I got up at 6:30 am on the morning of the amnio, and my friend picked me up in J's car because MIL needed the van to get the kids to school. We made it to the hospital by 7:50 am, and I checked myself in thinking I had a long wait. Not to be, they took me straight in and made me change into a gown.
The only thing that kept me sane at this point was the fact that we would get to see the ultrasound, and I since I have been studying ultrasounds to the point of becoming a technician, I was ready to look for the markers that indicate downs.
We got into the room and I sat down on the bed so I could sign the forms and give consent. At this point, the entire idea of the amnio was sinking in, and when they exposed my tummy and started swabbing it down with antiseptic, I was ready to run away. They very briefly put the baby on the monitor to look for the placenta, and then the doctor was ready. I started to cry, because it was so scary!! The nurse asked me to hold her thumbs up by my head, and I am sure they do that so you don't make a grab for your tummy.
He didn't give me much time to prepare, just 1,2,3 and the needle was in. It hurt really briefly, not much at all. I'm sure it was a very thin needle. I barely glanced at the ultrasound, because I didn't want to see it in there by my baby. It took about a minute and he had 3 vials of fluid out. Baby remained still throughout. After he pulled the needle out, I looked at the ultrasound and you could see where the needle had been.
She gave us another 20 second look at the baby, and then I was finished. I had my rhogam shot (in the hip, and it hurt more than the amnio!), and I stood up. I had asked for the FISH results (24 hour results on 3 chromosomes), because after a solid month of stress over the triple screen, I couldn't handle the thought of waiting for 2 more weeks.
I was fine walking out, and fine going home. I did feel very sore in the tummy area, and I randomly had small stabbing pains where the needle had been. Baby was very active, no bleeding or leaking of amniotic fluid. I spent the entire day in bed watching movies. I literally didn't want to move for fear of losing that baby, so I stayed put. The kids were very understanding.
The next day it felt like I had been punched in the stomach, but I was ok otherwise. I took Jack to preschool and then I grabbed my planned flight to Vegas at 4 pm.
I'm not sure, if I could do it again, that I would go on a trip. Vegas requires a lot of walking, and I was pretty sore. It was nice to spend time with husband.
I feel relieved, blessed. I have sympathy for the women who are going through the waiting game right now, because it really messes with your mind. I was so unbelievably stressed for almost a month, so now that it's over I'm left feeling exhausted. I need to catch up with work and everything, but I'm slow getting back into it.
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