4th (20w2d) and 5th (24w2d) OB Appointment Updates

My 4th OB appointment (20w2d) was pretty uneventful. I had gained in total one pound, my uterus was measuring on track, and Murtle's heartbeat was beating away at about the usual 145 bpm. About two weeks after that appointment, I received a call from Dr. Marcus Penn, one of the senior OBs in the practice. He called to tell me the results of my last urine test (they had sent a sample to the lab because they had noticed trace amounts of blood and protein in my urine for the second month in a row). He told me that I had a slight bladder infection (which I've never known to have had before, but they are pretty common in pregnancy), so he prescribed a five-day course of penicillin / amoxicillin for me to take. He told me that while the bladder infection should not cause any problems for me or the baby, he wants to err on the side of caution and set me up to receive additional anti-biotics administered via an IV immediately prior to delivery because of the type of bacteria I have (Group B Streptococcus, or "GBS" for short). If a newborn were to contract GBS during delivery or shortly after birth, she could develop pneumonia, meningitis, sepsis, or even die. Here is a link to a great article that contains more information on GBS:

March of Dimes GBS Info

So after that minor hiccup, time slowly marched on. I have started to feel Murtle move around a bit more - especially within these past two days, but she stills seem to be a very chill baby. Anyway, lo and behold - we finally (and thankfully) made it to 24 weeks! According to a chart I found, 24 weeks is a HUGE viability milestone. If I were to have a baby at 24 weeks, her chance of survival is between 40-70% (granted, I would never wish for any mother to have to give birth so early due to the medical complications and issues that could arise from being so incredibly premature). However, each day that a baby stays in her mother's womb from 24 weeks means another 3% increase in survival odds each day. Here's the basic break-down:

Up until 21 weeks: 0% survival rate
At 22 weeks: 0-10% survival rate
At 23 weeks: 10-35% survival rate
At 24 weeks: 40-70% survival rate
At 25 weeks: 50-80% survival rate
At 26 weeks: 80-90% survival rate
At 27 weeks: greater than 90% survival rate

Therefore, 28 weeks will be the next huge milestone and one which I'll be anxiously awaiting. At that point, I should be ready to rock and roll with the nursery and other types of baby preparations

So, back to today's 24w2d appointment - it was thankfully uneventful, as well, other than the fact that I am now starting to gain more weight! I gained three pounds since my last OB appointment, which brings the grand total to four pounds! Murtle should weigh about 1.5 pounds by now and should be the length of an ear of corn already! And this is just the beginning of some rapid weight gain for her (and probably for me, too). So I need to keep that stretch mark cream flowing! The doctor I met with today was Dr. Nicole Luecke. I liked her, too, so now I have two OBs in the practice who I would most like to deliver Murtle - Dr. Luecke and Dr. Wells. I was disappointed to find out that Dr. Wells will be out for at least a few weeks (and maybe even a few months), so I might not even get a chance for her to deliver Murtle, which is a shame because she is my favorite so far. Anyway, Dr. Luecke is going to send my urine off to the lab to see if my infection cleared up. Otherwise, she just answered some routine questions I had and then sent me on my way with the orange "glucola" to drink before my next OB appointment. Onwards and upwards!