Baby Time....

On Monday I was so anxious to get out of the hospital. My BP had been high but not to concerning all weekend and I was confident that I would loose my mind if I had to stay. I just wanted to go home. Early that morning my Dr had stopped in to see me and he made it sound like I'd be able to go home as long as my BP stayed down and my test came back ok, I was giddy. Later morning they wheeled me down to the high risk doctor area and did the NST and BPB. As usual the baby looked great. I was confident I'd be able to go home. I packed my bags and waited till about 2:30 when the high risk doctor came to see me. He told me all my tests looked great and that I would be able to go home if I would promise to do a few things. One, I had to take my BP every 4 hours and if the top number was about 160 or the bottom number above 105 that I had to call my doctor. I also was given a list of other symptoms I had to call if I started to experience (headache that didn't go away with medicine, change in vision, bleeding, ect.) Two, I had to promise I wouldn't be alone for very long. One of the side effects of high BP is stroke or seizure and it could come on with no warning. He wanted to make sure if that happened someone would be with me to get help. Finally, I had to go into the office for testing twice a week. We talked about delivery options. He said for sure before new years but maybe earlier if anything changed, we would monitor data and play it by ear. Mentally I was thinking between 36 and 37 weeks would be ideal. By then she would be strong enough to avoid going to the NICU at birth. I also asked about my activity level once I was at home, I didn't know if I was on strict bed rest or what. My dad was worried about blood clots from bed rest and I mentioned that to him. He said he was not putting me on bed rest, I could leave the house if I needed. I was SUPER GIDDY!! I was going home AND I wasn't going to be a prisoner!  I was finally discharged at 4:30. Mike drove me home and I felt like I had just busted out of jail. He left for class a little while later so I took advantage of him being gone to wrap all the presents that had come for him in the mail while I was at the hospital. It was fun, but I had a small headache and was really tired. I was worried my BP had gone up but it was still in the same range. Mike got back from class and we talked a little about how crazy it was to think we'd have a baby at home in 2 or 3 weeks. It amazes me that you are pregnant for so long but I'm not sure it ever really sinks in that you are going to be a parent till AFTER t.he baby comes. We cuddled on the couch and watched "The great Christmas Light Show Challenge." Mike loves light shows so it was fun to watch. We even made a cup of hot coca to top it off. After that was over we feel asleep watching Home Alone 2. It was a great night, I had no idea it would be our last relaxing evening at home before the baby...

Tuesday morning I woke up with a huge kink in my neck and a headache to match it. I took my BP and my first reading was 171/97. I almost cried. I didn't want to go back to the hospital! I ran into the bathroom and made Mike let me take his BP before he was even able to dry off from his shower. I wanted to make sure the thing was working right. Unfortunately it was because his BP was perfect. Since it was only 8am I decided to wait till 9 when the doctor opened to take it again and if it wasn't down I would call the doctor. Luckily when I took it at 9 it was down to 153/94. Not great, but I didn't have to call. I took a shower, made plans for someone to come pick up the TV we were selling and started some laundry. Since I wasn't suppose to be alone my mom facetimed me till Amanda came to pick me up. We had a few baby things we wanted to do and I needed to get out for a little field trip. We went to Carters to get some newborn clothes since it was very likely that we would fit into her 0-3 month clothes if she came in the next 2 weeks. We also went to old navy to return something and Bed Bath and Beyond to look at diaper bags. They didn't have the two I was trying to decide between so I looked around at some other things and remembered I needed a swaddle sack. I also picked up another aden and anais burp bib because I was so in love with them. Then we headed to the mall. As the day was going along my headache was getting more pronounced. I got a salad at subway and sat down to eat. I knew needed to take my BP again but since I was tired and had a headache I was nervous about what it would say. I took it and it was 162/104.... that was not good. I told Amanda it would be best if I just did the returns we had planned then head home. We made our returns and of course stopped by baby gap to see if they had anything cute out. I got home around 2:45. I sat down on the couch and tried to relax before taking my BP again. I threw all the baby clothes I just bought in the wash and chatted with my brother before taking my BP. When I finally took it I got a reading of 163/98. My top number was still high but my bottom number was going down. I also was concerned about my headache. I decided I needed to take medicine to see if it went away.  I waited a half hour and took it again. It was 162/102. I knew I needed to call the doctor. After calling and telling them what was going on she told me just to go to the hospital to have the same kind of testing done. They wanted to make sure my urine and blood work looked good. She said pack a bag just in case and head over. I called Mike and told him and he said he would leave work and come take me. At this point it had been 45 min since I had taken the medicine for my headache and it hadn't gone away. I was starting to get a little nervous that something was happening. After packing my bag I folded my clean newborn clothes and put them away before Mike arrived. When we got to the hospital they put me in Labor and Delivery and started all the normal test (urine sample, blood work, NST, BPB.) The resident talked to me and told kind of told us that if it looked like I had preeclampsia that I would be induced.... tonight. That kind of put us in a little bit of shock. Mike was really surprised that that COULD even happen. BUT that wasn't 100% certain, I'd had several of these done and it always came back good. So I was thinking it was a toss up. The only thing that made me nervous was the headache. I sent Mike home to get a few things while we waited on the blood results to come in. At about 7 the nurses came in to tell me that my doctor was on his was over to discuss the lab results with me. At that point I figured it was baby time. Mike got here shortly after and I prepared him. If my doctor was coming to the hospital at 7pm to see me, it was probably to tell me we needed to induce labor. As predicted a few minutes later Dr Lenney came in and told me there was protein in my urine. That combined with my headache and high BP was a preeclampsia diagnosis and at 34.5 weeks it was safer both myself and the baby if we induced me TONIGHT! That was a lot to take it. We asked a lot of questions about my health and the babies and they did a great job answering all my questions. The game plan was to give me cervital for 12 hours to soften my uterus. I would also be given magnesium sulfate for my high blood pressure to help prevent seizure. Then in 12 hours they would start me on pitocin.

I called my mom to let her know she would need to leave in the morning. Mike called his friend to ask if he would come help give me a blessing. I was really nervous about what was going to happen during delivery and needed the peace and comfort of my Heavenly Father. Justin and Jason showed up 30 min later in their Sunday clothes and Mike gave me a sweet blessing of comfort. Then they gave Mike a blessing of comfort. I could feel my Heavenly Fathers love and peace so strongly in those sweet moments that I knew everything was going to be ok and that the baby and I would be fine. I/m so glad I have the Lord to lean on in my life. I know he has been with me these past few weeks and will continue to be with me now, even more so as I deliver our little girl.