More Education on Fetal Hearts

So, our Nonstress Test this morning wasn't so bad (and now I wish I would've slept last night!). Baby's baseline was between 110 and 115, and her accelerations were up to 140 and for the right amount of time. Lois said today our baby looks to be fine.

However, Lois still heard signs of arrhythmia, but gave a better explanation than what we got last time. Firstly, healthy babies can have arrhythmias in utero, as well as skipped heart beats. It's only when they take their first breath ...lungs working with the heart, can anyone be sure of any sort of real problem. Because our baby already has a heart problem, the acceleration she heard last week was a little alarming because of it's spike and duration (though our Cardiologist wasn't too concerned).

On a side note, we learned a bit more about what these Nonstress Tests are checking, and it's not just heart rates. As Lois explained, the test is looking at the overall systolic nervous function, which gives indications whether the baby could be sick. When you are sick, you lie in bed and your heart rate doesn't fluctuate, same with babies in utero. In the test, they want to see movements -- both baby and any contractions that may be happening. The movements create heart rate fluctuations -- the better the movement, the higher the heart acceleration. Luckily for us, our girl seems to always be on the move.

And yes, I was thanking God above on the entire drive home for the good test we had today. What a relief!!! Granted, I've got my guard up for Friday's test, but today was the news I needed to hear. I'm also getting a bit more nervous these days ...we're now officially one month out from D-Day! Bob and I were saying over the weekend ....it's a crazy mix of emotion thinking about her arrival; we're so excited and so scared at the same time. Strangely, it helps knowing he's as scared as I am (luckily, he maintains his composure much better than me). I can't put to words how thankful I am to have this man in my life. He's such a wonderful husband and dad, and he's kept my sanity through all this. I'm so glad he'll be with her when they take her over to Primary Children's. That's been such a sad thought for me-- my baby being an hour old, and taken somewhere else without me. Knowing her daddy will be her for those first hours gives me so much solace, even though I want so much to be with both of them. I'm still trying to deal with the fact that I won't get to hold her when she's born ...that's the thing I'm probably in the most denial over. Ahhhh! I gotta stop there - we had a good appt today, so I need to leave it at that. Thinking any more about next month may spoil the good news of today.