37 Weeks

This post was written February 17th....

Monday I had my regular doctor's appointment for an NST only at 9:30am. I got to my appointment and they checked my urine and blood pressure like they always do. They found protein in my urine and when they took my blood pressure it was a little high (both signs of preeclampsia). I'm thinking, oh great, here we go....I haven't had any protein in my urine before now and my blood pressure hasn't even been borderline high, in fact it's been really low throughout the pregnancy. They went ahead and hooked me up to the monitor for the NST. I thought everything seemed normal but when the nurse came back with the results, they said the test wasn't showing accelerations like she wanted it to and I would have to go down to Labor and Delivery for further monitoring. At this point, I pretty much started to lose it and began bawling. I was so scared and upset. The nurse was very comforting and assured me everything would be fine, they just had to figure out what was going on. 

I headed down to Labor and Delivery still crying uncontrollably. I called Cary and his phone went straight to voicemail. I called work (because I was supposed to go to work after my appointment). I started sobbing again trying to explain what was going on and barely getting it out. My coworker assured me she would keep trying to call Cary.

I checked into L&D and they put me back on the monitor for the baby. They took my blood pressure and got another urine sample. They also drew blood work for my labs. Cary called me and I told him what had happened and he was on his way. It seemed like for a while, I would be having a Valentine’s Day baby, but once things were looking better on the monitor and my blood work came back normal, that seemed to be less likely. They wanted to admit me overnight for further monitoring just to make sure everything was OK.

So I checked into the hospital and began a 24 hour urine collection. They also did another round of monitoring the baby’s movements and scheduled a BPP for further evaluation and measurements of the baby. Everything with the baby looked good (baby’s estimated weight is 7 lbs, 5 oz.) and I would have to wait for the results of the urine collection before they made any further decisions.

I saw my doctor the next morning and he seemed positive that everything was looking good and I would be able to at least go home and be on bed rest. But all that changed when the urine came back and showed 3 times the normal amount of protein. He said I am staying put until the baby comes. BOO!!!! My blood pressure has still been running higher than normal but not crazy high. They are continuing to monitor my blood pressure, blood, and urine and we are in “wait and see” mode right now. Waiting to see how long we can wait until the baby HAS to come out or if we can hold off and let this little biscuit keep baking.

I am full term as of today but since I am diabetic, they are concerned that the lungs may not be fully developed so they want to keep the little guy inside as long as possible and as long as it’s safe for me and baby. They are shooting for getting me to 38 ½ weeks which would be around the 27^th or 28^th.

So, that’s what has been going on since Monday… it’s been a scary, crazy week of what had been a normal and uneventful pregnancy. I guess now I understand why they do all this monitoring, things changed so rapidly from last Thursday to the following Monday, it made my head spin. Just happy and very thankful that I made it as far as I did with no complications. As of today, my platelets went back up a little bit (which is good) and once we get my second round of 24 urine collection back tomorrow, we will know more. I’ll keep you updated!

OH, and did I mention Cary and I are supposed to see Brad Paisley Saturday night? I know this isn’t as important as my health and my baby’s health, but man I really wanted to go that concert on Saturday! Ah well, guess this is just preparing me for parenthood!

***Update: I had a healthy baby boy on February 20th at 10:32pm (I was 37 weeks and 3 days). His name is Patrick and he weighed 6 lbs, 12 oz and was 19 inches long. It has been a crazy few weeks trying to recover and take care of a newborn, but we are healthy and happy. I will try to update again soon! :)