I know this is WAY overdue. About a month overdue to be exact. But better late than never I supose. One of my hopes for this blog is that someday it helps someone else who was in my shoes learn what to expect and realize what life can be like raising a child with Spina Bifida.
Therefor, since I was so afraid of having an amniocentesis done I figured I should make a blog post to record my experience and let everyone who knew how worried I was know how it went. So here it goes.
After getting an hour of sleep the night before...
We packed up our bags and headed to the Hospital. It was still dark out and we were exhausted and nervous. The car ride was silent wih nothing exchanged but anxious smiles. We had no idea what to expect of our day. We knew we would be having the amniocentesis preformed before the C-Section. We were aware that if the amnio came back saying Noah's lungs were not mature enough we would hold off on the c-section.
Skipping forward to the procedure...
My high risk specialist, Dr. Greiner was the one performing the amnio. She assured me that she had done many of these. She also admitted that she'd experienced complications during the procedure as well. Her honesty was comforting but the news was still a little scary. Here we were so close to meeting our Son and to imagine losing him from a procedure that I never wanted in the first place is a hard thought to process.
Dr. Greiner came in and we knew we were ready to start. She prepared the ultrasound machine and asked me to lay back on the bed. She asked who I wanted to stay in the room with me and I chose Steven. I asked if he could hold my hand and the answer was no. There was too much equiptment by my hands and I was required to keep my hands underneath my head anyways so I wouldn't try to pull the needle out of my stomach. Greiner told me one last time that during the amnio I would feel the needle go through my skin and through my uterus and it would cause a contraction which could be very painful.
She asked if I was ready to begin and without even giving it a second thought I said yes... let's get this over with.
It took her a while to find a good pocket of amniotic fluid to insert the needle into. She would find a good spot and he would move right into it. I watched the ultrasound screen and tried to just focus on Noah and how sweet he looked, even in black and white.
She felt good about a pocket of fluid but she wouldnt tell me what part of the body it was by. I'm assuming it would have made me very uneasy. to hear. It still makes me wonder.
She inserted the needle...
We did the procedure without any pain medication or numbing shots. I felt the long needle pierce my skin and break through the surface. The pain was hard to describe. I clenched my body and focused on staying as still as possible. I could feel Noah moving in my stomach and it took everything in my being to not say something and trust our High Risk Specialist and God. I knew God was in control and it helped me feel more at ease. I then felt the needle puncture my uterus. You could almost hear a "popping" noise and I definitely felt it. This was the most painful part. The pain wasn't entirely untolerable.. but it was not as bad as I had expected.
I never felt a contraction and I didn't feel the needle come out of my stomach either. Or if I did I don't remember now. It was a painful experience but it was over in no time. Everyone's experience with it is different but mine wasn't the worst pain I had ever felt like I thought it would be.
And although a long needle going into a pregnant belly feel un-natural and bothersome.. we found out Noah's lungs weren't ready after all and it ended up being a very helpful procedure for the health of my son.
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