Sep 20, 2010

Pregnancy Update

I had my regular ol' monthly doctor's appointment last Friday. I went in feeling just like I normally do, and came away discovering I have super high blood pressure and might have toxemia. I had to head over to the hospital for some additional monitoring. They put a blood pressure cuff on me and took my blood pressure every five minutes for about an hour. They also put a monitor on my belly keep track of her heartbeats to make sure she was doing all right. Thankfully, my blood pressure DID go down and Baby Girl is right where she's supposed to be at, heartbeat and measurement wise. They put me on activity restriction and told me I have to drink tons of water and eat more meat. I left the hospital with a big jug to collect my urine for the next 24 hours, which I turned that in Saturday afternoon and waited until my follow-up appointment with my doctor that was scheduled this afternoon.

My mom picked me up, took me over to my doctor and the appt started off all right. My blood pressure was still high, but not nearly as high as it was on Friday. Then... my doctor read the results from the urine collection. Turns out that I do have toxemia, but so far it's pretty mild. From what I understand from my doctor is that my body and the placenta are fighting eachother. So, instead of weeks to months for a delivery, I'm looking at days to weeks. He said that it's concerning that I have it this early, but as long as I keep to the rules I should be able to keep her in there for a few more weeks. I'm hoping to get to mid to late October. That's my goal anyway!

Doctor has put me on a form of bed rest. Basically.. it's house arrest. I can still do daily tasks, such as dishes, laundry, dusting.. but I need to spend most of the day laying around. No shopping, no visiting friends, no going out to dinner, and no church. I'm going in to see the doctor about twice a week right now. I went into the hospital again today to get a my first steroid shot, and will go in again tomorrow to get a second one. The steroid shots are supposed to help Baby Girl's lungs develop faster so that she will be better off when she does come. Whenever that may be.

Strangely.. I'm at peace. Baby Girl is doing just fine as of right now, and that's all I can ask for. As long as she's okay, I'm okay! I'm not looking forward to bed rest, but I'd much rather do it and have my daughter be healthy and safe than be stupid and run the risk of having serious problems. She will come when she is meant to, and I know with every fiber of my being that she will be fine when she does. This just means I get to meet her sooner! And I don't have to mess with potentially having her on a holiday! See? Positives can be found in any situation.

Got any book or movie recommendations to share? Since that is pretty much all I'm going to be doing for the next several weeks, I'll gladly take any you've got!

10 comments:

katie+brandon said...

hahaha, unless you have her on halloween. hahaha.
kidding.

For the trillionth time, you NEED To let me know if you need ANYTHING. ANYTHING. I will come over and clean, so it really makes it easier if you tell me what to do.

I have many dvds... movies, tv shows, whatever you want.

see you soon! Loves to you and baby girl!

Michelle said...

Good news is the Fall TV season starts this week!!! Hang in there! xoxo

Amy J said...

Your positive attitude will definitely help you get through it! And if you haven't read The Hunger Games series? You should start that! Hang in there!

Jalei & Lane said...

Grab your magazines, books, movies & snacks! Have you read the Hunger Games series? Check it out if you haven't. There's 3 books. Oh ok, I just read your friend's comment above. See I told you you should look into it!

Regina said...

That stinks, but like you said...better safe than sorry! Plus, you will need to rest up as much as possible anyway before she makes her debut. Newborns are hard work! Enjoy all the downtime while you have it!! For books I like Mary Higgins Clark. Anything by her. They are all murder mystery which I love. And I could go on and on about movies!

Count of Monte Cristo, Man in the Iron Mask, the Notebook, the Bourne Trilogy, the Holiday, Sherlock Holmes...to name a few! :)

Kenna said...

Oh I am so sorry to hear about the bad news, but glad to hear that you and baby are doing great! And your positive attitude about the whole thing.
Good luck with the rest of the pregnancy, and you should post more pics of your belly, well, because all pregnant bellies are cute!
Can't wait to see your baby girl when she arrives!

Sarah and Alex said...

We've got Netflix and some of the shows we like to watch are Prison Break, The Office, LOST, and Cake Boss. I've heard that My Name is Earl, and Chuck is good too. I'm so glad you and the baby are ok. It's fun to hear your updates! :)

Sarah and Alex said...

oh, and on abc.com you can watch boston med, if you like watching that kind of stuff. It's pretty cool. Can you tell we don't have TV? :) Internet is the next best thing though!

Monty and Kristin said...

Wow...sounds like your doctor has got this under control. I guess I'll never say that doctors visits are dumb when you're pregnant. What a blessing. Um...you should really get a name for this girl! Maybe she's keeping you on your back till she has a name!:)
I just watched Confessions of a Shopaholic...that was cute. Do you have netflix instant? Good luck. Keep us posted!!

marion family said...

Glad to hear that both you and the baby are doing good, and hopefully she stays in for awhile longer. I'm crossing my fingers that you have her on Halloween! Zac's birthday is Halloween and we have a blast every year, except when he was little he couldn't figure out why people dressed up for his birthday :)

Best of luck to you and baby girl!