Spartacus Is Lookin' Good (Day 22)

Late yesterday afternoon, Todd, my sister-in-law's brother came in to visit while his wife, Julie was having emergency surgery here on a different floor (she called this morning and sounds great-- she gets out today). My nurse came in and took me off the monitors to tell me I was going on a little trip across the street to Dr. Lovelace's office for my ultrasound. I know this will sound corny-- but the idea of getting in a wheelchair and going more than just to the next room for crafts was about as exciting as going on a trip to Hawaii at this point. The 20 year old kid who came and picked me up said we weren't going outside... but underneath the hospital and street in a tunnel. It was very cool. He totally got lost (had never been to Lovelace's office building) and took me to the wrong building. I had no complaints... I got to see all kinds of doors for doctor's offices, the volunteer room for the hospital and a number of painting on the walls. Are you getting a glimpse at how desperate I am for a change of scenery? He finally excused himself to make a phone call and then we were back on track. But our adventure didn't end there. The underground tunnel (guess that's a bit redundant) was very creepy and cool. It was dark and as we entered lights popped on. If it wasn't so clean-- it'd be a great place to hide a body-- ha-- joke-- really.
Humour me while I go off on a tangent here... it totally reminded me back when I was a reporter and I did a story on Bugsy Segal (the mobster who is credited with the founding of Las Vegas). He was so paranoid of the other mobsters knocking him off-- that when he built the original Flamingo Hotel (it's gone now), his suite had 8 foot concrete thick walls, bullet proof glass and all kinds of hidden trap doors and dead end staircases to foil any pursuers. Underneath the Flamingo was a complicated maze of tunnels (some that went nowhere). It was dark and cramped. And the most fascinating thing (I thought) was that every once in a while there would be a metal rod sticking out. So that if you were chasing Bugsy through the dark tunnel-- he would know when to duck-- but you wouldn't and BAM!! (As they say in the Batman cartoons).
I can safely report to you, the St. Luke's Hospital tunnel does not have any such booby-traps for the doctors and lucky patients like me.
Okay, I'm back on track. When we finally made it the Doctor's office-- it was dark in the waiting room. I thought, brother, he went home because we were so tardy. But I heard his voice (on the phone in the back). Mr. Wheelchair guy was excused and I got my ultrasound. Everything looked surprisingly great. I even had a little bit of amniotic fluid-- about 6 percent (which I lost in the night-- but at least we're getting some building up and cushioning him before I lose it).
Spartacus is measuring 2 pounds 3 ounces. He's growing!!!! Overall, he's measuring at 26 weeks
instead of 27 weeks (where I am), but that is to be expected with all the problems I have-- and is actually better than expected.
My placenta is still weak-- but strong enough to keep him growing inside rather than have him try and grow on the outside.
His bladder was full-- so he's doing what he's supposed to. All organs, brain etc. look good. He's pretty scrunched up but that's to be expected with the tiny amount of fluid. Worse case scenario with the scrunching is we'll deal with some orthopedic issues after birth... but that's do-able.
Finally, the other great news is that he's shifted from being transverse to the head down position where he is supposed to be!!! So that means I'll likely avoid the c-section unless things crash. All in all, I have so much to be thankful for. It was a nice pick-me-up.
Byron and Reese made it up to the mountains. Surprisingly, there was a ton of snow-- and there was a little incident where he sunk a good foot into the snow and Reese fell off his shoulders and landed on her back and head. Thankfully, in the snow. She's fine. No need to bring another bed into my room. There was also a little incident where he didn't pull her pants down far enough for her first experience of peeing in the woods. Let's just say, it's a good thing he packed an extra pair of pants. He'll love that I'm sharing this. They'll be home this afternoon.