Bump Watch...31 Weeks...

Last week I passed the 31 week mark...hard to believe I am in the last trimester already, and only have 8 1/2 weeks to go!

It has been very interesting to say the least at my doctor appointments here in Japan. I have had great care so far, but have already encountered one minor hiccup, that could have been a huge problem had we not figured everything out!

I am seeing a great doctor at the Sasaki ladies clinic here in Fukuoka that speaks pretty good english. She is in charge of seeing me every few weeks until I hit the 32 week mark. She doesn't deliver babies, so I have to start going to the hospital I will be delivering at from 32 weeks on to see the actual doctor. But she has a little office not too far from our apartment (and I mean little office! there's one little room off the waiting room, and I totally hang off the exam table, it's hilarious!), and I have been there a few times already. It's pretty standard stuff: urine test, blood pressure test, measure the ever growing belly...the only thing that's different is they like to give ultrasounds at every single doctor's visit to see the baby and see how they are progressing. I love this, for we get to see our little girl every time!

Austin and Brooke tagged along to one visit with Brian and I and they thought it was so cool seeing their baby sister! The doctor showed them the baby's face and they just loved it! It was adorable seeing them look at her on the screen and realize that there is actually a baby in my belly! At our last appointment, the doctor told us the baby was weighing an estimated 1871 grams, (yes, everything is measured in grams and centimeters here!) which is about 4lbs 2 oz! She is right on track, that's a good sign!

Everything seemed to be going fine up until a few weeks ago...I got a call from Brian's team translator, Taka, that the ladies clinic needed to see me right away and that he needed to be there with me to help translate some stuff the doctor wanted to go over. I didn't really know what to think, so when Brian got home from the field, he stayed and put the kids down for naps while me and the translator (who is not married and doesn't have kids by the way!) went to the ladies clinic together!!

Apparently, the doctor got the results of my blood work back from my first visit with her, and she was all worried that I had tested positive from some antibodies that could be very harmful to the baby. I am RH-, so I always have to make sure I get these certain shots at different points of the pregnancy and as soon as I deliver, for my blood can actually attack the babies blood if they aren't RH-too...so I am completely aware of all the negatives and complications of being RH-. However, I have never actually tested positive for the antibodies before, not with any of my pregnancies, so this was something new. It's associated with being RH-, so it all made sense what she was telling me, but I was so confused as to why I was just testing positive for these, and why my doctor back at home, who had just done all my blood work right before I left for Japan, didn't tell me any of this!! I was going crazy thinking of everything that could happen!!

The doctor basically told me that because of this, I couldn't give birth at the hospital I was going to (which is literally across the street from our apartment), because they didn't feel they were prepared for the complications that could happen if anything were to happen to the baby. Which could be really serious! WHAT?!! I guess they don't have as big as a NICU as some of the other hospitals in the city. This meant, I would have to go to the bigger city hospital that didn't give epidurals...that didn't have doctors that spoke english...that didn't have private rooms (I would have to share a room with 6 other women!!)!! Are you crazy!? And, I had to immediately go to this hospital to meet with a specialist so he could take a look at the baby and see if any thing was wrong with the baby and to talk things over with me. I was in pure panic mode.

So, Taka, the team translator and I, head to the hospital. Meanwhile Brian is back at the apartment googling all of the things I am telling him, while the kids are napping, relaying back to me all the things that could go wrong because of these antibodies. This is just making me worse!! Well, I get checked in at the hospital, and go see the doctor, who really only speaks a little english. He gives me an ultrasound, and through the translator tells me everything appears to be OK so far with the baby, but we will have to come every 5 days to check on her to see if she is showing signs of complications from these antibodies. The first signs are swelling in the brain and lung areas. If she shows any of this, we will have to have an immediate C-Section and she will be placed in NICU. What?!!

Well, after a very lengthy conversation through our translator...and what could have been one of the funniest things I have ever been a part of...the doctor starts to draw out on a piece of paper for me what is going on. He draws a stick figure which is supposed to be me I figure out, then a picture of a baby in a belly...our baby girl. Then he starts drawing shooting arrows from the mom to the baby in the belly and making "shooting gun" noises like I am basically attacking our baby!!! I couldn't help but laugh, it was so funny!! I look at him, and say through our translator, I just don't understand why I have these antibodies, when I just got my RH- shot from my doctor right before I left, which is mandatory at 28 weeks pregnant...I thought that was supposed to protect me from all of this?!! He looks at me and starts chuckling, and says "OH!!!! You got shot?!!!" Oh, Okay, All Okay now!" I was like, what!???

Taka, our translator, goes on to tell me that the doctor told him that in Japan, they have not been able to give women the RH shot while they are pregnant, up until 2 weeks ago, so this is a new thing for them and they aren't used to pregnant women having this shot...which is WHY I tested positive for these darn antibodies, because they are present in the shot!!! HELLO!!! This was ALL a HUGE misunderstanding!!! Are you serious!!! And the doctor is just laughing, like Whoops!! So he gets on the phone and explains everything to the lady doctor at the women's clinic, tells her I can go back to the hospital I was supposed to deliver at and that nothing is wrong with me or the baby.

Whew.

What a crazy experience!!!

Seriously though, thankfully we got it all figured out, otherwise I really would have been on the next plane home. Not kidding. So, after paying the hospital $32 (we don't have Japanese insurance so everything is out of pocket...thankfully it is way affordable here!), we were on our way home. With good news to tell Brian so he could stop googling horror stories of what was going to happen to our baby. Our poor translator got more than he signed up for that day...but thank GOD I was able to have him with me to translate everything, I don't know what I would have done! So long story short, everything is OK, and we can continue like normal!!

Other than that whole ordeal, I am excited I only have 8 1/2 weeks left of carrying around this huge belly...things are still going great, just over the annoying heartburn I seem to get all the time now, and the total uncomfortable sleep I now get at night, and of course the constant need to pee. Still having a great appetite...craving some new things too...loving salads, especially this noodle/lettuce salad thing they sale at the baseball games, I can't get enough of it (Sounds weird, but it's really so good)! And, chocolate covered raisins, loving those things too!! Baby girl is moving like crazy now too, kicking and punching all the time, she sure is a mover!! Austin and Brooke love talking to her through my belly....and they LOVE giving her zerberts (blowing on my belly), they think she laughs when they do it ;) It's hilarious and cute!! Needless to say they are quite excited!! Oh, and not so sure if this is real funny to me, but I'm sure it is to other's, half the time I ask Brooke where the baby is, instead of pointing to my belly, she points to my ever growing boobs. She insists the baby is in them, and not in my belly. Not so sure how I feel about her thinkings my boobs are big enough to hold a baby...real funny Brooke!! :)

Well, here's some pics of the growing belly over the last month...

28 weeks

29 weeks

30 weeks

31 weeks

This one makes me laugh, Brian was out of town, so I had Austin take the picture of my belly this week...I told him to stand back and take a picture of my belly!!! Well, he did just that!!! lol!!

Again at 31 weeks...this time Austin made sure to get my face in it too!