NBC's heart and a positive fetal fibronectin test

I could not be more at a loss of words than I am right now. Wednesday I was bouncing off the wall after seeing the baby and learning my cervical length had got a little longer than last time. I was stocked knowing that the baby weighed almost 4 lbs (3 lb 13 oz), was practicing breathing, opening its eyes, and just hanging out! NBC had a good heart beat at 130 bpm and I even got to see all four chambers of the heart hard at work. The tech gave me a couple pics and I left on cloud nine. I was so thrilled to share the exciting news with Adam and just so happy that baby appears to be doing great and there was no more shortening of my cervix (it actually got a little longer, went from 4 to 2.6 to just over 3), which is amazing news and reassured me that we can at least make it to April.

And then Thursday happened and my world was shook. As I sat in the drs office I was expecting the usual to happen. Talk about how I’m feeling, do the test, check me, and then off I would go. Dr. B then came in and after we went over how I’ve been doing lately she hit me with a bomb. She told me the tech had noticed something on the ultrasound that needed to be looked at a little further. While doing the anatomical exam, the tech noticed a slight abnormality with NBC’s right atrium. NBC’s right atrium seems to be slightly enlarged. Dr. B reassured me that when this tech sees something like this, it may turn out to be something or it might not be anything at all. She thought it would be a good idea to have further testing done. So what does this mean; I will now have to go to The Children’s Hospital down in Denver to have a fetal echo ultrasound done. They’ll measure the heart more in depth and then a cardiologist will look at the scan and determine if NBC does in fact have an enlarged right atrium. If it does turn out that NBC does have a larger right atrium then once baby is born they’ll run more test and from there we’ll be dealing with a pediatric cardiologist. All I can do for now is pray that everything is okay with baby and know that this is completely in God’s hands and it’s not going to do me or the baby any good to worry about what could be. Dr. B is pretty sure its nothing, but we need to follow up on this just to make sure. After talking a little more she did the fetal fibronectin test. She did not check me, as she did not want to disturb anything.

As if one bomb isn’t enough I then got a call from the nurse later that afternoon to tell me the ff test had come back positive and they’re going to need me to come in tomorrow to receive another shot to help speed up the development of the lungs and hopefully help with the thinning of the lining. A positive ff is a little trickier than a negative. So here’s what all this means in a nutshell: Fetal fibronectin "leaks" into the vagina if a preterm delivery is likely to occur and can be measured in a diagnostic test. It is an excellent biological marker of premature (preterm) delivery (a delivery before 37 weeks of gestation). When the fFN test is positive, it is an inconclusive result. A positive result can indicate that a woman will go into preterm labor soon, but she may not go into labor for weeks. When the fFN test is negative, the result is a better predictor. A negative result means that there is little possibility of preterm labor within the next 7 to 10 days, and the test can be repeated weekly for women who remain at high risk. A negative fetal fibronectin test gives a more than 95% likelihood of remaining undelivered for the next 2 weeks. A systematic review of the medical literature found that fetal fibronectin is a good predictor of spontaneous preterm birth before cervical dilation. The test may be run on patients between 22 and 35 weeks gestation. The test is easily performed and is usually painless. A specimen is collected from the patient using a vaginal swab. The swab is placed in a transport tube and sent to a laboratory for testing. Most labs can easily produce a result in less than one hour.

I just scheduled our fetal echo ultrasound for Monday afternoon. Of course I’m anxious/nervous/scared/etc, but I know God will be our guide and be our strength in whatever may be put in front of us. It’s this reassurance in the Lord that helps me be at ease with everything. Through Him I can do anything!

So for now I will go get the shot and continue to take it super, super easy. We’re really hoping to make it to April 2^nd.  Adam really doesn’t want an April fools baby and the 2^nd is his parents anniversary, so that would be kind of neat. As long we get to April it really doesn’t matter what day baby decides to come. I will be 32 weeks this Sunday and we’re praying that I can get past 34, but again just like the heart thing, it’s all in God’s hands and I know He’ll be our guiding hand through all of this.

I’ve definitely been feeling different lately. The baby is now head down, which causes a lot of pressure for me. Adam even told me last week that I look like a woman in her 3^rd trimester. Just the way I’m moving and holding myself. The contractions are about the same, but luckily no more and definitely no consistency with them. A lot of questions will be answered at the beginning of next week as I go in for the ultrasound and then have a regular appointment on Wednesday. So for now I will continue to pray that God will be our guide and strength through all of this.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."- James 1:17