ultrasound #5

We had an ultrasound today.  I am 33 weeks and 3 days now. We took Katelyn and Ethan again.  Katelyn was pretty excited.  Afterwards, Ethan said it was boring... ha ha! The tech was amazing today.  She was so kind and didn't act irritated with all of my requests (I asked for the 3D machine and a DVD).  It was hard to get a good 3D shot of him because his head was snuggled up against me and he wouldn't move.  He looked very cozy.  He had his hands in front of his face a lot of the time.  It didn't even bother me that we couldn't get better images.  He looked so content snuggled up in there. The tech kept trying to get more pics just to be nice. It is amazing how far a little kindness goes.

Here's what we found out today. 

Growth: His growth is now below the 10th percentile.  Once it is below 10% they don't have a number anymore... just too small, I guess. One of his head measurements was a the 24th percentile, but the other head measurement was much lower.  His stomach and leg measurements were also low (<2nd percentile).  

Fluid: I have a lot more fluid.  Our last ultrasound was about 2 1/2 weeks ago and my fluid was 24.  (20-30 is normal).  Today is was 30. I can tell.

Placental function: They don't directly test this anymore, but assume it is working well enough because he still IS growing and my insulin needs have gone up a lot (insulin needs normally go up significantly during the 3rd trimester...most people just don't see it like I do).

My blood pressure was a little higher too: 129/81.

With all of those things, I was a little concerned.  Dr. D came in and talked to us and didn't seem concerned at all.  She said he IS growing, even though its not as fast as before.  He is still really active.  They expect my fluid to go up anyways, so she wasn't overly concerned.  She didn't care about the blood pressure either; which surprised me.  She said that it wasn't a concern until 140/90.  I know that, but I just don't like to see the blood pressure and fluid trending up and the growth trending down.  I guess I just have to realize that this is part of the process of his diagnosis?  At the beginning they made it sound like growth below the 10th percentile, increased fluid, and increased blood pressure are all causes for concern.  I guess there has to be more significant and sudden changes for them to recommend that we have him early. I trust Dr. D. so I felt comfortable with her assessment of the situation. He was really active again, which she commented on several times.  She was so overly nice to the kids; even though they would barely make eye contact with her.

We talked about the results from the amniocentesis.  He has full trisomy 18, which is what we thought he would have.  There is no genetic correlation with this type.  Again, just good info to have, but doesn't change anything.  We are going back in 3 weeks for another ultrasound. I hope we can make it to 38 weeks.  That is our plan, but it could change if something else changes.  I guess the only thing that would change (that we would be aware of) in the next 3 weeks is my blood pressure?