How A Liter Can Hurt

For my ultrasound scan, I got an official notification of my schedule, with the ominous note to drink 32 oz of water an hour before, and "please to refrain from voiding," otherwise the scan will be rescheduled. 

Do you know how awful it is to force a liter of water down your throat? And do you know how long you can last with this liter in your bladder before you absolutely have to go? But I waited two weeks to get my scan scheduled, so I wasn't about to jeopardize this one by chickening out. My scan was at 9am, so I drank the 4 cups from 7:30 to 8, and managed not to puke. By 8:40 I was ready to go, and the bathroom by the waiting room was like heaven in my eyes. By 9 I was in doubled over in pain, crying and clutching my hubby's hand--the perfect rehearsal for labor.There was only one technician working, and I could hear her with a patient in the room. My only thought then was damn, her perfect bedside manners are grating on my nerves. Could she please just get on with it and do me ASAP because I swear, I was going to flood the waiting room. Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore, and surely they didn't mean for an ultrasound scan to be THIS painful. I let some out and hoped to the high heavens that whatever's left in my bladder would not send me out to wait another 2 weeks for a reschedule. 

When it was my turn, Leslie the tech (whose perfect manners I absolutely treasured afterwards) actually said my bladder was too full and was squishing everything inside. She made me go and dump two cups! So much for that liter--she told me for next time I just had to make sure my bladder felt full, not bursting. (With an aside as to how I had probably already stretched it to twice its normal size.) 

Pain and grossness aside, it was a real joy to see our baby and the prints Leslie gave us are priceless. It's going up on the wall in the baby room.

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