Hip, Hip, Hooray

We visited the perinatalogist yesterday for our checkup. We were put on the fetal heart rate monitor first, and again Pooh was being difficult. It took forever to get his heart rate on the monitor and had us worried again. The technician had to move on to find Tigger's first before returning for Pooh's again before finally finding it. Randi had no contractions for the 45 minutes we were hooked-up and both babies showed good heart rates and movement.

Next, we move to the ultrasound room hoping that Pooh's diastolic flow on his umbilical arteries had not worsened since last Friday. We, having become well versed in procedural matters of fetal ultrasounds now, watched intently as the technician measured ambiotic fluid volumes, cervix length, and blood flow from a variety of areas on the babies and Randi. When we got to Pooh's umbilical artery, we saw a blip. The blip was what appeared to be diastolic blood flow for the first time in weeks. Randi and I were both cautious, and we turned to each other in unison and said, "Did you see that?" We also got another lot of ultrasound prints, and, of course, we got more pictures of their boy thimbles. I feel that we could probably chart those little organs growth better than any other throughout this whole process.

We finished up the ultrasound and headed to the consultation room to wait for the doctor. A significant amount of time passed. Randi was able to make it through a whole People magazine and two trips to the restroom. At one point, we heard nothing in the halls for a while and thought that everyone had gone home. Finally, the doctor came in. Almost immediately, he confirmed what we suspected. For the first time in weeks, Pooh's umbilical cord exhibited diastolic flow. Although, it was still not a normal flow graph, it was significant. The doctor also mentioned that he could see some placental growth as a result, which will ultimately allow the baby to grow. What was most encouraging to us was the doctor's very uncharacteristic behavior...for the first time since we were 17 weeks, he was genuinely optimistic for the outcome.

He said that "obviously" something we were doing was working, since Randi has been on bed rest, staying more hydrated, and consuming three Ensure shakes a day. All that is great, but we know what it really was. It was the combined thoughts and prayers of all of you out there, and we really appreciate them. Hopefully, we can make it to 34 weeks now.