We Almost Had a Baby Today

OK, so maybe not ALMOST but there were for sure a few hours there where we weren't sure if we were going to meet Adelyn today or not. Here's the full story:

We went in around 9:30 am for our weekly Non-Stress Test where they strap you in and watch the baby's heart rate for 20 minutes. Well, right in the first 5 minutes there were a few huge drops in her heart rate. It went from 150 down to 60 and 70 a few times. The nurse there thought that the machine had lost the baby's pulse and was picking up my own heart rate. Seemed to make sense so we weren't too concerned.

We then proceeded on to meet with our OB. She walks in the room and the first words are, "Well, the two-vessel cord is becoming an issue..." She explained that the drops in heart rate were indeed the baby's heart and not my own. She then told us she wanted to do some additional monitoring to see if this was an isolated event we happened to catch or if it was occurring over and over again. We were instructed to head over to labor and delivery where we would be monitored further.

At this point I really wasn't freaking out too much. A little weirded out that we were headed over to a Labor and Delivery room but was able to maintain composure. We just thought it was precautionary and we'd be out of there in an hour. We get put in a delivery room, strapped me up to a machine, and were told to hang out for a while.

For the first hour, there were no drops in heart rate. Our doctor came to check on us and told us that things looked fabulous and we would probably plan on going home pretty soon and I was now allowed to eat (I was told not to in case we needed to have a C-Section). However, a few minutes later we saw two big dips. And then a few more 30 minutes later. The doc told us that we needed to stay until 5 or 6 pm and possibly overnight depending on what her heart rate does. At this point, Austin and I were looking at each other wide-eyed wondering if we were going to have a baby today. At the rate things were going, it was looking likely. Talk about an unexpected twist in the day!

Well... 3 Seinfeld episodes, 1 Glee episode, some work from my computer, a ton of texts to our family and friends, and a nap later, doctor returns around 5:30 to tell us the good news that there weren't any more concerning dips and for a lot of reasons she felt pretty confident to send us home. Whew!

We are SO glad we didn't have to stay the night. And SO glad we didn't have to have a C-Section today followed by a baby in the NICU.

We'll go back in Monday for another extended Non-Stress Test to make sure that heart rate is doing OK. I was given instructions to take it easy, not to exercise, and to pay close attention to Adelyn's movements and signals. No bed rest thank goodness but firm instructions to chillax.

The whole experience of today made everything seem so much more real. I mean, we'll be back in there in probably 3 weeks and actually come home with a baby. It was a good trial run that helped us know what we would need to bring and what to expect. It just increased the range of mixed emotions I've had all through 3rd trimester: A complicated mix of excitement, anticipation, and anxiety.

We got home at 6:30. Even though I laid in a bed most of the day, I'm wiped out. Looking forward to a good night's sleep in my own bed without a background cacophony of beeps and hospital sounds.  While I'm super excited to meet Adelyn, today confirmed I'm not ready just quite yet :)