Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Medical Science Finally Confirms ...

... what I have long suspected. Giant Speck is, in fact, gigantic. Or, in the more diplomatic terms of my midwife, she is "measuring larger than average for her gestational age". At our last appointment, the midwife chatted with us about how I was feeling (uncomfortable), how the baby was moving (lots, and with total disregard for my internal organs), and what concerns we had, if any (see above). Then she got out the measuring tape, applied it to my splitting-at-the-seams belly, and said, "Huh." She went out and called in another midwife, for a second opinion. The second midwife measured me, too, contemplated me for a minute, and then said, "No, I agree with your numbers". It was then explained to me that Speck seemed to have accomplished a growth spurt since my last visit, and was currently measuring on the large side, which was a slight red flag given my previous history of diabetes. They did an ultrasound to get a better look, and gave me the rough estimate of somewhere between 6 1/2 and 8 1/2 pounds for Speck's weight -- and mind you, this was over a week ago, with a month left until the due date. I have known all along that Speck was of greater than average size (in both body and spirit), but it is never emotionally comfortable to cause a big flurry among your birthing staff. To be on the cautious side, they signed me up for yet another diabetes test, which came back sort of inconclusive, so I had to go back and do a longer version of it (three hours where you sit in the lab waiting room, drink a really sugary drink on an empty stomach, and then have your blood drawn every hour for three hours to see how you have reacted to the sugary drink, the waiting room, and the constant blood-drawing. It's pretty fun!). I do not, in fact, have diabetes, which is nice, and I have developed what I consider to be a deep and lasting friendship with the blood-drawing guy at the hospital, and everyone can use more friends, so that's good, too.

While I was sitting and doing my tests, Max was being entertained by his Tillman grandparents. Evidently, he went to the park, rode his bike, saw some baby geese (pictured below) and tried to touch them, was given hand-made fruit smoothies and fresh bread, and lived it up in high style. When I asked him later what he had done that morning, he said, "Grandma, whee! Dog, whoof whoof! Grandpa." He had to take a three-hour nap to recover from all the good times.

5 comments:

Ian said...

I would like to thank Mike for letting us borrow "tetris" so Chelsa could be entertained whilst she waiting for three hours.

Thanks again, Mike :)

swish said...

I was told that Sophie was going to be "surprisingly large" and was moved to an OPERATING room to deliver instead of my comfortable, roomy "alternative birthing center" room. You know, in case she was too big to deliver and had to be taken via c-section...she came out a perfectly average 7 pounds 8 ounces, 20 inches. She was a totally textbook average sized baby. For your...ahem...southern region...I'll hope they are wrong about this little lady like they were about mine!

Chelsa said...

They did tell me that their ultrasound weight estimate was not very accurate. I can't quite decide which is worse, actually -- giving birth to a ginormous baby doesn't sound that fun, but on the other hand, one of us is measuring gigantic, and I don't feel too awesome about the idea that it might be me instead of her, either.

Anonymous said...

A glucose tolerance test...those are never fun, even with "tetris". I'm glad it came out O.K.--my guess is Speck is just a typical (big) Tillman baby (i.e., Phil, Ian, Joey, others too numerous to mention). Thinking of you guys!

Chelsa said...

Thanks, Aunt Carol! Ian did tell the midwife that this is the sort of thing that comes of reproducing with a Tillman, but she was unprepared to accept his word alone, and did all the tests anyway.