13 week visit

On 24 May we went to see Dr Lynda Batcheler for a quick check-up.

Turns out at each visit I'll need to have my urine tested (fortunately the current size of my bladder makes this pretty easy) for protein and glucose, and my weight (49kg) and blood pressure ("very good") recorded.

She provided a bit more info about labour and birth than I wanted to hear. Good that my brain has the self-preserving instinct of almost instantly forgetting the bad bits.

She stuck a microphone to my belly and broadcasted to the entire room the gurgling and grunting noises a stomach produces when processing butter chicken. After some time she managed to locate Tadpole's heartbeat - sounded more like a really quick wooh-wooh-wooh than the thud-thud-thud I was expecting. We also heard my own heart which sounded like an asthmatic turtle next to it.

Things we learnt:

• Midwives have a 12-hour shift, so at the most and depending on how long my labour will be, I'll have at the most two. I hope. We requested no trainees.
• Obstetricians work on a 24-hour shift (8am to 8am or 7am to 7am), so don't piss them off. We couldn't choose who was / was not to cover me when I have to go.
• Need to book antenatal classes asap. They go through exercises and things we need to buy post birth and stuff.
• Water labour is good, water births are unnatural. We're air-breathing mammals, not fish.
• The NZ Government is dumb (well that's not news, to me anyway). There is a likelihood that if I need an epidural anesthesia, it may not be performed by an Anaesthetist who will have no incentive to work the long hours, but by some replacement that needs the money. An epidural involves sticking a needle in my spine so there will be less verbal abuse towards Bas when the painful bit takes place.
• Less fatty foods = skinnier baby = less pain.
• The building that once was National Women's Hospital is now just housing Management. I'll give birth at Auckland Hospital (if there is no traffic jam that day), stay there for 4 hours, then transfer to Birthcare which is just a level above AOC.

I also joined the SCOPE study, which is an international (NZ-based) research that surveys a whole bunch of women who are pregnant for the first time (they're hoping for 2,500 in Auckland) to determine which factors are likely to have an effect on:

• Preeclampsia (a condition causing high blood pressure in pregnancy)
• Premature labour and delivery of a premature baby
• Small babies for their stage in pregnancy

I figured, if I can help other people and at the same time get as much pregnancy info/follow-up as I can, then everyone wins.

Nuchal scan

On 14 May we went to Insight Radiology to get Tadpole's scruff measured.

This is for the specialist (we got Dr Alistair Roberts, which was pretty onto it, professional and straight to be point) to measure the thickness of the skin at the base of its neck, as well as the presence of a nasal bone, to help him adjust our chances of having a baby with Trisomy 21.

Everything appeared normal (besides the fact that Tadpole might be black and white instead of yellowish) and our chances of having Trisomy 21, at the time of the scan, was estimated to be at 1:5028. Or maybe at 1:2664. If they stopped having such cryptic information maybe this blog would make more sense.

The nuchal translucency was determined to be at 2.3mm. If the chances are determined to be around 1:300, then an amniocentesis would be offered by the specialist, which is an invasive method of determining whether Tadpole would have Trisomy 21 genes. However this carries a 1-2% chance of miscarriage, so it's really good that I won't have a needle inserted in my belly. Tadpole probably wouldn't like it either.

We left the lab with a DVD and lots of pictures. The DVD was about 10mins long, and it included a 4D scan of the baby floating in its bubble. It even kicked at one stage.

Now just need to find a DVD burner for the grand-parents-to-be's copy. The doctor was right, it's the kind of thing to bore people with... Unless you're family, but I still don't understand how they can stare at it for that long without being distracted by other stuff. That sparked a discussion from Tadpole's grand-parents-to-be as to whether that was a willy that they saw, and whose nose it was.
Consensus: yes it's a boy because of the willy and its kung-fu kick, and he's got his father's European nose.

That thing here above its head isn't Tadpole eating German sausage, but its right arm and right leg. It's got one of these, as well as a left arm and a left leg. Pretty relieving to see if you ask me.

Nausea is slowly fading out and the last time I've thrown up was at the airport on the way to Noumea on 15 May. We had breakfast at McDonald's so it wasn't a major loss of nutrients.