Obelix

The countdown is on - we are at 29 days or less. I say less because Baby Obie very nearly joined us on Tuesday. Very, very nearly.

Monday afternoon and evening I noticed less and less movement. So, I laid down and did the appropriate kick count - not enough movement in the allotted time. Upon waking Tuesday morning I did it again. Again, not enough movement which meant I had to call the doctor and get an appointment to get things checked out. They penciled me in at 9:30 for a quick heartbeat check.

I dropped Amiya off at Vinay's work thinking I'd be at the doc's for only 20 minutes - I just didn't want her around if the doc needed to do an internal check. We're pretty open about things with her, but she's too young for that. She had a bag full of quiet things to do and she knew that Daddy had to teach his class so she would have to be a very good girl.

I was at the doc's at 9:30, but didn't actually see anyone until 10:30. The doctor took Obie's heartrate and everything was fine, but to be sure he ordered a Non-Stress Test (NST) which measures baby's movement and heartrate as well as any contractions I might have as well as a BioPhysical Profile (BPP) which is a more in-depth ultrasound where the baby can score up to 8 points - 2 for each of the following: breathing, fluid, tone (muscular) and movement.

So, over to the hospital I went in a hurry because I was starting to get worried. A BPP is serious stuff. The NST was fine - the baby's heartrate was good and while he/she wasn't doing any fancy footwork, there were occasional kicks and pokes. The BPP was great for breathing and fluid, but the baby did not move one time in 45 minutes. It scored 4 out of the 8 possible points as there is no way to score for tone if the baby is not moving. The BPP Tech went to confer with the specialist and left me alone in the room. I stepped out to ask if I could get a drink of water (it was now 12:30 and I hadn't had anything to eat/drink since 6:30 AM). I was told, "No. If they need to do a section now, you need to be ready."

Imagine, just imagine, how Christy who is normally quite emotional on any given day reacted to this statement when pregnant and not yet at term (34 weeks, 1 day).

That's right. Big weepy pregnant woman freaking out.

Luckily Vinay and Amiya found me at that point and all I can say is I married the right guy for me because he was my rock.

We went back for an additional NST and to wait for my doctor to come over and tell us what was going to happen. I'm still scared - torn between worry for the baby's young age and worry about Amiya witnessing Mommy lose it and in fear over being in a hospital. Luckily, while we were waiting a very good friend of ours was able to come up and get Amiya for as long as we needed.

Our ob finally comes to see us and lets us know that because the NST was good, the fluid and heartrate were good, and that the baby was measuring at 4 lbs. 15 oz., we would not, actually, be doing the section today. BUT, we had to go back the next day and do all the tests over again and that if the results were not much, much better we would have the baby tomorrow.

Fast forward to Wednesday morning - we dropped Amiya at our friend's house again (have I mentioned how fantastic this family is?) and made our way to the hospital. Vinay was feeling confident and I was hopefully optimistic that all would be well - since coming home Tuesday evening we had done three kick counts - all well over the needed number in well less than the time allowed. Obie was busy, busy, busy - both the NST and the BPP were as perfect as perfect can be and so Obie stays where he/she is until further notice.

I've edited out several details that make this even more dramatic and scary, but it's 9 pm and you have better things to do. Suffice it to say that little Obie is on strict orders to kick me often and hard so we don't have to go through this again. And, if nothing else, we got this:


That's a front view of the face, complete with lush little baby lips. For the second (8/8, successful) BPP, Obie waved at us, flashed us the peace sign and generally made him/herself very known. Ever since my meltdown on Tuesday, Obie has been kicking nonstop which is exactly what we want. Now the only remaining question is will we actually make it until the 24th?