Yesterday, we had an appointment scheduled with Dr. Taslimi for the amniocentesis test. We went in bright and early at 8:40 and got in pretty quickly to see the doctor. As usual, they did an ultrasound right away and we could see the baby moving around, but other than that, our untrained eyes didn't notice anything unusual.
Dr. Taslimi came in a few minutes later and told us that the swelling is still there and, in fact, it has now also gone into the body cavity, which means that there is swelling in and around the baby's organs. He did not come out and say anything too blatant, but everything he said indicated to both of us that this is pretty serious and not a good sign at all. He did say, "we can still hope for a miracle." I thought that was an interesting choice of words coming from a medical doctor, but I also inferred from the statement that a miracle is what it would take for the baby to do well (or maybe even survive?) under these circumstances. At this point, I had started crying, but Juan was there holding my hand and the doctor, ultrasound tech, and genetic counselor (who were all in the room with us) were very kind and supportive.
Next we transitioned to the conversation about the amniocentesis procedure. The doctor said that the inner sac still has not expanded to fuse with the outer sac, so the procedure is still a bit more complicated than normal, but he also did not see any benefit in waiting to do the procedure. They left Juan and me alone for a few minutes to discuss this, and we decided to go for it. We had discussed the benefits of the procedure at length during the previous week and believed that the results could provide information that will help us in the pregnancy, delivery/birth, and early days of life for this baby, so we thought it would be best to go forward with the test.
The procedure went fine - it only lasted about a minute, and it did involve a little bit of pain, but mostly it was a very unusual sensation. I know that Dr. Taslimi is a very experienced doctor and I felt very comfortable with him performing the procedure. We won't get the results for 2 more weeks (as long as everything goes well with the cells growing more cells), and we already have an appointment scheduled on July 30 for another ultrasound and checkup and to discuss the results of the amniocentesis. (We also have an appointment on July 23 for a fetal echocardiogram.)
This was easily the most difficult appointment we have had in this process. It seems like hope is rapidly decreasing. Statistically, there is very little chance that the swelling will go down at this point, and there is also a very good chance that the baby won't survive the pregnancy.
We have had a pretty good weekend since the appointment. I am supposed to lay low for 2 days following the amnio procedure, so Juan has been taking good care of me AND Olivia. I've got lots of rest and a few "sitting down" things done around the house. Friday was a tough day emotionally, but slowly we are starting to feel a sense of peace again as we once again are reminded that God will take care of us and provide what we need, no matter what happens with this baby.
Oh...one more thing! I forgot to mention that we did ask Dr. Taslimi if he could tell the gender of the baby, and he said (close your eyes if you don't want to know...) it's a girl! It's exciting to know that it's a girl, and soon we are going to choose a name. We'll definitely post the name on the blog when we decide. Any suggestions???
Praying for you friends =)
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