Sarah: Hello, my name is Sarah. Loreli is off sick today so I'll be doing your ultrasound.
Cynthia: Hello, Sarah. I'm Cynthia, this is my husband J-L and this is my mom, Margaret.
I climb into bed, pulling up my shirt and pulling my pants down slightly. Mom sits down on the chair and J-L stands beside her.
The transmission gel is squirted on my belly...
J-L: So, is it warm today?
Cynthia: Yup, nice treat, the warmed gel
... and the ultrasound is underway.
Cynthia: Mom, do you see that moving part? That's his heart. And the white lines are his spine. Those smaller white lines are his fingers. And those are his toes and that's...
Sarah: Oh my, I've never seen that before.
Cynthia: Yes, few have.
Sarah: I wonder what I'm supposed to do exactly.
Cynthia: Well, I do know that they measure the circumference every week and do a ratio of it to the size of his head.
Sarah: Oh, okay. I'm not exactly sure where they measure it.
Cynthia: They bring up the shot where you can see the 4 chambers of his heart and they measure the tumour's circumference in that shot so that it's the same measurement they're getting every week.
Cynthia: Plus, they measure his heart rate at his head and his heart as well as at the tumour.
It felt rather fun to be the "expert" in the room. I'd say by about week 36 I'll be able to do my own ultrasounds.
And it was positively lovely having my mom there. I found it a nice distraction to explain things to her instead of just focusing on That Thing.
(The only sucky part was the hour+ wait in the waiting room but 2 techs were off sick so what can you do.)
Things are as good as they could be. His heart is still pumping as it should. He and the tumour are growing at the same rate. And I'm in a much better place than I was last week.
10 comments:
Thank God for the good times.
Still praying.
I just wanted to say I'm thinking of and praying for you.
Thanks for the updates.
We're still praying here, glad to hear that you had your mom with you yesterday.
I have one trivial question...do they make you not go to the bathroom before every ultrasound? If so, that is just wrong! I remember doing that one time with each kid, and I can't imagine doing it every week!!
Glad you had a good visit this week. Still praying.
I remembered it was Friday, and time to check on Jack. (And I remembered when it was Tuesday and time to pray for him.)
When he's born and doing well (I know, hard to get by next Valentine's day), I'll want updates every Thursday still!
Don't know whether to laugh or to cry at you being the expert. Glad you're in a better place, though.
As a nurse, sometimes expert patients are just plain scary! Other times they are brilliantly helpful... where would we be without 'patients' who actually know about what's going on because it's THEIR life?! Way to go.
Still trusting things continue positively and that you know more and more peace and the assurance of being in God's hand through all of this!
So very, very glad your mom was there. And J-L and Abigail. There's nothing like bringing new life into the world to make us really need the people closest to us. I am SO praying!
Mrs. Ranch: No, they don't make me drink the water every time. Thank GOODNESS. The water is just an ideal. Apparently it's easiest to read an ultrasound with a completely full bladder or a completely empty one. I'd rather go for the empty one. Also, earlier ultrasounds are a bigger issue: A full bladded would push the uterus up a bit so the scan is a bit easier. But, we're far enough along that he's pretty much always been in a good position for easy viewing.
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