Yesterday I had my 36 week appointment (36 weeks, 3 days).  From here on out I have weekly biophysical profiles instead of NSTs and bi-weekly growth ultrasounds due to the GD.  I like having them on Monday mornings because it gives me something to look forward to regarding the beginning of the week!

The BPP this week was done by a guy.  I don't think that I have had a guy do an ultrasound for me since during my miscarriage days.  I was sort of disappointed because my experience with the guy wasn't great, but also the circumstances were not great that time either so that probably jaded me.  This guy was really friendly right off the bat.  He asked me the usual questions and after my usual pre-ultrasound bathroom break, he went to work, checking out baby boy.

He passed the BPP with flying colors.  He was practicing breathing and we caught him yawning several times.  He was sucking his thumb most of the time.  Head is still down.  The only thing that was slightly concerning was the measured amniotic fluid level is now on the high side of normal up from the low side of normal.

Without me asking, the tech flipped to 3D and was determined to get a good shot of this little guy's face.  After a little coaxing the baby's hand out of the way, he was able to get a great shot (scroll to the bottom).  My baby looks like a real baby and not a ghost!

I met briefly with the doctor who was happy with the BPP results.  We briefly talked about the amniotic fluid and he said that he was not concerned since it was still in the normal range and it is a subjective measurement that differs from tech to tech.  He said that if they saw an abnormal amount that they would have mentioned it on the report for sure (they are a high risk u/s and see thousands of high risk patients a month).  We talked about my blood sugar readings which have been getting better.  My fastings have been in the 70s/80s for the past week.  He said that this could signal that the placenta is producing less hormones and that labor/delivery might not be that far away.  He said to keep monitoring it and they will check next week.  Based on my blood sugar readings he guessed that I might not make my due date.  I told him I would not be upset about that.  :)

My next appointment is next Monday...37 weeks, 3 days.  I'll be full term!!  It is amazing what can happen in a year.  Last year at this time I was one day away from finding out the baby that I was carrying was not viable.  The heartbeat was only 80 and was small for gestational age.  That time was one of the darkest in my life and I have never been so depressed.  I never thought that a year from that point, I would be carrying this little guy and be almost ready to meet him.  I am so incredibly blessed to be where I am right now.  As hard as it was to get here and how this pregnancy has not been the easiest at times, I know that I am so incredibly lucky.  I honestly thought that I would never be able to carry a baby past 10 weeks.  I thought I was defective.  I don't know what happened and I am not sure that I will ever know.  I do know that I have a beautiful baby boy on the way and I am so thrilled to hold him, kiss him, and be his mommy.

I talked to my doctor this morning to try to get some more information regarding the test results. She really didn't have much more to add. I asked her if she thought that a session with the genetic counselor was in order, and she felt that it was not necessary. Based on the fact that both my husband and I are both genetically normal, she feels that the chances of this happening again are not likely. I asked her if she felt that we should test the tissue from my first miscarriage and she did not think that was necessary either. She said she really believes that this is bad luck. I don't know, I have a huge problem with thinking that this is bad luck. I am a part of a group of less than 1% of women in the population that miscarry recurrently. She also told me that this is now an "explained miscarriage". Basically we know the cause of death of the baby, but not the cause for the miscarriage. Honestly, to me this seems like an unexplained miscarriage. We have no idea why a chromosomal abnormality was caused and we have no idea if it (or something like it) will happen again. Sigh.

I moved on from the past to the present and future and told her that I had ovulated last weekend and was now waiting for AF to show next weekend. She was happy with that progress. I asked her a few questions regarding the Femara. I am supposed to take it CD 5-9 and following with regular ovulation tests (and I will chart as well). She suggested calling the nurse next cycle if my period is late (I don't expect that it will be because we aren't TTC next cycle) so that I can come in for a blood test. I will definitely do that for the cycle where we start trying again.

A few hours later the genetic counselor called me back. I had left her a message yesterday asking her if she thought that our particular results of isochromosome 8, in combination with our normal genetic tests, warranted a visit to speak with her. She told me that she would be happy to look over our information on Monday and get back with me shortly after. I think I know that we are NOT going to proceed with further genetic counseling, but I think it would be interesting to hear what she has to say. She was very pleasant to speak with so I figured that I would take her up on her offer to look everything over.

So once again, no answers, only more questions. Happy Friday.