A big appointment...

Well, I'm absolutely exhausted. Its been a long day and I am beat.

We had one of our bigger appointments today, a fetal echocardiogram up at Primary's. For those that don't know, a fetal echo is where they literally just stare at the heart. Its a very long and pretty dull appointment. By the end of it my arms have gone numb and my neck hurts from stretching to see. They also have a harder time viewing as his ribs are getting harder and causing shadows on the heart. After awhile, the dr comes in and takes a look too. And then they direct you to the 'bad news' room, a small room with a cushy couch and a box of tissues. They won't really tell you anything until that room. They also call in a social worker and a 'patient advocate nurse' to give you support and make sure you're feeling ok.

After they sat me down (I went to this appt alone) they gave me the news. The pills were pointless. They did nothing but give me the jitters and a headache. The one high heartbeat rate I got was a fluke. Although to make sure, they want me to do a few days of 24 hr heartrate monitoring, where I wear a belt all day and night. If anything happens, a peak or spike after the pills, they will keep me on them and raise the dosage. If not, they'll take me off it.

They will continue monitoring me twice a week to check for hydrops, or any sort of swelling. If they form, they will take him out. If they don't form? They'll still take him out at the end of October. They want to get him to 32 weeks. That is Oct 22. There is just so much more than they can do for him out. He's also easily monitored outside, where if something goes wrong they'll know quickly and can respond quickly. They would do it sooner, but 32 weeks makes him so much bigger, stronger and healthier that they'd prefer to wait.

Thats right, no more than four weeks and I will meet my little guy. I am so nervous and overwhelmed and ... I don't even know. I always assumed it would happen, but to get verification from the doc is so huge. I'm trying to think of everything I wanted to get done, and deciding whats important and whats not.

So.... thats where we are.

Amy