Allrighty then, here's a full write-up about yesterday:

The amniocentesis was done at the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Hugh Kaul Human Genetics Building. We arrived at the genetics clinic filled out a bunch of paperwork and watched a 15 minute video on the procedure - first we watched about 2 minutes in Spanish; the receptionist had forgotten to switch the tapes out. Then we met with a genetic counselor who told me 2 things that stuck out: one, the chances for having a baby with Down's Syndrome was strictly based on age and no other factors apply. In other words, my chances are a crapshoot. Or in geek terms, I see the big Dungeon Master of Life consulting his tables, then telling me to get out the percentile dice and roll above a 28. That scared me. The second thing she told me was the percent chance of me having a miscarriage due to the procedure was 1 in 400 - mainly because their staff was so experienced. That made me feel better.

Then a nice little old lady with an indistinguishable foreign accent put me on an exam table, poured warm goo on my belly, and started the ultrasound. She was pointing out arms, legs, etc. I'm still impressed she could tell which fuzzy dots were kidneys and such. The heart was the most distinguishable organ; when she paused the picture it looked like a fuzzy 4-leaf clover. She tried to get a peek at the sex but at the time the umbilical cord was between the kid's legs.

Then the doc came in and took over. He took some more measurements and looked around, then asked me if I wanted to know what the sex was. He fiddled around a bit until the kid's scrotum became obvious in the picture. Then they cleaned off my belly, swabbed it down with betadine, put some sterile goop on it, and then he hunted around by ultrasound for the best needle placement. I stared at the ceiling, both arms over my head, clutching one of Jon's hands with both of my own.

The doc chose a spot about an inch above my pubic hair line and then ouchie ouchie ouchie that needle kept going forever it felt like. Then he drew off 4 or 5 small tubes of amniotic fluid. I tried to keep still - I didn't want to flinch and make the doctor accidentally poke the kid's eye out.

Jon got a good look at the tubes and he remarked that it looked like urine. One of the assisting nurses explained that that's what it essentially is - except it's baby's piss and it's far more sterile than normal piss.

So then they cleaned me up, had me roll over on my side, and because my blood type is O negative, the nurse gave me a RhoGam shot in the butt. This shot essentially keeps me from rejecting my kid should he be positive and do a little bleeding. Jon's type is A positive so there's a good chance the kid's blood type is positive as well.

Once I got dressed, the nurse took some blood from my arm. I had my fill of needles yesterday.

But like I said, the doc said everything looked normal. That kid was also moving, kicking up a storm; he even hiccuped while we watched. I can't feel him move yet but he was dancing around yesterday.

After the appointment Jon and I met up with a friend who works at UAB and ate at a Thai place. Mmmmm! Made up for having my belly poked.

Speaking of, I'm feeling just a little sore. No cramping or anything; it just feels like a little of the soreness you might feel a day after doing sit-ups for the first time in a while.

Now all I can do is wait. I suspect my obgyn will get the results in 2 weeks.

My subconcious is naturally being mean-spirited. It granted my request last night in a manner. I ended up at a sushi restaurant arguing manners with Jackie Chan. Now if you were going to have a dream with Jackie Chan in it, wouldn't you expect him to kick a little ass? Nope, he didn't even kick any flesh-eating zombie ass.