Doctor, Doctor, Doctor....

Today was a super packed day filled with three doctor appointments!  I took today off from work since it didn't make sense to try and get work done between all of these appointments.  Here is a brief overview of what we experienced:

1. At 10am this morning, Keith and I visited the Pediatric Diagnostic Center (which is the same specialist that we saw at the beginning of the month). Similar to the last appointment, an Ultrasound Tech did an ultrasound first and then Dr. T came in to look at Jacob a little more and then to talk to us.  The Tech measured his head and his abdomen and said that they both looked good. She said that he was measuring at 6 lbs, 4 oz - which puts him at the 58th percentile (pretty much average). It seems that he has tapered off with the "growth spurt" that they have told us about the last two ultrasounds that we had.  Thank goodness...it looks like I won't have to worry about pushing out a 10 lb baby!!!!  Dr. T did say that his left kidney was measuring at 10 mm and his right at 13 mm, which is bigger than they should be, but not severe by any means.  He put some of the pictures on a disc for us to take to our next appointment which was with Dr. Peters, a pediatric urologist.

2.  At noon, we had an appointment at UVA with Dr. Peters, who is a well-renowned pediatric urologist. I am glad that we got to see him because he was very imformative and answered a lot of our questions.  The bad part about seeing him is that he practices in the Urology Clinic at the UVA hospital, which is a pain in the you-know-what to deal with.  We had to park in the parking deck (on the 7th level because it was so packed!), walk about 3 blocks to the building that the Clinic is in (through a bunch of construction!), take an elevator up one floor, walk a ways around a bunch of hallways and then finally get to the Clinic.  Once we arrived (about 20 minutes before 12), I had to wait 30 minutes to register and then we had to wait another 30 minutes before we were called back to see the doctor.  In the end, we didn't end up seeing him until 10 minutes to 1, even though our appointment was at noon. UGH!

Like I said previously, he was very informative and talked to us at great length about Jacob's condition and his opinions and suggestions for treatment.  He said that there is nothing that can be done until he is born (which we already knew), but that he suggested that we start him on antibiotics - amoxicillin - from the first day he is born.  This will help to keep any kidney infections from occuring, which can be very harmful to babies.  We could skip the antibiotics but we would need to be very vigilant at paying attention to signs of infection - some of which can be obvious like a fever or bad smelling urine.  But, sometimes symptoms of infection are harder to see since they can be "normal" newborn issues like fussiness, trouble eating or tiredness.  Since we want to be as cautious as possible, Keith and I have opted to have him take the antibiotics. I can't remember how long Dr. Peters said he would be on the medicine, but I believe it may be for a few weeks.

The next step would be for him to have an x-ray at 4-6 weeks of age to see if the dilation is still present and to measure what it is.  There is also a test that we can have performed at that time on his bladder that would tell us whether or not he has "reflux of urine" which is one of the things that might be causing the dilation. Dr. Peters said that we could wait and see how things go, but he suggests that we have the test performed so that we can either rule out the reflux or, if he does have it, treat it with additional antibiotics and/or other treatments so that it doesn't get worse as he gets older. We don't need to make a decision right now as to whether we want him to have the bladder test, but I think we are leaning strongly towards having it, again so that we can be as cautious as possible and try to keep any additional problems from occuring.

3.  After the meeting with Dr. Peters, Keith and I had lunch and then he went to work.  I had a 2:45pm pre-natal appointment with my OB, Dr. Wamhoff.  This was a pretty quick appointment but a lot of things occurred.  First, the bad news - I gained 7 lbs in the last two weeks! Yikes!  Of course, I explained to her that I had just had lunch and that I hadn't eaten very well the past few days (those were my excuses!). Thankfully, she didn't seem overly concerned with the huge weight gain since I had been doing "so well" (as she put it) over the course of my pregnancy. She said that we would just wait and see what the weight looked like next week (I better start eating salads & cutting back on the desserts!!).  My blood pressure was fine - 124/70 and my urine looked good. She performed the Group B Strep test and I should get those results next week. There is nothing I can do if it comes back positive, but they will give me antibiotics during labor so that Jacob does not get the infection.  

She also measured me and said that I was measuring perfectly.  She did mention that I have a long waist so that is why I am not "poking out" as much as I would like to be.  She said that there is more room for the baby to go up so he doesn't need to come out as much.  I guess this makes me feel a little better. (Many people keep telling me that I don't look like I am almost full-term and I keep thinking.....is this good or bad?!)

Dr. Wamhoff did comment about the swelling in my feet, ankles and legs and said that I really need to be wearing the compression hose all the time (YUCK!). I told her that I got some from our Sports Medicine department at work and that I had been wearing them and I know that I need to do it more often now (it just sucks because you can't really wear them with capri-type pants unless you want to look like a huge fashion nightmare! And.....it's so darn hot that they are not comfortable!).  But, I know that I need to wear them and so I will......soon.

All in all, it was a super busy, yet very informative day!  It was fun seeing our little man on ultrasound again (this will be the last time we see him until we meet him on his birthday!).  I am getting really excited and nervous about the upcoming labor but I am definitely ready to meet this little guy.