We talked to the Doctor's office this morning, and we've got a new timeline. We'll be having our usual Tuesday morning Non-Stress test, and a quick BP/urine test. Then we'll repeat the amnio Thursday afternoon. Assuming that the new test shows lung maturity, the c-section will be Friday at about noon. The countdown is back on!

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.

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!