Amniocentesis 11/30

The game plan was that I was going to get up and go to work like normal, work for a few hours, meet up with my mom at our house and then head off to the amnio because you're not supposed to drive after the procedure. Brian had already missed an extra day of work that we hadn't planned on and I figured it was a routine enough test that Mom and I would be fine going together. She wanted to do something to help me and I really needed the help so off we went.

They saw me a lot quicker this time and announced that they were going to do another Level 2 scan of Olivia to make sure that they reviewed all of her this time since Dr. Taylor had previously just focused on her heart. The butterflies the size of 747's returned. First of all, I already knew what they were looking for, many babies diagnosed with HLHS have other organ or system deformities and they wanted to make sure Olivia wasn't one of those. Secondly, I was really worried that I may have chosen the wrong person to come with me to the doctor. My mom already had a really hard time accepting the news that even if all the surgeries were successful that Olivia would most likely be on medication for the rest of her life. Any more bad news may just put her over the edge and then both she and I would be stuck at the doctor's office waiting for my dad to come get us.

Either way, the radiologist technician started working away, scanning all up and down every square inch of Olivia for us to view in HD which was pretty cool. She talked about how she once worked with Dr. Cuneo (Peds Cardiologist) and how great of a doctor she is - all good news. Then she went on to talk about how fantastic Dr. Ilbawi is and his success with pediatric cardio cases - again more good news. From the little I knew at this point the Pediatric Cardiology world is a pretty small place, everyone knows everyone else. The rad tech finished up and went to get the doctor...while she was gone I was preparing my mom for somewhat of a drip of a personality. Dr. Taylor had not seemed to make much of an impression on my last visit and so didn't he start off this visit with a handshake, exchange of pleasantries and overall social outlook. I can only put it down to him knowing he was giving us bad news last time and this time he had nothing but good to report.

He reviewed the scans, did some scanning of his own and then announced that everything else looked really good. In fact, Livvy was measuring in around 1.2 lbs which caught me off guard. I had been reading baby books and all baby info which indicated that a baby in 22.5 weeks gestation was supposed to weigh around 13 oz. Ooops! He sort of chuckled and said that she was a little chunky but I was encouraged at least she is getting enough nutrients and in light of the upcoming surgeries that she will face - bigger really is better.

Then it was needle time or as Brian crudely calls it, time for me to get stabbed. For the first time in all the ultrasounds we have had, Olivia actually cooperated. She gave them a big spot to draw fluid from and stayed nicely out of the way until they were done. I was very pleased with her and proud of my mom for hanging out so calmly (she can be squeamish) with me through the whole test. We left the office with Dr. Taylors encouraging words that he felt her scan was so good he really expected a clear amnio result and headed home to meet my dad who would be spending the rest of his day babysitting me while I was on bedrest as a precaution.

As good as Olivia was throughout the test, that's how bad she was the next two hours. I think she was fed up from being poked and prodded with numerous ultrasounds in the past couple of weeks and she let me know it. As I sat on the couch checking emails, she gave me the first visible kick I have ever seen her give. She continued to have a fit for the next couple of hours until I dozed off and she must have too. Overall though, I was pleased to see that she had enough of her own little personality to summon up the energy for a hissy fit while in utero. That's my girl!