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Week 37: The print nugget is funsize

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Another Friday, another doctor’s appointment. Today was Hannah’s second ultrasound in as many weeks, to check on the growth rate of the undersized nugget. In the last two weeks it’s gained a little less than half a pound, from 4lb. 5oz. to 4lb. 12oz. That was about a half pound less than the ultrasound tech. was hoping for, but Dr. Cugini doesn’t seem super concerned.

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However, the baby is now under the 10th percentile for growth, so in order to prove everything’s OK, a new regimen begins. From here on in it’ll be two visits a week. Once a week we’ll go in for a BPP, an ultrasound that checks for growth and muscle-tone. Later in the week it’s another NST, the dreaded Non-Stress Test, where Hannah has air hockey paddles strapped to her belly for half an hour while the baby’s heartbeat blares like feedback at a death metal concert. Non-Stress indeed!

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Again, the doctor isn’t super worried, she’s only a bit taller than Hannah and one of her kids was only 12oz. bigger than the nugget is now, but she can’t prove everything is kosher without these extra measures. These days it seems like anything under 7lbs. is considered small, and there’s just no way this kid is getting anywhere near that, so test away I guess. Good thing we’ve already topped out the insurance deductible. I was afraid we were going to be fast-tracked for inducement; luckily, the doc wants to stick with our birth plan which means no drugs and no extraordinary measures, unless there is real danger. I was only 6lbs. and Hannah wasn’t much bigger so we’ve been expecting a fun sized varmint.

One thing’s for sure, there’s no way this kid is being born after the 5th. There’s apparently a greater risk of still birth after the 40th week with a little baby, so if it’s still hanging on for dear life at that point, I guess we’ll have to smoke it out! It’s the home stretch, stay tuned!

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P.S. From Hannah: In other news, Blake’s researching a family practitioner, I put in an order for a breast pump (100% covered by insurance, thank goodness!,) and baby shouldn’t be too long in coming because my cervix has made pretty big progress towards dilation in the past 2 weeks. I was barely beginning to dilate the past week, but I’m over a centimeter this week, and it is moving forward and thinning. The doctor seemed surprised at how much change had taken place since last week. In any case, as Blake said above, it’s not staying in past the first week in December either way!

1 thought on “Week 37: The print nugget is funsize”

  1. looking at when I have enough $ to visit w/o needing to put any stress into your lives. I paying off my new auto. I’ll need to work out a place to stay keeping tired parents and baby out of snoring range. Just working on it….

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