It’s been about two weeks since I posted an update so I wanted to jump on the blog and write about how the last two weeks have been going with baby Chandler.

Last week we went in for our growth ultrasound and it was the first ultrasound since I was discharged from the hospital on 3/12. Chandler measured at 930g, which is 2lbs, and my fluid remained stable at ~12.3cm. Our doctor advised us last week that she no longer feels a fetal MRI is recommended as the information we would get from the MRI wouldn’t change the plan of care, so John and I agreed that we were comfortable not moving forward with it. She did however recommend we add in additional monitoring weekly in the form of biophysical profiles because stillbirth is still a concern for growth restricted babies. A biophysical profile is where the baby is observed on the ultrasound for a period of 30 minutes and various things are checked such as the baby practicing breathing exercises, movement, etc.

Yesterday we went in for our weekly ultrasound and our first biophysical profile. During the scan, Chandler was moving around a lot which is pretty normal for her. The fluid remained stable measured at ~13.0cm. One of the fetal radiologists came in towards the end of the scan to look at the Doppler which observes the blood flow through the umbilical cord to ensure baby is receiving the blood flow and nutrition she needs. During this scan we were told that an umbilical vein varix was seen – this was the first we had heard this. An umbilical vein varix essentially is the umbilical vein being larger in size than what is considered standard. It is considered “rare” and is seen in 1/2500 pregnancies. There are some risks associated with it as what can happen is a blood clot could enter the umbilical vein and possibly block blood flow to the baby. Our MFM doctor was not overly concerned with this and since we are already coming in for weekly scans we will continue to keep an eye on it. Right now it is measuring at 14.7mm, which is about double the size it should be. If it continues to get bigger and poses additional risk, we will have to have that conversation with our care team but they will keep checking it weekly.

Now on to the good news. Last week when we discussed the introduction of biophysical profiles, our MFM doctor warned us that due to Chandler’s gestational age we wouldn’t expect to see her perform well. Biophysical profiles normally start around 32 weeks, so Chandler just isn’t as developed as most babies are who are observed and the standards are set for older babies. Our doctor told us she would be satisfied to see Chandler receive a 4 out of 8 and anything below that would be cause for concern. We are excited to share that Chandler not only scored above a 4 out of 8, but she had a perfect score of 8 out of 8. This tells us that the uterine environment is the safest place for her and she is thriving where she is.

Next week we will have another biophysical profile as well as a growth scan. We are hopeful she continues to demonstrate that staying in utero is best for her and we were advised even if her growth were to stall for whatever reason, gestational age is still most important meaning intervention would likely not happen anytime soon. The countdown begins and she can arrive anytime but will for sure be here in eight weeks, which will fly by!