24 Week Midwife Appointment

I think Monkey has started investigating a vertical instead of horizontal position within me. Since yesterday, I've been having a lot of pressure and stiffness within my right pelvis that travels up, down, and around. I love this kid and feeling his little bumps and bubbles.

Our 24 (minus one day) appointment was today. Monkey has caught up in size now and measured at 24cm whereas before it seemed he was always 1-2 weeks behind. LoveBug was always about a week behind, too. Heart rate was 142-147--we've seen everything from 123 to 164 with him! He's always jumping around which is interesting to me because LoveBug was always a steady 144 every time.

Deb, our midwife, gave us the ultrasound results from 4 weeks ago when we had our 20 week full scan done. Apparently, they didn't see Monkey's stomach so we get to go again in 4 weeks (so 8 weeks from the inital u/s). I looked this up online and it said that if there's no fluid in the belly (like if Monkey had just peed), then they wouldn't be able to visualize the stomach. There is a thing called Trachea Esophageal Fistual and Esophageal Atresia that can also cause the stomach to not be seen on an u/s. With this disorder of unknown origin that happens during week 4 of a pregnancy, the esophagus has either an abnormal connection or blockage that prohibits things from going down it (i.e. amniotic fluid right now). Basically, if that's the only thing wrong then with surgery the baby has a pretty good outcome. The mother may go into preterm labor and need to get some amniotic fluid drained, though.

Interestingly, shortness of breath and measuring large (all during the second trimester) are symptoms of this. I have been having severe SOB for over a month now and can't link it to anything! It can be bad enough that I start to black out, my heart rate goes over 100, and I can't talk because I'm trying to breathe. Another interesting thing would be the sudden growth spurt of Monkey to where he's now measuring on track as compared to last month when he was 2cm behind. :-\

At this point, I'm definitely not worried and really have a gut feeling that everything is absolutely fine with my baby's development. I definitely do want to keep an eye on this, though, so that I can make sure we get fluid drained and things ready for a pre-term baby if it comes to that. Praying that Monkey had just peed and so they couldn't see his stomach!

The really exciting news is that the video part of the u/s should be working next time we go, so we'll get a regular 2d ultrasound, a 3d view of our handsome little man (didn't get that last time because he was only 20 weeks and they still look a little funny at that point!), and a 4d ultrasound video! *Happy Dance*

We are so thrilled to be having this little one join our family. I am the luckiest mama in the world to have two awesome babies.