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hospital drama

Round 3: Julie vs. Her Uterus




Update: I will be having a reduction today. My favorite doctor came in and said she really felt like we should do it today before the weekend, since the levels are definitely higher. I agree, and I like that she is the one to be able to do it! Plus, I talked to her about my IV woes and she is going to put in my chart that I need linocain with every stick. She said that I'm the nicest patient who's been here forever and if that's my only request, they can handle that! Things are starting to look up!



After last night's adventure, the doctor came first thing this morning to check my fluid levels. Low and behold, they were higher. She did it twice, so it's somewhere between 30-34. Regardless, they are increasing.



While the team is still discussing final plans, they (and we) are leaning toward doing a reduction today so as not to go into the weekend with different people covering. It appears that I will need another one sooner than later, and the weekend people don't seem to be as familiar with my case.



Yippee...dare I hope that this is my last?



In other news, I got maybe 3 hours of fitful sleep last night, thanks to the awkward position in which I had to sleep because of the IV in my arm. It throbbed all night unless I was in the "perfect" position...which meant sleeping on my back, something I don't do well at all. Not fun!



Plus, I think I have officially dammaged nerves in my hand, thanks to the constant digging! Now, whenever I touch the top of my hand with my finger, it sends shooting pains up the rest of my hand! I'm thinking that's not right...



Sorry this post isn't more upbeat and positive like normal. I've seen better days and I spent the better part of the overnight plotting my escape! (just kidding...sort of!) :)



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Friday, October 8, 2010 2:57 PM, EDT

An Eventful Morning



Where to start? I went up at 9:00 a.m. for my reduction. I didn't have to go on the Mag, which was a wonderful thing that became even better as events transpired.



My doctor was doing the pre-procedure sonogram to check things out when she noticed a little bit of an issue. I'll try my best to explain it.



There are two layers to the membranes (bag of waters): outer and inner. The inner layer is closest to the baby. Apparently during my last reduction, these membranes separated. Unfortunately, no one noticed this until Dr. K looked today. She showed me and it really is just floating in the fluid--I'm not sure how it was missed. She explained that while it's not really dangerous to me and won't kick me into labor, it does present a problem for a reduction. If they try to remove fluid, the needle will instead suck up the membrane and they will be unable to get any fluid.



For the little bit of fluid they would possibly be able to remove, it is not worth the risk to do a reduction. Unless the benefits outweight the risks, I will not have another one.



Dr. K measured my fluid levels and got between 24-26, very different from the 30-34 earlier this morning. She sent me to CAFCA and they measured 28-29, so they will be taking CAFCA's measurement. This just goes to show how subjective the measurement is!



The positive is that my levels aren't as high as we thought they were. The negative is that we have pretty much lost the option of doing a reduction--our best bet for holding off labor. We were able to see Abby breathing both through her mouth and out of her nose on the sonogram today, which they were very happy to see. If she is born sooner than later, she is in a much better position than 3 weeks ago.



Please pray that my contractions stay at bay and it is a quiet weekend! Well, make that a noisy weekend with the cheerful sound of my Caleb Boy coming to visit! :)

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Saturday, October 9, 2010 8:23 AM, EDT

Hair!



Gimme a head with hair

Long beautiful hair

Shining, gleaming,

Streaming, flaxen, waxen



Give me down to there hair

Shoulder length or longer

Here baby, there mama

Everywhere daddy daddy



(Did you know that there's a revival of the musical that is doing really well right now? I actually enjoy listening to the revival version more than the original. Thank you, Broadway Channel on Serius Radio!)



Anyway, I digress. This post has nothing to do with the musical, but it has everything to do with HAIR.



Who has a lot of it? My girl!!!



Several different sonographers have now remarked that she has more hair than they've ever seen on an unborn baby! We were actually able to see it floating in the amniotic fluid during one of my scans. She's got a ton!



The newest model for Our Favorite Things will be donning Fall's latest fashions in newborn bows just as soon as the nurses let me put them in, to be sure! I can't wait!



In other news: they are no longer going to scan me daily to check my fluid levels, since a reduction is pretty much out of the question anyway. If I start heavily contracting, they'll check just to see what my numbers are, but it won't be done daily anymore. I'll still go to CAFCA once a week though.

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