Today's Appointment...

...went great!

I had my monthly OB/GYN appointment this afternoon and all went well. I talked to my doctor about a few concerns and questions I had - especially about my cervix. As you may recall, they had forgotten to measure my cervix on the last ultrasound (the "big" ultrasound) that I had a few weeks ago and so I was wondering if I should go for another cervical scan. My doctor thinks that at this point, it will be fine to just check my cervix manually at my regular monthly appointments from here on out. And she checked my cervix today and said that it was "good" - long and closed and hard. Yay!

She also said that while she never tells her patients they can relax completely until after a successful birth, I can breathe a small sigh of relief once we get to 24 weeks as she said the majority of incompetent cervix problems become evident before this time. She then went on to say that I have an over 90% chance of having a full-term baby at this point. Of course I would have appreciated something more along the lines of 100%, I do like those odds and I really hope that "less than 10%" truly doesn't amount to anything more than a statistic. Interestingly, she also said that after 32 weeks, we can breathe a bigger sigh of relief as the fetal morbidity rate after 32 weeks is the same as that of full-term babies. So in other words, once we make it to that point, if the baby is born it will have the same health outcomes as a baby born at 40 weeks.

This was the first appointment that Dr. R measured my fundal height (the size of my uterus). I was totally concerned about measuring small (I just feel small!) but much to my surprise, my little Maya is hanging out in her own personal mansion. I am 22 weeks and my uterus measured 24cm - or 24 weeks! This made me happy. Of course anywhere between 19cm and 25cm would have been considered normal.

I stayed home from work today because I've come down with a nasty head cold. I asked my doctor about this too and she said it definitely won't affect the baby. Thank goodness for that.

All in all a great appointment and once again, my fears and concerns were put to rest - at least for today. Oh yeah, and PS - I gained ELEVEN pounds in the last 4 weeks. Yikes! Doctor says to lay off the Haagen Dazs...