It felt like the longest wait until we were able to be seen by Maternal Fetal Medicine again. But the day *finally* came and it was the day after Mother’s Day. The positives? Another ultrasound! The negatives? Possibilities for more bad news, of course! 
The good news was that baby was growing well. There were no concerns with her size, her heart, her spine, her brain…the clefts were the only things she was dealing with. More good news, the fluid on the kidney resolved. But as always, there’s a bit of bad news too. Some cleft affected pregnancies deal with polyhydramnios. That’s the fancy medical term for excess amniotic fluid. Because of the swallowing concerns that cleft affected babies have, there’s sometimes excess amniotic fluid. This fluid was causing me to measure three weeks ahead, and she was already at a rough estimate of 4 lbs! Possible risks for delivering a baby with “poly” are breech presentation due to the large space babies have to float around in, cord prolapse (where the cord delivers before the baby), and of course premature birth – which I am at risk for anyway due to my history. With this pregnancy, I began doing my own weekly progesterone shots at 17 weeks.
The MFM doctor referred me back to the midwives at the new practice where I was now being seen due to risking out from the birth center. She ordered weekly NSTs (non stress tests) to monitor baby’s activity. Weekly trips an hour up and an hour back, for an hour long appointment. Great! <insert eye roll here>
We’d be back in a month for a follow up. And in the mean time, I would keep googling.
Feeding Miss Daisy 