Juicy Mama

Brenda had a routine checkup last week, and apparently the little guy was measuring big, much bigger than he had in weeks past. He was consistently about 1 week larger than gestational age, but this week he was something like 5. The doctor told us that we needed to have an ultrasound to check everything out. Brenda thought the doctor was just measuring wrong, but hey, a free ultrasound at this late a stage? Not turning that one down! Turns out Ben is not measuring large, he is still about a week ahead. However, Brenda apparently has an overabundance of amniotic fluid, a condition called Hydramnios. In the ultrasound, they measure the largest pockets of fluid in 4 spots in the uterus, add those numbers together, and this gives you the Amniotic Fluid Index, or AFI. Average at this stage is 14 cm; Brenda was measuring at 24 cm. That is obviously on the high side, but it still just appears to be a mild case. There could be many causes of this, the majority of them harmless, but in the ultrasound they check out the kidneys, bladder, etc, to ensure that they are functioning properly. They also check the mouth area to see if there is anything going on that could affect swallowing. The ultrasound tech told us everything looked normal, so it is probably just one of those harmless, random things that seem to be a normal part of this pregnancy. The only thing they get concerned about with hydramnios is that it can sometimes trick the body into thinking things are further along and trigger early labor. We are at 34 weeks, so as long as the little guy hangs out for a couple more weeks, we should be fine. I am sure that we will still be delivering on 8/10, but you never know! What was cool was that we were able to have a 4-D ultrasound done, which means we got some really cool pictures, which are already posted in the photo album. The tech told us she just wanted to have a little fun and do the 4-D for free, but I think it may have actually been asked for by the doctor, after reading a couple articles. In any case, he appears to be happy, healthy and very active in there, and we couldn't be happier!