Cordocentesis Tomorrow

At this moment I'm at Paul's Aunt's house, Paul is driving to our home, and our kids are at his parents' house. We thought we'd all be at our home right now. My cervix went back to 2.3cm, but they aren't worried about that because that's what it's been the last 3 weeks when I've been at home. When I'm in the hospital it lengthens some, but it's been consistently 2.3cm when I've been at home. The complete placenta previa remains unchanged. Unfortunately his anemia got worse. Even though they had three different people (one of whom was the doctor) do multiple readings, which were all about the same, they didn't officially decide to do the cordocentesis today. They want me back there at 8am for another ultrasound just in case things look better tomorrow. We're not expecting that to happen, but it would be a pleasant surprise. If his mid-cerebral artery (in his brain) looks the same as it did today, I'll be having a cordocentesis (similar to an amniocentesis only they will be removing blood from his cord rather than amniotic fluid). They'll have me donate some blood prior to the procedure so that if he needs a transfusion they can give him my blood. They will test his blood right in the operating room, and that will show whether a transfusion is necessary or not. If so they'll give him a transfusion at that time (since the needle will still be in place). They'll be going through my belly button. The procedure will be tricky because of the anterior location of the placenta. Please pray that if I have it done, it will go smoothly and won't cause my water to break or trigger labor (which are two possible complications of the procedure). If I have the procedure tomorrow, they'll keep me at the hospital over night. Last time I was home from the hospital for 6 days in between hospitalizations. Today was my 7th day out of the hospital, so I went at least one more day this time around.

If I was allowed to drive, I would have gone home this evening and driven myself down tomorrow morning, but in light of the fact I would have had to find someone to drive me down here early in the morning, it seemed better to stay down here. I had brought my water jug and a book. On our way to Paul's Aunt's house, we stopped at a Walmart so I could buy some underwear and a toothbrush. When I get home, I'm going to pack a bag and leave it in the car so I will be better prepared if something like this happens again. I figure I can sleep in the clothes I'm wearing now and wear them again tomorrow, but I at least wanted clean underwear. Of course I wish I had my laptop, more books, etc., but I'm grateful I have at least one book to read at the hospital tomorrow. Hopefully Nadia won't have too much trouble sleeping tonight even though she won't have her beloved pillow.

The appointment today went much quicker than the previous ones did, for which we were grateful. Paul and I missed out on the birthday lunch and cake at Friendly's, but hopefully it was special for Miss Nadia. We all enjoyed the Jonah production. I thought the kids did well considering it was over 2 hours long. We let her open one present at home this morning (2 Gigi dvds and 2 Hermie dvds) so that she could enjoy watching those in the car today, and she received presents from Great Gram and my parents in Lancaster this afternoon. Yesterday she got her presents from Paul's parents (the main one being a 2 wheel princess bike). We'll let her open the rest of her presents on Sunday (her actual birthday). She was SO excited about today's festivities she woke up before 6am and was in our room an hour earlier than usual. I can't believe my baby girl is almost four years old. I really hope and pray I am home on Sunday for her actual birthday.