Before I get into the scare, I’d like to congratulate one Julie Garst.  I don’t usually name clients or work contacts on here, but Julie is someone we work with a lot, so I’ve gotten to know her decently well.  She was pregnant (until today) so often when we discussed work we’d also discuss how our pregnancies were going.  (Well, hers and Amanda’s, anyway.)  I got news today that her water had broken this morning.  So welcome to the world, Lucas Garst!

Amanda and I had some playful e-mails throughout the day.  Just teasing  back and forth, that sort of thing.  That was kind of fun and made my day go by faster.  But then at almost 5:00 Amanda called me and asked me to find the number for Carolina Health, where we’ve been going for our baby doctor visits.  She said she was bleeding a little, less than the last time she had some spotting, but bleeding nonetheless, and almost halfway into the pregnancy at that.

I found the number for her and then waited as frantically as someone can wait to hear back from her.  Carolina Health was closing up but told her she should go to the emergency room, so she did and I went out to meet her there.  At the Murrayville-College Road stop light I updated my Facebook status to say that we were having a scare and needed some prayers.  I felt a little weird about posting it on there, but I was really coveting prayers from friends.  Nick Warkentien saw what I’d posted and called as I was passing the airport- only a minute or two after I’d written it.

On the way to the hospital I felt the need to snap this picture.  It was just a trying moment in time, and I thought I should mark it.  There’s nothing special about the picture as an image- it’s just a shot from the car heading west down Market Street so I could  jump on 16th and get to the hospital.  But it serves to remind me of the worry I was feeling and all the emotions that went with it.

I prayed and I tried to stay positive, of course, but I kept getting flashes of the things I’d imagined going through with my little girl, this little girl, not another one that Amanda and I might later conceive.

I pulled up to the emergency room parking lot, having just gotten off the phone with my dad.  I had to circle the lot a few times before finding an open spot.  I got there and saw Amanda as I was walking in.  We sat, made small talk and waited.  She was called back to give some information, get her blood pressure taken and to give a blood sample then we were sent back to the waiting room to wait some more.

I got Amanda a drink and after a while we were taken to an examining room.  She changed into a hospital robe and waited.  The doctor came to see us, talked to us a bit and then a nurse came in with a sonogram machine.  She said that the sonogram machine they use is kind of difficult, because it’s only the size of a pen, so the listening area is very narrow (as opposed to the one they use at Carolina Health, which is about the size and shape of an ice scraper).  She warned us that since it’s hard to find a heartbeat with the sonogram machine she was using that we shouldn’t be worried.  The day or two before some women had come in who were a week or two further back in their pregnancies than Amanda is and they hadn’t been able to find heartbeats.  The nurse said they’d probably have just done an ultrasound but since the new maternity wing had opened the equipment for that was all the way across the hospital, and they wanted to go ahead and take care of things now without sending Amanda across the building.

Well, the nurse looked, and after a minute she heard a little bit of something.  She kept finding the heartbeat, and it was strong, but she kept losing it, which she said was a good sign because it meant our girl was moving around.  Amanda and I were both very relieved.

After that we waited about 45 minutes (or more- literally) to get the results of a UTI test that we were told should take 15 minutes (although we were there during a shift change, which might have something to do with that).  Amanda changed back into her clothes, which she ended up not having needed to do anyway, during this time.  It turns out she does have a UTI, so we got a prescription then took off in our separate cars at about 8:00.

We feel pretty relieved now, although we’ve still got a little bit of worry gnawing at us.  At 22 weeks the doctors can perform a Caesarian if it looks like the baby is not going to survive, but before that there’s nothing that can be done.  As long as we had to wait for our little girl to come along, it would be so painful to have been so close to that “save point” and lose her.  So we’ll keep praying for her continued health and we’ll ask others to keep praying for her too.  We had quite a few people call us and leave Facebook messages, and it was touching to see so many people looking out for us.  We’re definitely thankful to have so many people who care about us.

There was a Duke game, at Georgia Tech, that started at 7:00.  Obviously I was more worried about the health of my baby, but I had set the DVR for the game.  I got home a few minutes before Amanda and saw that Duke was only up four points about halfway through the second half, so I figured there wasn’t much besides frustration to watch prior to that, so Amanda and I just watched it from there.  Duke ended up beating the Yellow Jackets 70-56, largely because of the defense, from what I’ve read.

Amanda and I watched what was left of American Idol after the game then she went to bed.  Getting sucked in, yup.

So what else is up?  The economy sucks, it’s cold outside, our downstairs heater doesn’t seem to be working and I can’t find a reset button for it.  But you know what?  My baby seems to be okay, so it’s all good.

Zach Dotsey