07-5-2013 - 37 w 5 d Almost there!

My mood while writing this blog: Relaxed

Just over 8 days to go to the caesarean on the 15th.

Last week Monday I had an appointment and the Dr confirmed that the placenta is definitely starting to deteriorate. We had the same thing with my son, but with him it was much more severe. At least with Kayley she is still getting enough blood supply through the placenta (measured by a doppler test) - the Dr says she is getting enough food, just not any pudding. It does mean that she is not growing as much as expected. Her weight went from an estimated 2.47kg (5.44lbs) at 33 weeks to 2.73kg (6.01lbs) at 36 weeks. That is only 260grams (.57lbs) weight gain in 3 weeks. On average, babies pick up 200grams (.44lbs) per week during the last weeks. The Dr plotted the doppler results on a graph and according to this we have to check on her in 2 weeks time, but by then the caesarean is 2 days away.

Her measurements are really not that far off though. She has measured more or less on schedule throughout the pregnancy, but always slightly behind on some and the Dr has always said that she is petite. During the last scan she was measuring about a week behind.

If we can assume that she will continue to grow at the average rate, she should be 3.1kg (6.83lbs) at birth, but I recon se will be closer to 2.9kg (6.39lbs).

With my son the news that there was problems with the placenta really upset me but this time round I am a lot more relaxed about it. I guess it was because I was expecting it to happen again.

For the time being, I am monitoring her movements and enjoying my maternity leave. Been on maternity leave for about a week now. It has been fabulous just taking some time and getting things done. Kayley's room is now completely done, my bag is packed, I have ticked off some other tasks that were on my to do list and am just taking it one day at a time.

My sister-in-law also had her son 2 weeks ago. This has given us a glimpse of how our son Callum will react to the baby and also given us an opportunity to explain to him that his sister will also be that small and cry because she cannot talk. We think it has proven to be a great opportunity to prepare him for what is coming. He has been very good thus far, taking an interest and he even held him recently and gently kept kissing his head. Bless him! Even though I am at home now, we still take him to school everyday. Our thinking is that we don't want to introduce any additional change in this time leading up to Kayley's arrival. At least being at home means that when he gets home I can focus spending time with him because I have done the stuff I wanted to.

Looking forward to meeting our daughter next week :)