...i'll be alone but maybe more care-free/ like a kite that floats so effortlessly...
So I may have spoken too soon with my last entry, on the subject of being tired of pregnancy.
I had a my routine weekly check-up today, with some interesting results...
There are several standard things they check for at these appointments, and for the record I'll give all my stats this time around:
my weight: 178.4 (with clothes on)
my blood pressure: 140/90***, 128/80
Critter's heartbeat: about 140
urine: high protein***
cervix: no activity
belly measurement: (I forgot to ask for this one! But apparently it's bigger than last week, which was 39cm.)
So in case the *** wasn't a dead giveaway, I had some unusual statistics at this appointment. It started when the nurse checked my blood pressure... and then she checked it again. And again. And she told me she was reading 140/90 and that's not normal for me, is it? And I confirmed that no, that is very not normal for me - my blood pressure has been textbook perfect at all my previous check-ups. So she had me lie down on my right side for twenty minutes or so, before checking it again. In the middle there my doctor came in and finished up my standard tests, asked me some questions, the usual. Then the nurse took my blood pressure again. Still a bit high, but going down.
The concern with all this is, of course, preeclampsia. There are many side-effects of preeclampsia that are also, unfortunately, typical symptoms of pregnancy - especially swelling of the hands and feet, which I've had pretty consistently for a while now - but the big indicators are high blood pressure (140/90 is actually the bottom cut-off for that symptom) and high levels of protein in the urine, both of which I had today. (For anyone who doesn't know, the exact cause of preeclampsia is unknown, thus it cannot be screened for in advance, but it affects only pregnant women, most commonly occurring in the last part of pregnancy as the due date grows near. The condition causes irregular spasms of the organs, leading to unusual blood pressure and urine protein levels, among other things. If left untreated, preeclampsia develops into eclampsia, which causes kidney and liver problems and seizures in the mother - which is obviously bad for both mother and baby. The condition goes away after delivery.)
So my routine mid-day check-up turned into lab tests for urine, four vials of blood, and a full ultrasound, all rush-ordered to get results back ASAP. The plan is that those test results should be coming in tonight and tomorrow morning, and if the results indicate that I do in fact have preeclampsia, my doctor recommends inducing my labor tomorrow night, with a guesstimated delivery time of Saturday afternoon.
Yay....
(Edited To Add: My doctor just called me a little bit ago - about 1745? - to let me know that my blood tests all came back looking good, so that's a positive sign. We'll see how everything else comes back...)
This could actually be a good thing, in one way - my mom is flying in from out of state to be with me and her first grandbaby for a couple weeks, and her tickets are currently set to have her landing here Saturday evening, since my official due date is Monday. Because Critter has shown - and continues to show - no sign of wanting to come out, we've been looking into the cost of my mom moving her plane tickets back a week or so. If I'm induced this weekend, however, she'll be landing within hours of his birth, which is perfect.
On the down-side, I really really don't want my labor to be induced. D:
I'm also pretty upset about today's events for a totally different reason - my husband was supposed to have today off of work, and was planning to come to this appointment with me, even though it was initially just a routine check-up. Instead, he found out last night that he had to go in to work today, and not only that, he has to work a ten-day stretch without getting his normal 'weekend' days off (today and tomorrow). So all this stressful testing stuff is happening and I'm getting a 39-week ultrasound and trying to keep him up to speed with the occasional text message, instead of him being there with me. (I would feel pretty happy, in a vengeful sort of way, if I am induced this weekend and my hubby gets to have his paternity leave instead of having to work through that ten-day stretch. bwahahaha!!) I would especially have wanted my hubby there for the ultrasound today - I'm at 39 weeks and change, Critter is all fleshed out and packing on the pounds, and I wish his daddy could have been there to see him. The tech showed me glimpses of Critter's face and bones and heart - and his 'turtle', which he flashed her first thing. :) No shame has my son, just like his father.
Meanwhile, my bills with the doctor's office are still all screwed up - I finally received the bill from the office to match the notice my insurance sent me from a billing in August, but now the office manager is saying that the bill is wrong - which really I think is just that they billed me (and my insurance) for the total amount, but should have since deducted what I have meanwhile been paying to them visit by visit: my co-pays and the "global care" payment they asked me for. The paperwork is a nightmare, let me tell you. And I haven't even got to my delivery yet, for which there will be separate bills for the doctor's office, the hospital, the anesthesiologist, and any other services that are rendered. Thank God I have copies of almost everything I've done for this pregnancy, and that it's all in one calendar year.
(I'm kicking myself that I forgot to ask for copies of my paperwork for the lab work and the ultrasound today. Also I have no photos or stats from my ultrasound, which I thought they were going to give me at the end on a disk like last time, but apparently not! And I don't have copies of my and Critter's consent forms either. Grr....)
So, we'll see how this goes.
~
ETA 2013.10.26 - Well, gentle readers, I still have a baby in me. No preeclampsia! (Yet.) My doctor called to let me know that all the tests came back clean and she would see me at my normal appointment time next week. Back to waiting...
I had a my routine weekly check-up today, with some interesting results...
There are several standard things they check for at these appointments, and for the record I'll give all my stats this time around:
my weight: 178.4 (with clothes on)
my blood pressure: 140/90***, 128/80
Critter's heartbeat: about 140
urine: high protein***
cervix: no activity
belly measurement: (I forgot to ask for this one! But apparently it's bigger than last week, which was 39cm.)
So in case the *** wasn't a dead giveaway, I had some unusual statistics at this appointment. It started when the nurse checked my blood pressure... and then she checked it again. And again. And she told me she was reading 140/90 and that's not normal for me, is it? And I confirmed that no, that is very not normal for me - my blood pressure has been textbook perfect at all my previous check-ups. So she had me lie down on my right side for twenty minutes or so, before checking it again. In the middle there my doctor came in and finished up my standard tests, asked me some questions, the usual. Then the nurse took my blood pressure again. Still a bit high, but going down.
The concern with all this is, of course, preeclampsia. There are many side-effects of preeclampsia that are also, unfortunately, typical symptoms of pregnancy - especially swelling of the hands and feet, which I've had pretty consistently for a while now - but the big indicators are high blood pressure (140/90 is actually the bottom cut-off for that symptom) and high levels of protein in the urine, both of which I had today. (For anyone who doesn't know, the exact cause of preeclampsia is unknown, thus it cannot be screened for in advance, but it affects only pregnant women, most commonly occurring in the last part of pregnancy as the due date grows near. The condition causes irregular spasms of the organs, leading to unusual blood pressure and urine protein levels, among other things. If left untreated, preeclampsia develops into eclampsia, which causes kidney and liver problems and seizures in the mother - which is obviously bad for both mother and baby. The condition goes away after delivery.)
So my routine mid-day check-up turned into lab tests for urine, four vials of blood, and a full ultrasound, all rush-ordered to get results back ASAP. The plan is that those test results should be coming in tonight and tomorrow morning, and if the results indicate that I do in fact have preeclampsia, my doctor recommends inducing my labor tomorrow night, with a guesstimated delivery time of Saturday afternoon.
Yay....
(Edited To Add: My doctor just called me a little bit ago - about 1745? - to let me know that my blood tests all came back looking good, so that's a positive sign. We'll see how everything else comes back...)
This could actually be a good thing, in one way - my mom is flying in from out of state to be with me and her first grandbaby for a couple weeks, and her tickets are currently set to have her landing here Saturday evening, since my official due date is Monday. Because Critter has shown - and continues to show - no sign of wanting to come out, we've been looking into the cost of my mom moving her plane tickets back a week or so. If I'm induced this weekend, however, she'll be landing within hours of his birth, which is perfect.
On the down-side, I really really don't want my labor to be induced. D:
I'm also pretty upset about today's events for a totally different reason - my husband was supposed to have today off of work, and was planning to come to this appointment with me, even though it was initially just a routine check-up. Instead, he found out last night that he had to go in to work today, and not only that, he has to work a ten-day stretch without getting his normal 'weekend' days off (today and tomorrow). So all this stressful testing stuff is happening and I'm getting a 39-week ultrasound and trying to keep him up to speed with the occasional text message, instead of him being there with me. (I would feel pretty happy, in a vengeful sort of way, if I am induced this weekend and my hubby gets to have his paternity leave instead of having to work through that ten-day stretch. bwahahaha!!) I would especially have wanted my hubby there for the ultrasound today - I'm at 39 weeks and change, Critter is all fleshed out and packing on the pounds, and I wish his daddy could have been there to see him. The tech showed me glimpses of Critter's face and bones and heart - and his 'turtle', which he flashed her first thing. :) No shame has my son, just like his father.
Meanwhile, my bills with the doctor's office are still all screwed up - I finally received the bill from the office to match the notice my insurance sent me from a billing in August, but now the office manager is saying that the bill is wrong - which really I think is just that they billed me (and my insurance) for the total amount, but should have since deducted what I have meanwhile been paying to them visit by visit: my co-pays and the "global care" payment they asked me for. The paperwork is a nightmare, let me tell you. And I haven't even got to my delivery yet, for which there will be separate bills for the doctor's office, the hospital, the anesthesiologist, and any other services that are rendered. Thank God I have copies of almost everything I've done for this pregnancy, and that it's all in one calendar year.
(I'm kicking myself that I forgot to ask for copies of my paperwork for the lab work and the ultrasound today. Also I have no photos or stats from my ultrasound, which I thought they were going to give me at the end on a disk like last time, but apparently not! And I don't have copies of my and Critter's consent forms either. Grr....)
So, we'll see how this goes.
~
ETA 2013.10.26 - Well, gentle readers, I still have a baby in me. No preeclampsia! (Yet.) My doctor called to let me know that all the tests came back clean and she would see me at my normal appointment time next week. Back to waiting...