Amnio Adventure

Today was the big day. Well, not the BIG big day, that'll be next Tuesday or Wednesday. But the day I've been dreading for several weeks - our scheduled amniocentesis. Ever since my OB mentioned that we should have one to make sure David's lungs are mature before we deliver, I've been nervous & anxious about it. After all, long needle? In my belly? Really? Yikes.

I did quite a bit of research about the procedure, so I knew what was going to happen. None of my friends have had an amnio, though, so I was really missing a trusted first-person perspective. Was it going to hurt? How much? Would it feel like the infamous "pressure," as OBs seem to describe all kinds of pain? Would David move? Would it take a long time? Would I be sore afterwards?

So here's the scoop: it was by no means pleasant, and I'm not in a huge hurry to do it again, but it wasn't THAT big a deal. James was right beside me, so I got to squeeze his hand through the whole thing. It was painful, but definitely not unbearable - I'd rank it about a 4/10 on a pain scale.

The two worst things about it:

1. I almost fainted. Seriously. I've never been that close to fainting in my life. Although, really, if you're going to faint, what better conditions? Laying down in a dark room, with a doctor and two nurses with their hands already on you? I told them I was feeling "a little dizzy" (which was a big understatement) and I think once they noticed I was the color of cottage cheese, they had me turn on my side. Problem fixed almost immediately - it was just from David's weight cutting off my blood supply.
2. They had to stick me 3 times. David kept moving, which made the fluid pockets shift. The first poke was definitely the worst, since after that I knew roughly what kind of pain to expect. Even with 3 tries, they didn't technically get enough amniotic fluid, but they called it quits to keep from turning my belly into a pincushion.

After the procedure, we went to Labor & Delivery for monitoring, to make sure I wasn't going to go into labor as a result of all the poking. We spent about an hour relaxing in a quiet room, munching on ice, listening to David's heart on the monitor, and watching reruns of "Home Improvement." It was actually kind of nice.

We should have the results on Monday, and hopefully once those are in we'll be scheduled for either Tuesday or Wednesday for the C-section.

Oh, and David's weight estimate today is 6 lb, 9 oz, which puts him at the 71st percentile. We'll see how accurate that is in a few days!

Thank you so much for all of the encouraging comments & prayers. They've made a huge difference in strengthening this little chicken-hearted girl.