Baby Drama

I was induced with Dyl at 35 weeks because of low amniotic fluid. This time they started monitoring me at week 28 with non-stress testing twice a week to keep an eye on things. Tuesday, my birthday, I go in for my test only to find there is seriously low fluid. All they can see is cord and baby....but no good pockets of amniotic fluid. They call in the big gun Dr. who has a look and finds the same thing. He keeps saying, "It's too early to have this baby...he's not developed enough..."
So I spent my birthday in a funk. What if he comes too early and has to do some hard time in the NICU? What if his heart or his kidneys aren't functioning properly... Why can't I provide the safe haven I'm supposed to for my babies? They had me come back in on Wednesday for some hardcore doppler ultrasound. Thankfully Michael went with me.... I really needed to have him there. The test was actually really interesting. It was kind of a 3-D ultrasound. The Dr checked the baby's heart, all four chambers working properly... kidney's functioning, no blockage in the bladder, thorough checking of the cord shows good blood supply to the brain. Placenta looked good. It was nice to rule out all of the big worries. But the fluid is still really low considering I have 7 more weeks to go. So now I'll be going in twice a week for non-stress testing & once a week for that intense ultrasound. Each time I have to bring my overnight bag in case something changes, but the Doc thinks as long as baby is getting the blood flow he needs, we can squeeze out a few more weeks so that he's a little more develped and the lungs can mature a bit more. I'll be thankful when all of this is over (not too soon though!) I just want him here as healthy as possible. Thank goodness this is the last baby we plan on having, although he was actually a bit of a surprise himself :) Apparently my body is under the impression that pregnancy is only an 8 month process....

In other news, we had this little sickly bird in our backyard hopping around and hiding in the bushes. The other day I called Mike in to check out this other big bird on our patio. It was a hawk and he started ruffling around in our Hydrangea plants right ouside of our sliding glass door. In an instant he got the little sick bird and flew over to the neighbors yard, perching on stake. I ran (wobbled) upstairs and grabbed the camera for a quick shot.
Haven't been getting much sketching or painting done these days as it's been back and forth to the hospital. Lots of ideas for future paintings rummaging around in my brain, just need to get them onto paper.....