Big Old Needle

Well, yesterday was an experience.

I went to work all day (which so many of you seemed shocked at-- I love my job --- it keeps me sane).

Then I met BT at 3 at home to go over to the doctor's office.  Of course, all day I checked and checked with a few women I know who have had this procedure done.  Of course, being all over the world, every one of them had a different experience, from some getting full blown spinals and overnight stays in the hospital to have it done, to some getting local anesthetic and a sedative.

For us, the appointment started with a chance for BT and I to have a little date.  Dr. G. was running late, so we walked down to the Starbucks in the hospital for some coffee cake and a latte.  We sat there, not talking much, each fooling around on our phones, and to be honest, it was just what we needed.  Then we spent the rest of our thirty minutes talking about Disney World.  I've said it before and I'll say it again: this trip could not come at a better time.

Once Dr. G was ready, we headed back up.  The start of the appointment was a whole lot of him looking at the baby to determine the best spot to go in with the needle.  Unfortunately for us, Micah wasn't the most cooperative.  Basically instead of him facing outwards towards my stomach, or towards my back, he was facing sideways, which meant that Dr. Gonzales only had access to the right lung, and not the left.  Then, once he finally figured out a good spot to go in, he numbed me up with Lidocaine.  Well, that one teeny shot made me contract.  And with that contraction, it basically pinned Micah in this small little spot in my womb.  He loved it, and seemed perfectly content not to move anywhere. 

But Dr. Gonzales needed at least 2 centimeters of fluid to work with between the wall of the uterus and the baby in order to insert the giant needle and shunt.  (Like how I refer to giant needle?  Cause it was--I've not mustered the strength to look at my puncture wound yet). 

So after what felt like hours (really probably about thirty minutes), Dr. Gonzales said, "We have two options.  We can call it quits and try this again another day, OR, and you're not going to like this...I can infuse more fluid into your uterus."

SERIOUSLY? 

Do you remember what I went through last time?  Do you remember how completely gigantically huge I got last time from all the amniotic fluid?  My AFI measured 72.  SEVENTY TWO.  Normal is 14.  And yesterday, I was at about 10, which is still normal, but on the lower side of normal.  But that being said, the combination of the healthy amount of fluid, and the fact that Micah is a big baby, there wasn't going to be enough space to do them.

So I looked at BT, and like he always says (because he's that fantastic), he said, "this is up to you."

So I bit the bullet, signed ANOTHER consent, and told them to do an amniotic infusion.

They infused a half a liter of saline into my stomach, with ANOTHER needle. 

But thank God, that was just what needed to happen. 

Dr. Gonzales then was able to have the space he needed.  I wish you could have seen this procedure.  It would have blown your mind.

First, the amniotic influsion was like watching some baby on an LSD trip on the ultrasound screen.  The fluid infusion showed up as this tiny multitude of sparkles in the womb, and baby Micah was just batting around at all that fluid with his hands, like, "hey yall, what's up with this?  this is CRAZY!"

Then, the big, hollow, thick old needle came out. 

So, once the needle got all the way through the skin, through the muscle tissue, and into the uterus, he then stuck the SAME needle into the chest cavity of the baby (I couldn't watch him actually stick the baby.  I had to turn away for that part).  And once it was in, then the procedure could begin.  He then threaded the actual shunt through the hollow thick needle into the wall of Micah's chest cavity, where he spent a few minutes (trust me when I say it felt like hours as I was being told to NOT move and breathe VERY shallow), and then proceeded to pigtail both ends of the shunt : the end inside his chest cavity, and the end outside. 

And then, just like that, it was done.

And what I saw on that screen was nothing short of remarkable.  The fluid just drained right out, immediately. 

There was also more sparkly stuff in the womb, and when I asked what that was, I was told it was my placenta bleeding from them having to go through it with the needle as well, so that's lovely.  But it stopped bleeding almost as soon as it started.  No worries there.

I can't tell you what it's like to hear a team of medical professionals rattle of a list of risks before you start a procedure.  "Risk of infection, risk of hitting one of the mother's organs; risk of hitting the baby's liver; risk of puncturing one of the baby's lungs; risk of breaking the baby's ribs."

When I asked what happens if any of those things happen to the baby, he said, "they really just have a remarkable ability to heal themselves!"  Just as cheery as ever.  Then he said, "but the risk if you don't do this, is that your baby probably won't survive."

That'll make ANYONE sign that consent.

The entire procedure was pretty uncomfortable for sure, but after has been a little worse. Last night I had a good amount of contractions and cramping.

Those have since passed, but now my stomach is just really sore from being stuck by six different needles last night. 

But I'll tell you what: if it'll make a difference, I'd do it again.
Which is good, because I'll probably have to.

We go in on Thursday for a check-up to see how the shunt is doing and make sure it's still draining the fluid well. 

Then we're hoping to schedule the next shunt insertion for immediately after our trip to Disney World. 

After that, it's simply a waiting game.

This baby seems pretty unaffected.  He's bouncing around this morning all over the place, probably wondering what on EARTH is stuck in his chest. 

In the meantime, I'm taking a slow morning at home.  I'm going to go in to work for just a little bit today, but besides that, I need to rest. 

I can't THANK you enough for all the calls, texts, messages, and prayers.  I also hear I have some new readers here.  So thank you for keeping up with our journey.  For those of you that may be new I encourage you to go to April of 2011 to start reading Kathryn's story in the meantime. 

So there's my update, in a nutshell.

It sure is a pretty big nut ;-)