SO here's the full story:

We loaded up the car at 6:00 am today and headed to the Dr’s office for our amnio. We arrived about 7:15 and waited for a few minutes for the U/S tech to arrive. She got there for a few minutes later. She did a quick scan and checked the size/weight. He was measuring about 36w6d (not 37w3d), well within normal variation for size.

There was a great pocket of fluid available for “tapping”. They started to clean the area with betadine and he immediately shoved his hands and feet into the pocket effectively filling the entire thing. They bounced the U/S probe on him a number of times trying to get him to move his arms out of the way with no luck. Our OB then tried to push him out of the way and open up the pocket. No luck.

The tech then looked for another pocket. She found a small one near his chest that was the best bet. They were able to get to that one, but it was difficult. The pocket was really deep. They had to go through the placenta and then they had to keep repositioning the depth and angle of the needle to avoid pricking him as he continued to move around.

Because it took longer than they would have liked it to and they had to push him around a lot, and they had to go through the placenta, my OB decided that we should go over to L&D and have NST monitoring. So we headed over there.

Within about half an hour of arriving in L&D they had our amino results. Negative for lung development. This of course means that the c-section was cancelled. The nurse brought me a big glass of ice water since I had not had any food or drink since midnight. They wanted to get a full hour of the NST so we continued monitoring for a bit. The NST was responsive. It did show a number of mild contractions (really more like Braxton Hicks, not painful), some of which I was feeling and some of which I wasn’t. They were short, like 10 seconds and not in a pattern. Then they released us.

We decided to go out for breakfast at IHOP (country fried steak with eggs and chocolate chip pancakes). While we were there, we decided that we would feel better if we stayed in the area around our hospital for awhile just in case since I was continuing to have the mild contractions occasionally so we decided to catch a movie. We stopped in the bookstore on the way from the parking garage to the movie theater to see if we could find a baby book that we like better than the one we have.

While were in the book store, the OB from L&D called my cell phone. They were reviewing my charts and realized that my BP was elevated a bit more than they would like to see and wanted me to go back into my OB’s office today or tomorrow and have them check it again. Off we went back to the OB’s office since we were close and did not want to have to go back again tomorrow. My BP was fine when they checked it there, my urine dip was clean so I got the all clear.

We headed back towards the movies. We parked in a different parking garage and went to the other bookstore. Never had any luck finding a baby book we like better. We saw Indiana Jones. Pretty good movie. If they write a good script and Shia LaBouf (sp?) plays his cards right he could be set for life after this role.

From there we headed home. We stopped at the grocery store to get a some produce and milk since we obviously had none because we had been expecting to not be back home for almost a week.

I’m still debating about going back to work for a few days instead of burning vacation time, but at least today, the contractions increased when I was up and about and pretty much disappear when I am relaxing sitting down so I’m definitely not going tomorrow. I’ll see after that.

We are not 100% certain what the plans are yet. My OB will do another amnio in 7-10 days and then do the c-section from there.

The one thing that I keep thinking is that if we use the dates that I was positive were correct from the beginning, putting our due date at June 25 instead of the June 15 that they changed it to, the amnio results are not at all unexpected. If the original dates are correct we were only at 36w today instead of 37w3d. Guess this is why amnio is good. Not entirely looking forward to doing it again, but it really wasn’t that bad.

Wednesday is the big day. We'll be heading to the hospital very early in
the morning for the amnio. Once those results come in, we should be
doing the C-Section about 1:30 pm. I'll send out a text message as soon
as I'm able. (If you want to get that, make sure I've got your number!).
If you want to follow what's going on in more detail, I suggest you
follow my twitter stream. You can either got to twitter.com and sign up
there for an account. At the top you can search for "morydd" and then
select "follow" below my avatar. You'll then have to set it up to update
to your phone (or you can just view them on the website). Or you can
text "follow morydd" to 40404. You'll then get a confirmation request to
respond with your name. You can use whatever you'd like to be your
twitter account name.

I'll send an email with full details at some point that evening, and
pictures will follow. We won't have web access in the room (I think) so
updates will probably only happen once or twice a day at most, and cell
phones aren't supposed to be used in the hospital. We'll have to use a
phone card to make calls out, so we'll send the room's phone number once
we have that too. Feel free to pass this information on to others who
may want to keep up to date.

2 more days!

So, we've got some cleaning and such we want to do this weekend, so we're declaring it an open house. Come over and help us clean! Yep, we're taking advantage of our friends and family (if any of them are silly enough to show up) for free labor. If you'd like to come by on Saturday, Sunday or Monday and help throw a few loads of laundry around, rearrange some furniture, or other equally un-fun things, give us a call. We'll probably even feed you.

Oh, we'll probably do some actually fun stuff to like take Wii breaks. Or just sit and chat.

We had an appointment with the OB this morning. Everything is still normal. Nicole has been having some issues with sinus pressure and headaches, which resulted in a just-in-case visit to L&D. The medical people are all watching this like a hawk on meth, so while everything that happens gets us tense, we're lucky that we know that everything possible is being done to insure that this baby arrives healthy.

This afternoon we got a call from the OB saying that appointments have been set up for Wed. May 28th. We'll have the amnio at 7:30a and then (assuming that the lungs are ready) the c-section will be at 1:30p. In 3 weeks, the peanut will be here!

*

Sunday afternoon, our friends Chris & Steph threw a baby shower for us. It was a lot of fun and we got to see a lot of people that we don't see nearly often enough. Nicole's mom was able to fly in for a few days, and my parents both drove up, along with other friends and relatives, all in all about 20 people were there. We played the "baby" game, in which each person is given a diaper pin, and if you hear someone say the word "baby" you get to take their pin. Matt and Sarah were the masters of this one. Like ninjas they were. We also had a crossword puzzle base on things about us and the baby. I offered to sell clues for a dollar each, but I only had one taker. We also had great food, a cake, prizes and some rousing games of bags (a Chicago tradition). Oh, plus gifts. But really, the gifts, while fun and useful, were minor compared to getting to spend time with all of our friends and family. Thanks to all of you who were able to make it. We will have to get together more often with you all (and those who weren't able to make it, we still want to catch up!)

Thank you all!

*note us unwrapping a Cubs outfit at the home of our die-hard Sox fan friends.

We had our first non-stress test yesterday. It's a test to check fetal response and, thereby, placental function. Basically, they hook up a heartbeat monitor and a contraction monitor, and give the mother a button (like on Jeopardy!). When the mother feels the baby move, she's supposed to push the button. What they're looking for is for the baby's heart rate to accellerate with the activity and then settle back down to the resting rate. This is to make sure the baby is active and responsive.

The nurse told us that what they look for is a resting heart rate between 120 and 160, and the rate to go up 15-20 bpm upon activity. When she turned the monitor on, the peanut showed a lovely 140. It was actually a bit early in the day for him, as he seems to generally have his first dance party around 9:30 and our appointment was at 8:30. We did get a couple of good readings. He would shift around, the heart rate would climb to 160ish and then settle back down. The nurse told us that the data was a textbook example of a positive reading. She also showed us a tool they use to stimulate the baby if he's sluggish early in the morning. It was an electronic voicebox, such as is used for people with damaged larynxes. It basically makes a somewhat loud buzzing noise. She said they'll put it on the belly and that usually will wake a sleeping baby. However when she pushed the button and made it buzz, she was a good 3-4 feet away rom Nicole and the Peanut apparently did not like it. He squirmed quite a bit and the heartrate went up to 170! (which, incidentally, is the exact tempo that I associate with the clicking of train wheels on the track). So, that was entertaining.

All good so far!

True, our definition of "busy week" is shortly to undergo a major shift, but this is the first week that baby-related things have gotten to be a major part of our day-to-day life. We had a checkup on Wednesday (all still normal). Then Thursday we had our first pre-natal Class. It was the first of two "Caring for Newborns" class. We also narrowed our list of names down to nine:

• Cadel
• Dean
• Dylan
• Ephraim
• Ethan
• Langston
• Liam
• Maxwell
• Rhys

For middle names we're thinking about Aiden, Thomas, Paul and Dean.
We probably won't give another update on names until we meet him, as we won't make a final decision until then.
Next week is even busier, as we have the first Non-Stress Test, another session of "Caring for Newborns", a meeting with the pediatrician, and a Breast Feeding class. Plus Nicole has a "regular" doctor appointment. Whew.