17 weeks + high risk appointment

17 weeks today and here is the evidence (plus Koda's supervision):

My high risk ob appointment today was pretty good, although I got stuck with the bitchy tech to take my vitals. (This would be the same woman who asked over the phone if I had any kids, and I sighed and said, "well, she died"...she replied in this really snotty tone, "so no then." --I understand that they meant *living* children, but she didn't have to be crappy about it. You would think that someone working in a HIGH RISK ob office would have a little more compassion.)  Anyway, she's still always pretty bitchy about everything- today she had an attitude because I stepped off of the scale before it beeped even though the numbers had stopped changing for several seconds, and then again because I was trying to take my blood pressure on my machine after she had taken it so we could make sure my machine is working right, and she insisted we check the baby's heartrate first, even though she had just taken my blood pressure. (And then she insisted that I check it in the other arm, so the pressures were taken 5 minutes apart and in opposite arms, thanks for helping me get an accurate comparison.)

I love my high risk doctor, though. She suggested the names "lovenox" or "heparin" (my daily blood thinner shots) for the baby.  And did a quick scan- he's still a boy (and not a tiny bit shy about it), my fluid looks good, everything looks good (no measurements, it's just a crappy roll in machine and I have a real ultrasound Friday anyway.) She assured me that it doesn't matter that we did the quad screen at 16 weeks (I did it at 17 weeks with Olivia), that if it was going to come back bad, it would have been bad even then, and she's really encouraged that it came back normal. She agreed to let me do my next growth ultrasound in 3 weeks rather than my usual every 4 weeks,since 20 weeks is when Olivia had really fallen behind in growth, and we're going to start checking for notching and fluid levels on Friday. (Notching is basically an indication that the blood flow isn't perfect from the placenta to the baby, instead of the normal full flow of blood, there's a little "notch" in the flow. Between 19-21 weeks, notching indicates an increased chance of pre-eclampsia.) I'll only be 17.5 weeks so no notching won't really mean much this early, and it's not a guarantee in any case, but I'm glad she didn't hesitate to agree when I mentioned it. (And she looked impressed that I asked.) So I have notes for my ultrasound tech on Friday from her to make my next appointment in 3 weeks and to check for notching. (I had only wanted her to check for notching at 20 weeks but she wants it checked both times. She said they normally don't check so early, but with my "checkered past", she wants to keep an eye on it.) 

Hopefully lovenox+low dose aspirin+ normal quad screen+ normal growth + no notching= a healthy 36 weeker.

Tomorrow probably, I'll be scheduling my amnio for 36 weeks, which will be the last week of April. It will be just to check the baby's lungs for maturity, and we'll deliver soon after the results are back. It seems crazy to be scheduling it so early, but my ob wanted me to talk to the high risk ob about it and decide and schedule it now (the alternative is to wait until 37 weeks and cross our fingers that I don't go into labor first, because of the type of incision for my c-section with Olivia, if I go into labor than there is a risk of uterine rupture that they aren't really comfortable with.) Joe and I talked about it, and quite frankly I want this baby out the minute it's safely possible, now knowing all of the things that can go wrong. The high risk ob had the same opinion, so the only guessing about this kiddo's due date will hopefully be if I will make it that far. (Labor or signs of trouble-pre-eclampsia/HELLP/hypertension/growth restriction- and we deliver earlier.)