Today was another normal day full of appointments with Kim and Jon, but today I got to do more than I have in the past. Kim asked me if I would use the doppler and find the heartbeat with most of her OB patients! She watched me as I would squirt some gel on the monitor, turn it on, place the monitor on the patient's belly, move it around slightly until hearing the "swish-swish" of the baby's heartbeat, then recording the BPM. One of the babies had a heart murmur, so every fifth beat was irregular, which could be heard on the doppler. The irregular beats sounded higher-pitched and sometimes louder than the other beats.
I am still continuing to gain little bits of knowledge with a lot of the patients that come in. One of the OB patients who was only several weeks pregnant previously had a miscarriage, a stillborn, then a healthy baby before her current pregnancy. However, she was wondering how long it would be safe for her to breastfeed her other child during this pregnancy. Because of her past mishaps, Jon said that they would need to check the length of her cervix because breastfeeding can cause more contractions. This would be problematic with a short cervix because it could cause a premature delivery. I didn't know that breastfeeding while pregnant could be such a risk in a situation like that.
Another one of the patients was a confirmation of pregnancy, and I learned more about the human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) hormone, which is a hormone made by the placenta and released to confirm the pregnancy through a blood or urine test. The amount of hCG should double every two days until 8-11 weeks, which is when the levels peak then decline. An ultrasound can be done once the hCG level reaches 2,000 units, but they can approach 25,000 units or higher by the peak.
I have been coming up with ideas for my final presentation, and I have started to work on the very beginning of it. I am excited to show everyone what I have seen and learned in these several weeks.
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