As if I needed to stick another needle in my belly

Updated:  Amnio results showed that the baby’s lungs are still immature, and that if delivered, she would be in the NICU with breathing assistance.  No decisions have been made at this point, other than to wait.  I will know more by the middle of next week.

I’m disappointed, but her safety is my main concern.  So…..we’ll just sit tight and see what next week holds.  Maybe she’ll be a May flower after all.

****************

If it weren’t so late at night, after so long a day, I’d make myself take a picture of the 2.5 gallon freezer bag that is chock full of used Lovenox syringes, just for the sake of photographic impact.

Just take this image:

 
Times THREE.  This shot was taken at the end of the first trimester.  21 more weeks, times 7 shots a week…..

Yeah.  That’s a lot of poking and prodding, lemme tell you.

But I digress.

Thursday, I had an even more important needle stuck into me.  For an amniocentesis.

And here’s why.

Three weeks ago, at Baby Girl’s growth ultrasound, she was estimated to weigh 3 lbs., 12 oz., which put her solidly in the 15% for growth.  Which isn’t horrible, except that three weeks before that, she’d been in the 49%, and three weeks before that, she was in the 87%.  We – both as parents and with our physicians – became suspicious of IUGR, and began to plan accordingly.

If Baby Girl’s measurements at this Thursday’s ultrasound had confirmed the downward trending, and dipped her below the “official” cutoff percentile for IUGR, the plan was to proceed with a c-section on Monday, April 26.

Plans were made, bags were packed, fights were booked.  Names were even discussed.  Oh, yes, people.  We meant business.

Imagine the surprise, then, when Baby Girl showed off some on-target 5 lb., 12 oz. measurements that landed her cute little toosh firmly back in the 40%.  Which, even taking into consideration that these ultrasounds can be up to a pound off, especially this late in pregnancy, took her well clear of the IUGR label we were anticipating.

So.  Now what?  Delivery on Monday was no longer a given.  In fact, delivery on Monday would birth her shy of even 36 weeks gestation, which gave us all pause.  It’s a no brainer to pull her out if her placenta is deteriorating…..but if it’s not, the decision to rush her birth could jeopardize her lung ability.

Hence the amnio.

The purpose of the test was merely to extract enough amniotic fluid from Baby Girl’s bag of waters to determine if her lungs are yet mature.  Most likely, tested as they were at 35w2d, they will NOT be; however, amnios for this purpose aren’t Pass/Fail.  We will be able to determine a degree of maturity, so, hopefully, her lungs will be close enough to term to validate a delivery in a week – at 36w2d.

Now, there is still the possibility that her lungs ARE ready, and we can deliver on Monday as planned, and honestly, that is the desire of my heart.  I have been having a lot of emotional struggles in the past few days; my blood pressure is up (still great for me, but up from where it’s been), my weight is again down, and I’ve been having multiple daily panic attacks.  I am ready beyond words to have her safely out of the womb and, if needed, under competent hands-on medical care.  So, nothing would make me happier than hearing that her lungs ARE ready, and that she can come out and play on Monday.

Hope for that with me, will you?

I will try to update this post when I get the amnio results from my ob’s office this afternoon.