Friday, January 12, 2007

I Have Green Pee

First of all, I need to thank every single one of you for your thoughts and prayers and research and offers and support. It means so much to me and goes a very long way to making me feel not alone and much better. Your honesty, openness, humor and pure bright light is overwhelming. Thanks you for everything. Plus, I now have a few new blogs to check out while on this post-amnio bedrest.

Not surprisingly, I have more to say. A lot. I’ve never been one to be at a loss for words, and I’m not one for brevity. One of these day’s I’ll master the short-and-sweet update.

We did the amnio early this morning. Before we left, I wrote out five questions that I needed answered. I gave Nicole the list and the responsibility to make sure said questions were answered. She is the calm, patient one and can be a little intimidating when she is all dressed up in her suits and cufflinks. People listen to her and respond in kind. Me, on the other hand, laying on a table with my boobs hanging out and puffy eyes and my stomach sticking up with fear written all over my face, I am not so intimidating. Plus I tend to talk too fast and suddenly lose my grasp on the English language in situations such as this. It’s better to let someone else do the talking.

Anyway, I am sad to report that we had the same Attila the Hun u/s tech today. What are the chances?? I almost walked out. When I got on the table (why can’t we just call it a bed? ‘Table’ makes me feel like a slab of meat), she told me to pull my pants down and I questioned how: All the way down or halfway down or all the way off or what. She snippily replied “Like you did yesterday” and I said “I was NAKED from the waist down yesterday, so tell me what you want.” See, I am not the calm one. And my cup of kindness was running out. I wasn’t even going to try faking it.

Pants settled, the doctor came in. And he was a hundred times better than yesterday’s Dr. Doom and Gloom. Dr. D&G was a bit gruff, matter-of-fact and not terribly good at spreading around optimism. He also seemed to have one foot out the door, so I didn’t get all of my questions answered (hence today’s list). Today’s doctor was much more optimistic. He assured us that everything was probably just fine. He showed us the babies’ hands open and not clenched (clenched is a huge marker for Trisomy). He reported that the heart and everything else looked just fine. I like this fine word a lot.

He waked me through the procedure with full narration. It did hurt, but more in theory than actuality. The idea of it hurts, a lot. I could feel the needle going down down down. I might have cut off circulation in Nicole’s hands at insertion but the pain was over in a few seconds. I didn’t want to look, but Dr. Optimism encouraged me to look at the screen. And there was a little baby, moving around. After the first amnio, they injected blue dye into [her] placenta to make sure that they didn’t take fluid from the same placenta. That’s why I have the green pee. [yellow amniotic fluid + blue dye = green pee]

We left a message with my doctor (her office is in the hospital) and she popped by just after the amnio was over. That made me feel so good, that she would interrupt her day to check in on a hysterical patient. She was also reassuring and said that they see these cysts all the time and it doesn’t always have a bad outcome.

Time will tell. Unfortunately, since Monday is a holiday, we won’t find out till Tuesday. I wish I could pay someone to go I and read the results. Seriously. If you hear about a break-in at a New York City lab, you’ll know who it was.

Four more sleeps till FISH results. And I use the word “sleep” very lightly.

11 comments:

lagiulia said...

Oh, I've been checking in so frequently. THANK you for updating. I was getting progressively angry at yesterday's doc and techbitchian because I just couldn't understand why they weren't trying to tell you that these things are pretty common and that it will probably be fine. Thank god today's docs were so much better. And I'm glad you get the fist thing straightened out. I will be crossing everything and saying some prayers till we hear the hopefully good news.

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear today's experience was not as bad as yesterday's. You did a good thing today - you are making sure you are fully informed about the health of your children, and nobody can fault you for that. Never question that.

We'll be thinking good thoughts for you and checking for updates on Tuesday. Try and do something extravagant for yourself this weekend, whether it's revelling in your favorite movies, or ordering take out from your favorite restaurant. Whatever, to honor yours and Nicole's bravery in getting through this together.

Dee said...

I ran across your blog today and BOY CAN I RELATE!!!

We just experienced something very similar. A mass on the back of our baby girls neck called a Cystic Hygroma at 18w6d. That was just two weeks ago although it seems like a lifetime!

They were convinced the Hygroma was an indicator for Turner's syndroma, Downs, Trisomies, etc. They immediately did an Amnio. We then had to wait 5 days for the FISH results due to the New Years Holiday. I wasn't even able to blog during that time period because every time I read something great about someone else I'd get angry. Hang in there!!! Try to just fill the time.

We had a great U/S tech but our the doctor lacked a bedside manner. I remember as he was explaining everything to us, and telling us our baby had about a 10% chance of surviving, and all I could think of doing was throwing up. So my heart is so going out to you right now! They've now increased out baby's chance of survival to 80% because the chromosome tests all came back negative.

Again, hang in there!!! I'll be checking back to see how things turn out. I'll also include you in my thoughts and prayers.

Calliope said...

so glad today went kinda sorta smoothly (except for the attila the C word's lamesness)

Any chance an on call person could call you with results??? How you can wait until tuesday is beyond me.

Thinking of you.
xo

(Only JUST saw that you had a blog. dude, how slow am I???)

Anonymous said...

I am so happy to see a more optimistic update on your babies. I'll keep my fingers crossed that your amnio results show two healthy little ones.

Sophia said...

well its done and i'm happy to hear there's some good news

will be thinking of you all weekend

an d I have a lot of black clothing and flashlights...just in case....you know...we need to do something that requires camoflage

Shelli said...

Yeah, i was thinking the same thing - I'll go meet ya Sophia - I have a LOT of black clothes...

muhahahahaha

crossing fingers for you!

Steph said...

I'm so glad to hear that your experience today was better than yesterdays (and that you got to see open hands and not clenched fists). I will keep you and Nicole in my thoughts until Tuesday (and even after that too).

ladybug said...

de-lurking...
came here cuz bri said ya'll needed some love and light this way!

i'm very much in on the beat down the the mean u/s tech! ;)

thank you for sharing your journey... i'm thinking of you and nicole and the wee girls and sending prayers your way!

much love from a stranger

art-sweet said...

G'damn that attilla u/s tech. It sounds like she needs an attitude adjustment big time.

I am glad you got some more positive news and will be crossing my fingers for the FISH results.

charlotte said...

Oh holy hell. I just read your blog for the first time and I can't believe y'all are going through this. And I am learning from you and my friend at tryingtohaveababythatlives, that one should always, ALWAYS, schedule ultrasounds and testing on Tuesday at the latest, to aviod waiting over weekends and holidays. Honestly people. Isn't our emotional wellbeing more important than a Monday off? I mean restaurants and The G@p are open on Monday. I'm sorry. The waiting is just awful. And what is up with bitter, mean u/s techs?? You should complain. People like that should not be allowed within 10 feet of any pregnant woman.