34 weeks...and we have a date

Hi everyone,

I had my last growth ultrasound this morning and the appointment went well. We learned that the baby is estimated to be about 5 pounds, 1 ounce right now which is in the 52nd percentile. That was a relief to know that she is continuing to grow and is a good size, despite the trend for babies with gastroschisis to be smaller. While she is growing, her intestines are also continuing to dilate, which concerns us, but, according to the doctors, is not a reason to deliver her this early. The plan that was made this morning is to induce at 37 weeks on June 16th. I will have an amniocentesis performed that morning to be sure the baby's lungs are mature enough, and, if they are, will then start the induction that afternoon/evening. I will continue to have all the monitoring of the baby until then and if any test shows reason for concern, they will take her earlier, but if not, that is our date - 3 weeks from yesterday.

Here is a 3D picture they took today. It amazes me how much detail they can get on these pictures. The baby already looks like she has Tom's lips, which is exactly how Brody's looked when he was born.

Since my last growth ultrasound at 30 weeks, I have been having weekly biophysical profile ultrasounds where the baby is scored based on movement, tone, breathing, and fluid levels. I have also been having weekly non-stress tests on which the baby's heartrate is monitored during movement. It is a lot of monitoring, but babies with gastroschisis have the increased rate of stillbirth I mentioned before and this is one of the ways to prevent that by alerting us to any stress she might be in before it's too late. Tom and my mom both came with me this morning and we all feel better having a plan and knowing that the end is in sight. I know I will feel much better when we finally know what we are dealing with in terms of severity, course of action, etc. instead of all the unknowns that have been present for the past 4 months.

I will continue to post on here any new updates leading up to our delivery and after to keep everyone in the loop as to what is happening. Thank you all again for all of your support. We can't tell you how much it means to us.