Sean is Quite the Jokester ::insert eye roll::

We went for our scheduled non-stress test and biophysical profile ultrasound at 8am. I get hooked up and the woman doing my NST is very nice. She even let Rob bring Meredith back there when she shouldn't have.

After the NST was done the tech read the heart rate info & said "uh oh". I said "that doesn't sound good."  She said "no it's not. I have to go speak to the dr." Um...... The dr comes into the room & says it's an anomaly. What does that even mean? Sean was showing signs of heart decelerations. The dr said to have my bpp and she'd make a decision whether she should send me to labor & delivery. She said it was very likely I'd be delivered today.

Gretta did my ultrasound and we went to speak to the perinatologist. The peri said she was sending me to labor & delivery and they'd make a final decision about whether to deliver Sean today. What I wanted to know was what does "deliver" mean? To induce my labor or to have a csection. No one was clear. I'm pretty sure she meant induction, but who knows? I asked if it could wait until I saw my ob at 12pm at my appointment. Whether I could go home first to get my hospital bag and other goodies. Maybe wait for my mother in law to come back to NYC so that Meredith could stay with her. And here's where it gets hairy.

She said to me that a lot of babies with down's syndrome go into distress. So now my baby was in distress. I was scared for him. Then she said........ "right now he's salvageable." Oh my god! What the fuck does that mean? I lost it. I couldn't keep it together anymore. Was she suggesting that my baby was a worn out rug that could be salvaged by the right person? Was she suggesting that because he had down's I had the option of deciding whether he was "salvageable" or not? I called Rob who had taken a walk with Meredith and he was unable to understand a syllable I said because I was so hysterical. I called my mother in law so she could prepare to come back if necessary and I was inaudible.

As Rob & I were leaving the office, Gretta came by & asked what was the matter. I told her about the "salvageable" and she explained that the dr wasn't from the US and that she doesn't know how her words impact on people. Then she said she had to go because she was starting to cry with us. She's so sweet, but I'm still calling bullshit on the perinatologist.

This isn't the first time Sean has fooled us with his heart. When I was 13 weeks pregnant with him, my then midwife couldn't find his heartbeat on the doppler & sent me for an emergency ultrasound at Newton Hospital. My little jokester was laying with his head toward my bellybutton and in what we thought was perfect health. That was also the time we found out he was a boy.

Rob, Meredith & I headed to labor & delivery. We registered and were brought to a room to get my vitals. Everything was normal. I got my "bracelet" and the nurse was so nice. She gave Meredith a matching bracelet. Is that cute or what? They hooked me up to the monitors and away we went. I took a picture of Meredith because I wanted to remember my baby as she spent the last few minutes as an only child. Can you see my red toes in the background? I painted them myself yesterday because I didn't want to go into labor without polish on my toes.



Meredith wanted no part of leaving my side with daddy. I wanted Rob to go home & get the bag, camera, etc. Ya know.... since we were sure I was being delivered today. We had nothing with us. Silly I know, but true. The hospital bag is now safely tucked into the car. Anyway, our nurse came in and told us I'd be there for at least 2 hours being monitored and the resident would make the ultimate decision about whether I needed to be delivered. I explained that no.... Dr. Abe would in fact be the deciding factor thank you very much. Rob corrected me & said that it was all the doctors involved in our care that would have to make that decision. Fun times.

Rob had to try to find way of entertaining Meredith throughout the whole process. So he helped her be silly. Did you know labor & delivery could be so much fun?



The 2nd time our nurse came in to check the paper for the monitors she said we looked familiar. She was there when I delivered Meredith. I find it so amazing that all of the nurses involved with the delivery of Meredith remember us. They all stayed for 2 hours after their shift ended to cheer me on while I pushed & pushed for Meredith to come out. Dr. Abe marveled at our cheering section.

We finally met the resident. I didn't care for her. She reminded me of the troll from Rockaway. I think it was the voice. Either way it rubbed me the wrong way and I just wanted her away from me.

After 2 hours, I was finally released from my monitors and allowed to go home. Sean had no major decels and I wouldn't have to be delivered today.

I didn't necessarily mind having Sean today. I really just wanted controlled chaos. I wanted to be able to get my bag. Make sure Meredith was safe & sound. All those kind of things.

We were sent directly to Dr. Abe's office. Meredith was happily napping after her long morning. Dr. Abe passed by the room I was waiting in and said "At the hospital huh? They kept you a long time." And with that he walked away. Uh... yeah they kept me a long time. Ya know why? Because my kid is officially a pain in the ass. I'm thinking of changing his name to Sean "Biggest Pain in the Ass EVAH!" Scott. But it might be too long of a signature when he gets older.

When he came in to do my exam he commented on my hair, which he has never seen down before. I never would've guessed that he noticed things like that, but ok. He did his exam & said that I was 1cm dilated & "very soft". Yay for progress. Even if it's just a little bit. With Meredith I wasn't dilated at all until my water broke in the middle of the night.

Then he said "I guess I'm not going on vacation this weekend. My wife is very upset about it." It makes me so happy to know he cares that much about my care that he really wants to ensure that he's there to deliver me. I begged him to induce me on Friday, but I had no luck. He said he wouldn't induce me until I was 39 weeks pregnant because he wanted to ensure that Sean's lungs were mature, but if I went into labor on my own, he wouldn't stop it. Ok fine. Humpf. How do you argue that really?

We met up with my in laws for lunch and then came home. We strapped up the puppies and went for a walk.

I am still having contractions and still very crampy. Mr. Man is still moving around. All we know for now is that my next NST/BPP is scheduled for next Wednesday morning & my next ob appointment is scheduled for next Wednesday afternoon. Until then.... I will go with the flow until Friday evening. I made a promise to a friend that I wouldn't do anything to speed the process up until after our date at the Brooklyn Children's Museum.