Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Biophysical profile

I had the coolest biophysical profile last week and I just thought I'd share it with you. For those of you who don't know, a biophysical profile is an ultrasound that measures the health of the baby during pregnancy and is combined with a non-stress test and graded. There is a possibility of getting 10 points - 10 being optimal, but 8 being acceptable. A score of 6 would require another test in a 24 to 48 hours and a score of 6 or below would require further examination. Here's what is being graded:
movement - 2 points - the technician is looking for 3 random movements within a decent amount of time
breathing movement - 2 points - the technician is looking for a 30 second period in which the baby is mimicking breathing
amniotic fluid - 2 points - the technician is looking for at least 1 pocket of amniotic fluid of at least 1 cm
muscle tone - 2 points - the technician is looking for one extension/flexion to occur - this could be a leg extending and then returning to a bent position or a hand opening and then closing into a fist
non-stress test - 2 points - a rise in heartbeat (of at least 15 bpm) during movement - this should occur somewhere between 2 and 8 times in a 15 minute period

So, last week when I was having this, the baby remained pretty inactive and the technician was able to get all the measurements needed and see the "breathing", but then it was time to roll me over on my side to try to get the baby to move. The baby was laying with both arms across his/her face. I said, "come on baby, just wake up and cooperate so we can be done." All of the sudden the baby lowered both arms, looked right at us and began wiggling his/her fingers like he/she was waving at us. The technician continued to watch thinking that the baby would make a fist at any second and we could be done with the test, but instead we sat there and watched the baby wave at us for about 2 minutes. It was just the most awesome thing I have ever seen! Below is a picture where you can see the baby waving - the hand that is waving is the star-shape in the middle of the picture.


This is the same picture without the labels

Call me crazy if you want to, but as I looked more and more at the picture, there was a lot about this baby that resembled Olivia. I know, you're probably wondering how in the hell I got that from a very distorted and grainy picture that to some don't even resemble a baby, but to me, I thought that this baby looked a lot like Olivia. So I had to get out Olivia's scrapbook and look at her ultrasound pictures. Below are two different pictures of Olivia when I was pregnant with her. Do you see the resemblance? Be honest!
(in both pics the head is to the right of the pic and body is to the left)


BTW - I don't know what my score was - I will find out today at my appointment with my midwife. My last biophysical profile was scored an 8 out of 10.

7 comments:

Megan said...

How amazing!! SHE is looking straight at the camera!!

Leenie said...

Are you sure HE is not flicking you the bird?

Linda said...

I told Brian Friday night when he e-mailed me the pic that I thought the baby looked like Olivia! I can't really see a resemblance in the two pics though! Sorry! And I agree with Leenie, the baby is trying to give you the finger!:)

mommy to an angel said...

Ya, the hand does look funny! It didn't look like that during the ultrasound, but when the pic printed out even the technician was suprised - she said it looked like a marijuana plant!! Starting young!
BTW - the biophysical profile was a 10 out of 10! and the NST went fine today - my midwife was out on a delivery (first time this has EVER happened!) so I didn't get to see her today and I will see the other midwife on Friday after my next BPP (biophysical profile)

mommy to an angel said...

AND - even though I think the pic looks a little like Olivia, I also think it looks like a boy! 42 more days until my due date - we'll just have to wait and see :-)

Jen said...

HE was definitely flipping you off. HE is Brian's child, remember.

Glad to hear all is well. Caroline was my only one to get a 10. That's totally like her perfectionist self!

Anonymous said...

I see the resemblance in the cheeks. I think SHE is going to be a very sassy chick.