Not a happy camper...

This weekend I took it pretty easy. At my insistance, we did a big baby stuff shop this weekend at Target and Babies R Us. After everything I have been reading about PIH online, I just have a feeling this baby will be here sooner than later. Apparently, according to BabyCenter.com, since I developed PIH before my 30th week, I have a 1 out of 2 chance of developing pre-eclampsia (of which the only cure is delivery, regardless of how early the baby is). We also went to the Water Park at our local YMCA, which I absolutely loved, because I just spent the entire hour lounging in the water while DH and the kids played in the pool/slide area.

Fastforward to crappy today...
I went in for my followup appointment today at 8:45 after I dropped both kids off at school. My appointment wasn't until 9:15 AM, but I wanted to get there a little early because I wanted a chance to sit and rest and get my blood pressure down ast low as possible. Anyway, they ended up taking me immediately.

The nurse took my blood pressure, and because I told her that I was concerned about what it was, she wouldn't tell me. She wasn't mean about it, she just said that she doesn't want to tell me because she is going to take it again with a different cuff in a bit to see if there is a difference. Anyway, about 5 minutes later, she came back with a different cuff and said it was much lower, and my blood pressure was 180/110. This was the LOWER blood pressure.

My doctor came shortly after her, which was surprising, because he always seems to take a while. He was hoping that my BP on Friday was a fluke, but obviously it wasn't. He is concerned that it is going up so significantly so fast. He still doesn't think it is toxemia yet, but he wanted to do some blood work (toxemia panel and thyroid panel) and a 24-hour urine collection just to be sure. I am also to be on bedrest 2 to 3 hours a day at least twice a day, which basically seems to be most of the day. Also, I am to only do "activities as absolutely necessary," which means I can pick up the kids from camp and things like that. I'm not on complete bedrest. Also, he started me on a BP-lowering medicine, which the pharmacist warned me would cause drowsiness.

Then, I go back on Wednesday morning to do a recheck. If there isn't a definite reason why my BP is going up so fast, then he is considering sending me to Baylor Univ's High Risk unit downtown to be evaluated (which is where we ended up having the amnio done). I really hope it doesn't come to that.

Sucks :(

Pregnancy-induced hypertension?

I had my 29-week appointment today. When I first got in, my blood pressure was 160/90. The nurse had me lay down for 30 minutes, and when the doctor came in to recheck it, it went down to 140/90. Then he said something I was dreading... "So, we are going to have to treat this pregnancy a little bit differently now...".

He doesn't think it is toxemia, but he wants me to have 2 to 3 hours of bedrest a day and basically take it easy this weekend. Even though I'm not a diabetic, he wants me to go on a low-carb, low-salt diet through the weekend. I have to go back on Monday morning at 9:15 am for a blood pressure recheck and take it from there.

My first fear was, of course, pre-eclampsia and how the baby is only at 29 weeks right now. I am going to read up more about PIH (pregnancy-induced hypertension) and see what else I can do to avoid having pre-eclampsia come.

Just when I was enjoying a "normal" pregnancy... :(

Baby Girl O's first pics!

We went in for our 4D ultrasound today. Unfortunately because I have an anterior placenta (in the front of the baby instead of the back) and because her cord was right in front of her face, we couldn't really get that many good pics of her. These were the best that we could get. But you know what -- THERE REALLY IS A BABY IN THERE!!!! How cool is this?

There are a lot more pics from today which you can check out on my facebook account or on shutterfly. But here is one!

Got my first "experience" in Labor and Delivery

So, I've been working on hydrating myself much more as well as eating more. Saturday, we went to the water park that just opened and had an absolute GREAT time there for a bit over an hour or so. The kids loved going up the bridges, down the slides, and E just LOVED standing in the pool where this huge bucket of water gets dropped every 5 minutes. Towards the end of the time there, I saw on the steps in the pool and just soaked in the cool water while watching everyone...I was in heaven (I love pools!).

After the water park, we went out to lunch. On the drive there, I felt a HUGE kick from the baby. Biggest kick yet. I felt like my hold body moved with it! Shortly after that, I had another heat spell (clammy, hot, having to sit down, nauseous, back pain, feeling horrible, etc.). After we got home, I slept for 2 hours, and the weird thing was that I wasn't even tired, so I thought! Later that night, I had another heat spell which fortunately wasn't as bad because I was lying in our bed with the fan turned right on to me (even with the AC set at 72 degrees!).

Fast forward to yesterday. We had a great day. I worked extra hard staying hydrated. Even brought a 32-ounce water to a birthday party that A went to and drink almost all of it while I was there. No heat spells at all yesterday.

For some reason right before dinner, I was lying on the couch and I realized that I hadn't felt the baby move since that big kick yesterday around lunch time. I keep thinking back to being told the start monitoring baby kicks, and I couldn't remember any kicks that day or the night previously (which is unusual because she LOVES the nighttime to kick around).

I called the doctor's office just to touch base. I didn't want to be a worry wart, so if he said "Well, you are still early at 28-1/2 weeks, hang in there", I would be fine. However, the doctor on call told me to just come into Labor and Delivery just to make sure. So, we packed up the kids and went to the hospital.

Having the kids with us at the beginning was good because we couldn't get visibly nervous because we didn't want the kids to freak out. We just said we wanted to go by and check to make sure the baby was okay.

So, I got hooked up to the fetal monitors and they did a non-stress test on me for about 20 minutes. Took my initial blood pressure, which was really high at 158/90 (which is not like me since I haven't had anything over 118/70 this pregnancy). At first it took about 3 minutes to find the heartbeat, which seemed like forever at the time because I had thought the worst and first. But then she found it. The baby started moving around under the monitor strip (it was very snug), and we could see her little heartbeat just moving along there.

The nurse said things were looking really good, but she wanted to show the doctor the strip. About 10 minutes later, she came back with a sandwich and a huge jug of ice water. Apparently, the doctor didn't think the baby's heartbeat wasn't variable enough, so he wanted me to eat the sandwich and drink the water. Which I did, which seemed to take forever because I just was NOT in the mood to eat.

After I finally ate, we redid the non-stress test, and sure enough, the baby liked the food and was moving around like crazy. The heart beat definitely became more variable (not in a straight line like it was), and she was starting to kick her little heart out. What a huge relief!

So I got my first experience with where I'm going to be having this adorable little girl. I have to say, I was impressed with how quickly they took me in and how nice the two nurses were the were attending to me. Very, very pleasant...even with my two rowdy kids in the room with us!

11+ weeks to go!

Oh the humidity and heat...

Here we are -- THIRD TRIMESTER!! I feel like I have to say it over and over again, and yet it still doesn't feel like it is real. I keep waiting for all this surreal stuff to become real, you know?

I definitely have a soccer ball stomach now. From what I've read, this little girl has already passed the two-pound mark! Whoa!!!

I'm starting to get exhausted again, and walking in the 90+ degree and humidity is a KILLER!! It was a really humid weekend, and I tell ya, I am getting wiped out VERY quickly. Walking slow, sweating like crazy, and starting to get these lower back pains which is not totally painful but really uncomfortable. She is kicking here and there, but still not that much (which is expected because of my anterior placenta and plus size)

We have our 4D ultrasound on the 5th of June. We decided to go ahead with it, well *I* decided to go ahead with it, because I hope that seeing her in a more visual way will help make this more real. Silly I know. Then on the next day, June 6, we have our 29-week appointment checkup!!

We are slowly starting to get the baby stuff together. The crib was delivered this week, and we went to Babies R Us this weekend to pick up a crib mattress and gate for the baby room so the dogs (and A hopefully) can't get in.

Passed my Diabetes test!

So, the doctor's office calls this morning at 8:30 AM. Of course, I saw it on the caller ID and knowing that most doctors only call with bad news, I prepared myself for the worst as I answered the phone. She said "I know you would have probably called this afternoon, but I wanted to give you the good news this morning. You passed your glucose tolerance test with a 106!" Whoo hoo!! I can still eat whatever I want! Truth is, I don't eat that much crap anymore anyway, but it is so nice not to have that restriction.

The only bad news was that I am anemic, so they want me to start taking some prescription iron supplementation. I guess that partly explains why I have been so overly tired over the past couple of months.

I'm so happy, no gestational diabetes for me!!! (At least for now, but I'll take it!)

25w1d

Had my monthly checkup this morning, and everything looks right on track. I asked him about the numbness that I have been getting on the front of my right thigh at night when I lie on my back, which he attributes to being "normal" and the baby lying on the sciatic nerve. Also, I asked about what I had read on the internet about a higher rate of having a breech baby with an anterior placenta, and he says he has never seen that nor could he think of a reason why it would be that way.

I drank the glucose tolerance test drink at 8:30 AM this morning for my gestational diabetes blood test at 9:30 AM. Everyone complains that the stuff is nasty, but the truth was, it wasn't really that bad at all. I chilled it, so maybe that helped. It had a pretty bad aftertaste, but it was no where near as horrible as I was expecting. We should find out the results on TUESDAY -- I SO don't want to gestational diabetes!!!

Afterwards, DH and I went to the hospital (across the walkway) to preregister for "the birth." Still seems surreal to say that. We also signed up for the prenatal childbirth class, and we signed the kids up for the siblings classes. It's great because they are each in a different class, as one is for 3 to 5 year olds and the other is for 6 to 9 year olds. They gave me a list of what to pack for the hospital and told me I should have the bag ready in the 8th month! That's just two months away!!!

We are just less than 3 weeks from the third trimester... I still can't believe it. This past week, I have finally felt the baby at least once a day (for a few minutes at a time). I actually sit there and watch my belly do these little jumps, and it just totally blows me away. Totally surreal.

Next appointment is at 29w, and that is on June 6th. After that, I think we start every 2 weeks! Our next ultrasound is at 32 weeks, and I just can't wait to see our little girl.

We have also decided on a name for her. We have gone through many dozens of names, and we ended up going back to the first name we decided on back at 13 weeks. Not going to share it now, but you'll know soon enough!