I've been getting a lot of questions lately about how things are going. So, here's the update...with less than 1 week to go. I warn you now that there are a lot of details that most of you won't care about, so you can skip to the end and I won't be insulted. However, if you are one of my friends who needs to know every detail....here they are.
It has been an adventurous 2 weeks around here. Two weeks ago I started having contractions (which was fine since the baby was full term by then) but they went away rather quickly, about 3 hours later. The good news was that the next day at my doctor's appointment I found out that the contractions at least did some damage/progress and I was about 1 cm dilated. Wahoo! So of course, in my naive first-time pregnancy way, I determined we'd be having a baby any day (I am sparing you details of the other symptoms I had that week - but they all indicated I was in pre-labor). Baby's head was even lower than the week before, so it looked positive.
Then last week I had another doctor appointment. Baby was lower than previous week and we started discussing how many days past my due date was she going to let me go. Just my luck that my doctor discourages inducing labor. In my case, that's a good thing since she said that you have a higher rick of needing a c-section with inducing. And that's the last thing she wants to do - cut into scar tissue from previous surgeries and cause even more adhesions. The only other thing she told me was that she wanted me to rest more - and not go back to work if I didn't have to do so. I have basically been working at home since October 7th and it has been working out pretty well....until this week anyway.
So, all day Tuesday and Wednesday of this week I have been having really strong Braxton Hicks (basically these are "practice" contractions that don't really hurt you at all). Tuesday night I had some major contractions but they tapered off very quickly (now those real ones hurt!). Last night (Wednesday) I had more contractions and was feeling terrible. I was light-headed, felt like I was going to vomit (thank you Matthew for the bucket!), and generally felt bad. But those tapered off as well, so I went to bed.
This morning I woke up at about 6 AM (poor Matthew had to get up at 4:30 to get to military duty by the way) and felt really weird. The top of my belly was hard as a rock and stayed that way for hours. I had a difficult time keeping my cereal down and felt really lightheaded. Good news....I was headed to the doctor's office anyway at 8:15. I got there and my blood pressure was way too high. The nurse took my pressure 3 times and eventually switched out the cuff just to make sure. My doctor was held up at the hospital so I waited forever in the room with the soft cozy blanket (yeah, right....more like a small piece of paper towel!) covering my bare ****. She was not pleased when she came into the room. She took my pressure and she concluded that indeed my blood pressure was dangerously high. Baby however seemed to be fine...good heartbeat. I am still only 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Argh! No progress. Anyway....I was told to get to the hospital immediately.
Matthew met me in the hospital (he is in the middle of a huge military operation so I felt bad dragging him there, but that's why I love him....he came to meet me without hesitation). Plus he looked cute in his uniform, so it was a plus for me! I digress.
So what do you think happened to my blood pressure when I got there? Any guesses? Of course....it was just slightly elevated and not at any alarming level. Tests all came back negative for pre-eclampsia (this is a good thing because if it was pre-eclampsia I would have had to have an emergency c-section right then and there (so the doctor tells me). Some good news...I apparently was contracting the whole time I was in the Labor & Delivery triage room and they were about 10 minutes apart. I couldn't feel most of them, but at least something is happening in there!
The tests did come back with a diagnosis of gestational hypertension. I was told to be on strict bed rest...yet again. Yippee. I was first told to come back to my doctor's office on Monday then my doctor called me back and said she thought about it more and decided I need to come back tomorrow (Friday). I will get some tests done around 1:30 or 2 tomorrow to make sure I haven't developed pre-eclampsia. If my blood pressure is high again, the doctor said "we'll just have this baby tomorrow and get done with this pregnancy thing." Sounds good to me! If my pressure is fine, I have no idea what the plans are. She did say that she doubts she'll let me go another week at this point.
So, this afternoon and evening have been fairly rough. I look and feel like hell. Clearly something isn't exactly right. My belly is hard again, I can feel small contractions, my face is getting puffy. Ugh. My biggest fears are all about the baby. I just want to make sure she is ok and not in harm's way at all. The anxiety of those fears and the worrying isn't really helping me.
Both my mom and Matthew chatted with me about how I felt being in the hospital. And I have to say that I was a lot less anxious there. I didn't mind being hooked up to machines and getting the blood draws. It made me feel safe knowing that I was at a level 3, high-risk Labor & Delivery facility with every possible medical intervention available to me and my baby.
My hope however, is that my next visit will involve me leaving with a precious and healthy baby.
***Note to those who skipped to the very end of this email to avoid the ramblings above......NO BABY YET. HOPING FOR ONE TO SHOW UP SOON.
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