I'm so incredibly relieved: apparently I have a highly obedient child, because she shifted her placenta on request. Actually, I should have known it was never in doubt, because every time I see her on a scan - including today when there was a big damn needle in there with her - she won't sit still even for a second, constantly kicking and somersaulting all over the place. I guess I should have known that the chances of anything staying where she'd left it for long were pretty slim. It's probably my fault for letting her train and grade with me - I expect I'll feel the impact of her side-kick soon enough. :)

The Big Damn Needle was less scary than I feared it would be - although I deliberately didn't look - because the feeling of pressure/cramping from that was completely overwhelmed by the discomfort/pain of the pressure of the ultrasound on my over-full bladder. (The volume in the bladder is the main method they use to adjust the relative placement of internal organs - on Wednesday when they were trying to get things to shift around, I had to go to the toilet seven times trying to let 'just a bit' out and drink two glasses of water to top it all up again, all within half an hour. By the time the doctor called it as 'not possible', I believed him!)

The doctor did have to go in with the needle twice, as the first time he wasn't certain there was enough material extracted, which was unfortunate, but apparently the vaguely pinkish colour of both samples was an excellent sign; usually it's a red wine colour from bleeding, so hopefully Agatha won't even notice it's gone.

Aside from what appears to be a vampire bite on my stomach, being slightly sore and crampy (and, it seems, better off than most women in this situation as I haven't needed to take the paracetamol + codeine they supplied me with) and having to fight off the cats who seem to find 'bedrest' an excuse to want to perch on my stomach, I'm feeling brilliant. Optimistic and full of confidence that it's all going to turn out okay. No, aside from a local anaesthetic, the only drugs they gave me were a cup of tea and a couple of malteasers. :)

The critical danger period for miscarriage (1 in 100) is the first 72 hours, and the danger entirely passes (well, returns to normal) after two weeks. The next 24 hours is essentially bed rest, after that it's just no heavy lifting, no housework, no energetic activities, nothing that uses my abdominal muscles even as much as sitting up without the use of my hands, and absolutely no fun. By the time I get the results on Monday afternoon, I'll be past the worst of the danger.

Monday afternoon, and we'll know for sure. Oooh, and we get to find out the gender, too! Yay!

I'm just so incredibly relieved. Even without knowing, the end is in sight! :)