Wombat's Biophysical Profile

Today we went to an ultrasound to determine how Wombat is doing and whether he has everything he needs. Apparently, he does have everything he needs and is quite happy with the amenities, which may be one reason why he has not yet come out.

The biophysical profile is intended to evaluate how the placenta and everything else is supporting the baby. It measures the following 5 things on a scale from 0 (sucks) to 2(spectacular):

1. Breathing Movements
2. Body Movement
3. Muscle Tone
4. Amniotic Fluid Volume
5. Placenta & Blood Flow through the umbilical cord.

Wombat would not stop squirming, had great muscle tone, sufficient amount of amniotic fluid and the placenta looked intact. The blood flow through the cord sounded like a waterfall, so good there as well. And we could see him practice breathing, which was really cool - the diaphragm goes up and down, preparing the baby to breathe in air when he is out. So he got high scores all around. His weight appears to be around 7 pounds, which also rules out concerns of him getting too heavy if we wait longer. All in all, this looks to support my theory that Wombat is simply mis-dated and is not due on the 20th but more like on the 30th or so.

Tomorrow, I am seeing the midwives again - for another Non-Stress Test, and further discussion of these results. Hopefully they will let us wait out another week! Go Wombat! For all interested, here are some pictures of the ultrasound:

Face, obscured by placenta on the right side (3D view)

Foot!

We have no idea what the 2 above are.... we think they were supposed to be profile shots, but those are really hard to get with the baby being this big.