Amnio SUCKS!

I've approached my pregnancy in a very "One-day at a time" manner.  I don't want to know too much because I can't process a significant amount of information in a short amount of time.  I'm keeping much of my learning on a "need to know" basis.  For example -

1. I have been tracking the development of Lomax on BabyCenter.com since week 5.  Somewhere around week 17, I looked ahead to week 18.  For the next 3 weeks, I had no idea what week I was on.
   
2. In all the baby books, I only read up to the chapter that is most relevant to me.  I'm up to month 5 in everything.
3. What to Expect... is a reference book only.

So, as people have mentioned the amnio procedure to me, I've just taken in stride that if I need to know what's happening, I'll learn it then.  I have asked questions and been given answers that I truly wasn't ready to process so the knowledge transfer failed and I was still a little in the dark.

So, did I want an amnio?

This problem was that we were at risk for Down's Syndrome & I wanted to know.  So the answer was yes.

The brief description of the procedure goes something like this:

1. They do an ultrasound to find a part of the amniotic sac with lots of fluid & no baby.
   
2. When they find the spot, they press down really hard to keep the baby from moving into the space.
3. They put a topical anesthetic on your belly.
4. They stick a needle in & draw out fluid for what feels like 30 minutes, though to everyone in the room without a needle sticking out of their belly it goes by quickly.

When they stick the needle in, it goes through your abdominal muscles.  In the 2 minutes or so that they are drawing fluid (WHY?!?  WHY 2 MINUTES!?), I was thinking...

Relax... Relax... Relax... Relax... Relax... Relax...Relax... Relax... Relax...Relax... Relax... Relax...

When the doctor pulled the needle out, I tried to sit up, but the world was spinning, so I lay back down.  15 minutes later, I was able to sit up without feeling like I was going to throw up and we went to our next appointment.

If I had known the needle was going to be in my belly for 2 minutes, I probably would still have opted for the procedure, but man... it really, really sucked.