 days but his arms and legs are measuring about a week ahead. It is now estimated that he weighs 5 pounds 3 ounces. I have a few special outfits I ordered for Keagan early on after we learned of his diagnosis. One was a micro-preemie size and the other a small preemie. I think its safe to say after today's appointment I will be returning them for a larger size :) (It is funny though that even though Keagan is measuring ahead and my fluid is normal, my stomach is measuring 31 weeks as of today - one of the benefits of being tall I suppose!) For the first time today we were able to see his diaphragm contracting and expanding which I believe is a good sign for his ability to breath! It is amazing how almost every appointment we receive little blessings and miracles. While Keagan may not have a long life for us to learn to notice and appreciate the wonderful things about being parents, God is definitely allowing us to have a similar experience in the months that we have with him. We are so blessed, so pleased and so proud of our perfect baby boy.

With the medical details out of the way, we can get on to the cute stuff. Keagan was really active this morning (his activity level has been amazing us recently), and he made Beth work hard to get cute pictures. She is so wonderful and patient though, so we ended up with some awesome shots. She actually captured a few adorable 3D videos and said she was going to put them on our disc for us, but when I got home and looked at the files to my dismay they were not there. We are praying they are stored in the system so maybe she can still try to pull them off for us! Thankfully we do have some still-shots from today that are equally as cute. Keagan was making some funny faces - opening his mouth and throwing his head back (a yawn maybe...?), a kissy face, sucking his bottom lip in (he must have learned that from his cousin, Carson!), and a grumpy face. Some of these were just caught in the videos, but I have included some of the pictures below. It was amazing how he filled up the whole screen today. We only saw parts of his leg, arm and spine. Beth was able to get his whole stomach on the screen, but that in itself took up the entire screen. She said as he gets bigger, it is going to be more difficult to get good pictures of him just because there is less room in my belly. I noticed today that I had a harder time than usual figuring out what things were probably for the same reason. All of these pictures are just of his face, so hopefully you will be able to figure everything out :)

 

Perhaps a little smirk....

There is where we thought he looked a little frustrated that we interrupted his morning exercises. So maybe grumpy, but still cute as ever!

 

 In both of these pictures (above and below) he has fist with his index finger pointing out up by his lip. This looks similar to the sign for candy - maybe he was trying to tell me something (I'll take any excuse to eat candy!)

 

 

After today's ultrasound, we met another doctor on the high risk team. He told us that there was no medical reason to have another fluid check because everything is looking the way it should. However, he still gave us the option to have one more if we desired. I looked to Roy, my mom and my dad who were all slightly nodding their heads. I responded we would like to have one more; even though we are thankful there is no medical reason, seeing Keagan one more time is more than enough reason in itself!