14 ounces of babies

First the good news:

Hey! They're still in there! Alive and kicking and tumbling end over end. We even got treated to a shot of baby A pummeling baby B. Or maybe it was the other way around. Can't remember - but either way, it was tiny fists to tiny apricot sized head through the amniotic sac. Very funny. One day I'll be able to feel them wrestling inside and then when I get a foot in the ribs it won't be quite as funny, will it?

Anyway, they are 7 oz each, heart rates around 141 bpm, appearing to be 16 weeks 6 days and 16 weeks 5 days. Appear to be healthy with tiny spines, bladders, femurs, kidneys, brains and such. There was a great deal of measuring that took place in the ultrasound portion of the visit. It almost got to be boring. Eric developed a crick in his neck.

I said "almost" because I knew once the U/S portion was over it would then be time for the needles-in-the-belly portion and I'd been trying to not think about that part for the last 4 weeks.

This is the upsetting part.

Quick disclaimer: everything appears to be fine. We'll get preliminary results at the end of the week, final (detailed) results in 2 weeks.

Upsetting from the I really don't like needles point of view.

So, after reviewing the informed consent form, the doctor came in and we had the last minute chit chat.

"How are you?"
"Scared."
"Any questions?"
Mulling it over....About half a million but only a few you can actually answer. "How soon will we get results?" and "What are your numbers like on fetal demise?" Kinda late to be asking that question directly, I know!
"No where near 1 in 200." Blathering about testing and how unethical unbiased testing would be, offering services to those that need it and then having to refuse service to some percentage to act as a control group. Argh!

Then the poking and prodding began. Cleaning of my belly. I shut my eyes and tried the yoga breathing I remembered. Clung to Eric's hand, digging my nails in.

Fear. Fearfearfearfear!

I need to know. I will know. It will all be OK. It will all be over soon. I will never have to do this again. Don't throw up! Breathe! Breathebreathebreathebreathebreathe. Don't hyperventilate!

Then the first needle, to numb the area. Ow. OW! I could feel it going all the way in. Vomitrocious feelings in response. Not a good time to throw up: laying on your back, on a table, with a needle in your gut. Then the first needle and burning numbing medicine is gone and she's talking me through the next one.

I had to interrupt and ask her NOT to narrate what she was doing. There are plenty of things in my life that I like narration in. This was not one of them. "I'm going in now. Now I'm going into the uterus...."

It wasn't the pain that was so bad, really. It was the fear of the pain. The fear of complications. The fear of what if something is wrong. The fear of what if something goes wrong. The pain can't compare with, for example, giving non-medicated vaginal birth to an 11 lb 6 oz baby boy. It's not that kind of pain, but it does hurt and it's disturbing that you can feel a needle sliding into you and piercing your uterus.

Well, if you have one. For those of you without, you'll just have to trust me on this one.

And then the waiting to make sure baby B wasn't going to get in the way. They do an ultrasound simultaneously to make sure everything is where it's supposed to be. Then they draw the fluid off. They said about 2 tablespoons, but when I saw the filled hypos afterward (straw yellow colored liquid), it looked like more than that to me, but what do I know? Then, after learning how bad it was going to be on one side, we had to do it again, on the other side for baby A.

Remember how baby A was the "difficult" baby during the Nuchal translucency? Yeah well, that repeated here. After the numbing shot, when the collecting needle was mostly inserted, the baby changed position and everyone froze. Then the baby wouldn't move again. So I'm laying there, waiting, in pain, with a needle in my gut and an U/S device pressed hard in my lower abdomen/groin.

Breathing.
Trying not to vomit.
Being asked how I felt.
Wanting it to be over.
Feeling cold and tingly, followed by distant, followed by hot and sweating and in desperate need of a cup of water. However, everyone's hands were full and I certainly wasn't going anywhere!

The baby didn't want to move and it wasn't safe to proceed, so the doctor relocated to another baby-free section and OWWWWW! went the needle again, through all the layers. Collecting was over soonish (felt like forever at the moment) and I tried not to gnaw Eric's fingers off, even though I really wanted to.

Finally it was over and they cleaned off my belly and checked the heart rates again. Everyone seemed fine. I was shaky and tearful (Don't get me wrong, I cried some in the beginning, but you can't haul off and cry in that situation, just like you can't throw up. [British accent:] Bad form!) and glad it was over. Got my water. Didn't move for a good while, just to be certain I wouldn't pass out or throw up.

Finally, we were ready to go and headed off to get Caitlin from her extended play date and get me into bed. Bed rest, in this form, isn't so bad. I self-prescribed it. I think it's a good idea. I can run around another day.

By the way, I'm not ever doing that again.

Ever.

Update: Forgot to mention the dye. In order to make sure they know their getting fluid from a separate sac, they fill the first one with a cc of green dye. They tell you that your body will flush it out of the sac and you'll pee green for a bit, so no big deal to the baby. I was teasing Eric when I said, "If baby B turns out to be a girl, and the green doesn't wear off, we'll have to call her Emerald."

You know I feel better when I start crackin' jokes!

Updated even later to add:

Pictures!

Baby A.

Baby B was being difficult in the end and we only got this spine shot. What a cute spine! Err...something like that.

They're stacked in there - one is laying horizontally on top of the other, with A on the bottom of the pile. Think that will say anything about them after they're born?

Are you ready to start guessing what their sexes are?