Weekly Testing

Back in April I never would've guessed that I would know so much about the human heart. Yet, I find myself grossly aware of the vast knowledge I have compared to my friends. Until last week I didn't even know what a nonstress test was. I certainly couldn't tell you what a biophysical profile measured. And again - I'm suddenly feeling ridiculously versed in these prenatal tests. *sigh*

Today I've already passed the biophysical profile. That's just a fancy medical phrase for ultrasound. Specifically it's an ultrasound that measures 4 things: amniotic fluid levels, movement, breathing and muscle tone. The fluid is measured in four quadrants, the 'breathing' has to occur for at least 30 seconds, Charlie has to move at least 3 times and he has to be in 'typical' baby position for tone (i.e. curled up with clenched hands and chin on chest).  He has to accomplish all these things in a 30-minute window. Today my ultrasound took about 10 min from start to finish! Good work Charlie!!

So, now I lay here, in an uncomfortable recliner at the hospital, hooked up to monitors, waiting for Charlie's heartbeat to accelerate by at least 15 beats per minute for at least 15 seconds twice in 20 minutes and he has to do that successfully within 60 minutes. Did you catch all that?  Yeah, took me a few times reading it through to get it all. That's the nonstress test. Thus far Charlie doesn't appear to be cooperating as well with this test. The nurse seems to think Charlie is asleep. I've been encouraged to drink ice water and have finished at least 20 ounces in the last 15 minutes. The nurse has also given me graham crackers to snack on and generally poked Charlie several times.

If things go well, the test takes about 25 minutes from start to finish. I'm at about 35 now. 45 now. *sigh*

It's known that heart babies tend to be lousy nonstress test takers (I mean, come on!, by definition their tickers are malfunctioning on some level) but they should still see increases and decreases in heart rate. So I wait - 50 minutes now.

Enough with the posting - I'll update when I get home.

Prayfully with great news...

UPDATE: Finally got released at 4:15 pm!  Charlie passed the test with 3 minutes to spare...so I'm home now.  Took a quick nap, ate dinner with my boys and worked at checking a few things off the never ending to-do list.