Explanations

Wow, was this appointment different then my last one. The last one I left feeling like someone just knocked the wind out of me, I was in shock. At this mornings appointment I left with questions answered which has brought so much peace and relief to my heart.

Landon passed the biophysical with flying colors. He's even lower now, the nurse said he's preparing for his great escape :) She told me I wont get his weight again until he is born. I was frustrated by that and explained to her that last time there were concerns about his drastic change in weight gain. She told me that if he wasn't growing anymore they would of delivered him already and that as far as she can tell he is happy and content in the womb. He's doing just what he should do. Yes, he's small, but that's not uncommon for babies with heart defects. I didn't say anything. I am glad that he looks like he's doing good, but, at this point, I still just don't understand why he isn't growing like he was and that is a huge concern of mine. I was saving all my questions for the doctor rather than unloading them on this poor ultra sound girl.

I took some other normal tests and then met with the nurse. She told me that after my appointment last week she called Bismarck to check records because she found it so odd that my baby could drop from the 80th percentile to the 10th in just a couple weeks. What she discovered was that the ultra sounds back in Bismarck were using the wrong due date for Landon. Originally they had my due date as April 23rd, but then changed it to April 10th. The ultra sounds were still documenting his percentile by the April 23rd due date though! WOW, this was such a huge relief for me to hear! "So he always been a small baby?" I asked. She said yes, he's probably always been around the 20th percentile, but that's not unusual for babies with heart defects. The important thing is he is growing. He's always been growing, just at his own pace. I cannot explain how relieved this discovery made me. I was just SOOOOO relieved. Yes, all along I thought he was bigger than he really is, but compared to the fear of having a failing placenta or something else wrong, this is great news!

After seeing the nurse, another doctor came in. she introduced herself and told me that I'd talked to her before on the phone a couple times. She explained to me again the find of the nurse and what that means for Landon. That he is smaller, but he is very healthy, and they see no reason why he wont continue to grow. He is 37 weeks today, so I am now considered full term :) She explained that although he could come at any time now and they are perfectly equipped to handle that, they would love for him to make it to 39 weeks. She set my induction date for Tuesday April 2nd. They will check me at my appointment the Friday before and see how dilated I am to determine if I will need to come in on Monday night or not. We talked a bit more, she confirmed that I've had more contractions, but I'm doing what I should be doing by monitoring them and just waiting for them to become more consistent or more painful. She said everything looks good and again they'd like him to wait for a couple more weeks, but he could come at anytime and their ready for him when he does :)

She left and came back again shortly after with the OB I saw last week. He told me the ultra sound looks good, the fluid isn't leaking or anything, and the placenta and the cord look fine. He asked if I had anymore questions, which I didn't because today they were all answered beforehand. So he was out of there in 30 seconds, but I felt content with everything.

On the drive back home my aunt and I just rejoiced over how well today went and how great it feels to have an explanation to last week. I don't know why God has allowed things to happen the way He has. Maybe it was good that I thought that Landon was so big the whole time, that way I was never worried about him being small. Even now though, I'm choosing to focus on the fact that he is healthy and even though he's small, he's still growing. He could very well reach 6Ib's by his induction date! Last week I was reminded again, that I am not in control. Landon belongs to God and that is who my faith needs to be in. No matter what doctors may tell me and Ryan in the future, God is bigger than any bad news, or any heartless doctor. God is accomplishing something bigger through our tiny little boy than we could ever imagine.

Thank you everyone for your prayers. I truly felt them last week, they got me through. Thank you for your continual prayer for our Landon. I feel like today was a victory, rejoice with me for answered prayers and God's continual protection and unconditional love for us.