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I don’t usually write to Andrew’s blog but thought it might be a good opportunity to answer a few queries we’ve had of late regarding the pregnancy. It’s nice to know that people are interested in how we are travelling.

We are now heading into our 34th week. I am very proud of the way my body has behaved to date. Things have gone really well and the usual pregnancy niggles have been a breeze. Much better than I expected for someone rapidly approaching 40. Our antenatal visits are currently two weeks apart. At my last visit the fundus was 32cm high, which was about right for our then 32 week 5 day stage. The baby is average size (as was Adelaide until we hit 38/39 weeks.) Baby is very active and the kicks are getting painful, but very reassuring nonetheless. Baby is cephalic and has been since 27 weeks.

As I have PKD I also visit a Nephrologist (sadly, not the best one) as well as an Obstetrician to keep an eye on my kidney function. So far so good. Blood pressure has been abnormally low for me. I love this baby! Was really surprised by a blood test that revealed anaemia however it explains the recent headaches, breathlessness, chest pain etc. The iron supplements will take affect in about a week I am told. Really looking forward to regaining some energy. It hasn’t been a terribly exciting holiday for Adelaide.

The Nephrologist is advising a 38 week delivery (if possible.) That puts us somewhere around mid May. (Don’t take that as gospel, anything could happen.) We were a bit shocked at that, so Andrew went into overdrive and painted both kids’ rooms over Easter. They look wonderful. We just need some manchester now to pad them out. Adelaide is of course very excited. She tells me that she will be the baby’s
“little mother” and I am sure that she is right. Adelaide turning 5 is our next big event of course..

Getting back to 38 weeks. This magic number was advised (and ignored) with Adelaide and once we went beyond that my cyst infested kidneys and liver stopped behaving and Adelaide started to fill with fluid. She also suffered from jaundice thanks to my liver. The Nephrologist obviously knew what he was talking about. The fluid gain meant that Adelaide was nearly 10 pounds at delivery (2 days shy of 42 weeks.) She lost so much weight from the mere fluid loss (in hospital) that our local Maternal Health Nurse hassled us for weeks about Adelaide’s weight loss. I think because we are both big people she just assumed we would have a big baby. She couldn’t get it through her head that we had a normal sized baby filled with fluid. We brought that normal sized baby home from hospital and she gained weight at the appropriate rate. We are hoping to avoid any undue stress to the baby this time.

Andrew and Adelaide are both Rhesus-positive, so I get to have injections in the bottom. Hurrah!

On a positive note, we have a lovely Obstetrician and a lovely Nephrologist. Not that we didn’t have a lovely Nephrologist last time. Both new specialists are based in Ballarat and they actually get along, unlike our previous Melbourne specialists.

Over and out.