Our Baby Story - part three

photo by Mrs. Flinger.

 

 I think I missed a detail yesterday.  I was laying in bed at 4am this morning (just after Little Man came to wake me up for more water) trying to remember when we first went to the perinatologist in Oklahoma City (which is not where we lived).  I believe it was just a week or so after my 19 week ultrasound that was inconclusive.  So we traveled to OKC to have one of those really cool 4D ultrasounds.

 

When we arrived, they first took a family history and did a little genetic counseling.  Then we did a normal ultrasound to get measurements again.  They were laying their own foundation for my progress.  Again, it was inconclusive.  The only thing they could say for sure is that even though the fetus was growing, he was still a week or two behind based on my conception and due dates.  Even though my blood pressure was high, but controlled with medicine, everything looked good.

 

Even when they did the 4D ultrasound - which is really cool, by the way - they couldn't confirm whether or not our son had DS.  They, too, advised doing an amniocentesis to know for sure, but at 20 weeks, there is a risk of miscarriage or early delivery and chances are the baby wouldn't survive.  So we opted to wait.  And no one was sticking a needle that big into my belly.  I was to come back in 8 weeks for another ultrasound and see if there were any changes.

 

The next two months were the longest of my life.  My blood pressure was still high, but no other signs of preclamsia showed up.  Everything else progressed normally, if you want to call it that.  Around 28 weeks we went back to OKC for our next ultrasound.

 

Again, nothing conclusive except the size of the baby being smaller than expected.  So we opt to do the amnio.  I never really saw the needle - if I had, I'm sure I would have passed out - but Trey saw it.  He said it was huge.  I think I tried to squeeze off the fingers of his hand that I was holding.  All things considered, it wasn't really that bad.  But then there was waiting for the results.

 

I have no idea how long we waited.  I'm sure it was days, it may have been one day or five days, but I got the call at work.  Deep breath, everything is normal.  I had to ask the nurse to repeat herself.  No Downs Syndrome, or any other genetic problems for that matter.  And he was definitely a boy.

 

I never realized the weight that had been on my shoulders until it was gone.

 

But she wasn't done.  The size of the fetus was still a concern, so they wanted me back in a week or so for another ultrasound.  They wanted to make sure it wasn't my blood pressure or anything that was keeping the baby from growing any faster than he was.

 

Over the next few weeks, I went to OKC twice, I think.  Once for an ultrasound, once for an extended stress test on the baby.  Even though he was only about 32 weeks old, and small, his stress test rated him somewhere around a 35 or 36 week old fetus.  I could tell I confused the doctor a bit but he told me that they would recommend inducing me around 37 weeks because of my BP.

 

Turns out, I didn't have to wait that long.