Had a check up this morning to make sure that everything is still going well with Daniel. The further past due you get, the greater the risk that the placenta starts to die or blood flow through the umbilical cord becomes compromised. They also check that he has enough amniotic fluid, that he's moving enough on his own (as opposed to moving in response to what's happening in my body) and that he is practicing breathing.
I won't keep you in suspense, it's all good news.
Right off the bat, it was easy to tell that he's still head down. They watched him "breathe" (practice breaths don't happen all the time but happen enough to check out) for about 30 seconds and he was regular and steady.
Heartbeat was a strong 141.
Just like his daddy, Daniel prefers not to be poked or prodded. As soon as they started using the probe, he would shrug away or kick. This led to a lot of laughter and made it easy to tell that he was moving on his own.
Amniotic fluid levels were normal.
Both the umbilical cord blood flow and blood flow to the placenta were strong and regular. This is apparently a little unusual as, by this point, they'd expect to see decreased efficiency. So yippee - my body was weird during the beginning of pregnancy and weird at the end. How comforting.
Interestingly, he has a bunch of hair, his butt is directly above his head (accounting for the odd lump that's been showing up between my boobs) and his feet are over on my right side- right where I've been feeling him jab and brace!
Current plan: keep waiting. Next check up is Thursday afternoon if I'm still pregnant. I'd need to be doing pretty well at that point because they typically won't let you go past 41 weeks. Latest research (and, trust me, KU has the latest research) shows such a marked decrease in functionality of the placenta after 41 weeks that most of the major hospitals are calling it a day at 41 weeks. If placenta/umbilical function is good, they'll let you go a bit later but my doc says they aren't comfortable much past that. So, likely as not, Daniel would be here by Monday the 21st at the latest.
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