So, this is it!

I was pretty anxious about the amnio today. Not because of the risks really. And not because of the needle in my belly thing. (After 300+ lovenox injections, I'm kinda over that.) But because this kid has kept us on our toes this whole pregnancy, I kinda figured he'd be in the 5% not ready yet. (My OB assured me yesterday that there was a 95% chance he'd be ready.)

He really was! It wasn't too horrible. I was a little nervous when they told me not to close my eyes, not to hold my breath, not to tense up. (And they had me put my hands behind my head so I wasn't even holding Joe's hand.) I kept my eye on the ultrasound monitor to see what the baby was doing and how far they were from him. I was a little nervous on the way there because without really thinking about it I drank a Diet Dr.Pepper, and he was pretty awake and active as we were driving and waiting in the waiting room. Luckily, when we were in there he settled down and when the needle was in he stayed far away from it. It didn't hurt anymore than lovenox, the only sucky part was that I didn't realize they'd keep the needle in for a full entire minute or so, to get enough fluid. I also didn't realize they took an entire vial full of fluid, for some reason I thought they just took a tiny bit. I had to remind myself to keep breathing. I actually ended up with my third choice doctor doing it, but he was actually nice and funny. He counted down while the needle was in, "1/3 done, 1/2 done...." And then it was over. They sent me to be monitored and OF COURSE our little trickster decided it was naptime so they weren't really concerned about him but he wasn't really active enough so we ended up staying on the monitor for quite awhile. But I said to Joe, "I don't care if they keep us here all day as long as I can hear his heart beating and know he's okay." He perked up after awhile and was nice and active with a good test strip, so they let us go.

They told us that they either do one or two tests with the fluid. The first test only takes about an hour to come back, but it's pretty picky and a lot of times will say lungs are immature when they really are mature. So if that test came back mature, they wouldn't bother with the second one and we could proceed with plans for delivery tomorrow. If that test came back immature, they'd do the second test, which takes about 4 hours. The nurse told me she'd call me after the 1 hour test results were back so we knew the status either way. If his lungs were mature, we had to go back to the hospital to do all of the pre-op paperwork, bloodwork, and talk to the anesthesiologist. If not, wait 4 hours and then maybe go to the hospital.

The cemetery where Olivia is buried is only about 15 minutes from the hospital but 45 or so minutes from our house, so we had already planned to go there today and this worked out perfectly as something to do while we waited for the first results. Coincidentally, while we were driving to the cemetery, the newish song "If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away" came on (I'm not sure how new it is but a couple of days ago was the first time I heard it. Today was the first time Joe heard it, too.)  Last night we went to dinner at Applebees, and there was a toddler little girl in the booth across from us, sitting behind their booth was a couple with a 2 month old. The toddler girl was infatuated with the baby and new mom was really nice, even letting this random toddler touch her baby's head. Anyway, it was really cute, but also very bittersweet, I kept thinking that we should have a toddler infatuated with her little brother very soon. So when we were at Olivia's grave, I was standing there thinking how excited she would be to meet her baby. And then seemingly out of nowhere, a butterfly fluttered right in front of her grave so we couldn't miss it. We go to the cemetery at least monthly. We've seen lots of deer and squirrels and stuff like that, but I've never seen a butterfly there. Some of my baby loss mom friends are big believers that when they see a butterfly, it's a sign from their baby that they are okay and with them in spirit, sort of thing. I've never really thought much about it either way. But the timing of that butterfly, right at that moment when I was thinking how excited Olivia should be about her baby brother, there it was. And it was only a few minutes after that that the nurse called to tell us that his lungs are mature and his birthday is tomorrow. That definitely made today even better and just gave me a bit of bittersweet peace.

I'm surprised I haven't freaked out all day about Luke moving or not moving. But he's been pretty fantastic, moving rather steadily every once in awhile so I'm reassured that all is well in there even though they took a big chunk of his fluid. He's been a little quieter (still okay, just not quite as constantly active as usual) the last couple of days so I'm very much appreciating him moving steadily. Yesterday, I started noticing my feet were getting swollen and today they are like 3x the normal size. Even the nurse got a little wide eyed, seeing it. Since we're delivering tomorrow and my blood pressure has been okay (up a little but not really high) and I'm not in pain or anything, it should be okay for now, but I think it's a good thing we're delivering tomorrow besides my mental health. My fingers are crossed that I'm not headed toward postpartum pre-eclampsia.

We finally finished up Luke's room (well, mostly, we haven't put together *everything* since we know he won't be in the jumper or exersaucer for awhile. And we haven't set up the monitors and a few things like that which we won't use immediately yet, either.) But it's 90% done.

 

Anyway, this time tomorrow, he'll be here!