Preeclampsia..

Well today I've officially been diagnosed with preeclampsia. Saturday at 4am I woke up with the worst headache I've ever felt in my life, I took Tylenol EXTRA strength and that didn't even touch it, I tried warm and cool washclothes on my head, and tried a shower. NOTHING would fix this headache. I finally gave in and called my Dr. who told me to get up to the triage to be monitored. My blood pressure was high and they started an IV to get me a medication called Nubain for pain. We ended up going home that day and they had me finish up my 24hr protein urine test.

Saturday I was completely knocked out from the Nubain and literally was awake 4 maybe 5 hours out of the day. I had Joel turn my urine in to the lab and we just waited to see what happened next being my check up apt. was on Wednesday.

Monday the Dr. called with the results of my protein and said it was elevated at 304. They aren't alarmed until 1000 but, 304 was something they needed to look in to more. They asked me if I was having any symptoms of anything and I told them I was swelling up like a balloon, I still had a headache that hadn't gone away at all, I was getting lines coming up in my vision at times, and I just felt awful all together. They decided to bring me in earlier than Wednesday. I went in to the Drs. and had gained 4lbs since Friday!!! That was alarming to them because, they said it was water weight. They looked at my feet and did a blood pressure in the office, again it was high. They sent me over to labor and delivery AGAIN to be evaluated.

I get to labor and delivery and they put me on the monitors and noticed I was having contractions. I didn't even feel them but, they also weren't very strong either but we're coming irregularly every 5-15 minutes. They said that can be normal sometimes at this stage in pregnancy. They did some labs and noticed my platelet count had gone down since Saturday which is another indicator of preeclampsia. They sent me home again doing ANOTHER 24hr protein urine and told me to return to the office for a growth & fluid ultrasound Thursday along with another apt.

I continue with the headaches and high blood pressures with my highest being 168/93 on Wednesday night. Thursday morning comes and I go in to the Doctor's office feeling absolutely horrible. They did the ultrasound and estimated Nathan to be weighing at 5 1/2lbs. Which is good but, they noticed his lungs weren't mature enough for a delivery and he was napping so they couldn't tell if he was trying to practice his breathing or not. The doctor then came in and seen me and did my blood pressure which again.... was high. They also got the results from my 2nd protein urine and it was even higher. SHE sends me over to triage again to be monitored. She said it's quite possible she wants to admit me but, wanted the other Dr., Dr. Aronson to make that decision. I get to the triage nervous they were going to keep me. They repeated my labs and again they were abnormal but, not to the point of having to emergency deliver me. They said I do have preeclampsia and I need to be monitored closely until they can deliver Nathan safely. They said they want to try their best to make it to minimum 36 weeks if not 37-38 weeks. Dr. Aronson decided to send me home because, I live so close to the hospital and because I told her I didn't want to stay unless they had an induction date in mind and it was within a week. There's NO WAY I'm staying at the hospital for 3+ weeks!! NO F-ING WAY!!!!

So I've been at home with my feet up, and planted on the couch. I still have a headache that as they asked at the hospital I'd rate at a 5 or 6 right now. NO WHERE NEAR SATURDAYS FIASCO THOUGH... thank GOD!!! I have another apt. on Monday and ultrasound to check on Nathan's growth and maturity. Hopefully he's doing better and shows them he's trying to breathe. And Monday we'll know more. They said they're just going to take it apt. by apt. and go from there as to what we'll need to do next. So I need to be prepared for a possible delivery every time I go in to the Doctors office.

I'm completely frustrated with it all because I know the only way to fix how I'm feeling is to deliver Nathan, at the same time I don't want to deliver Nathan because he's not ready yet. They did say it's possible my body will evict him anyways because he's causing me to be sick so I need to be on the watchout for labor symptoms. Hopefully everything turns out well and we get this figured out.. in the meantime I feel as if I'm going to rip my head off because it hurts CONSTANTLY!! BLAH... we're almost done and I can't honestly say how many weeks I have left :/

HOLD YOUR HORSES SON!

Well I had my 34 week apt today (I'm only a day shy of 34 weeks) and my blood pressure is on the rise again. Today sitting in the office it was 168/73. They took it again before I left and it was down to 160-63 over something. They're starting to think I may have preeclampsia. A condition that causes the blood pressure to rise and is very dangerous for both me and Nathan. With me being at 34 weeks my Dr. decided to do some labs like a 24 hour protein urine test, and some blood work tomorrow morning. They'll call me tomorrow afternoon with my results and if I do have protein in my urine and the lab results come back abnormal they'll start talking about inducing me. They're also concerned because babies that are stressed out try to make their way in to the world early, and Nathan is in the "locked & loaded" position. He's head down, locked in to my pelvic area and all I need to do is dialate and efface and he's coming out. They said this usually doesn't happen so early in pregnancy so that was alarming to her. Hopefully this is all nothing but, worries and Nathan will stay in there a bit longer!! I know I complain a lot because I'm miserable but, I really want him healthy. I don't want him to be in the NICU or to suffer at all! I want him to come in to this world perfect, breathing perfectly, no problems, and ready for his mom & dad to cuddle him!! Let's just hope for the best I guess..

33 weeks

WOW.... I absolutely can't believe I've made it this far. I'm now 8 months pregnant! Our Baby boy is going to be here in less than 7 weeks. (If he doesn't go overdue but, the doctors still think he'll be early) I think it's really starting to hit me, that I'm going to be caring for another human being soon, OUR human being. FINALLY after all the heartache and suffering we went through when we lost our 1st angel, it's gonna happen.

Most people at this time in pregnancy (at least from what I've read) are absolutely terrified at this point. I'm surprisingly not. I'm ready.. We already have the nursery ready, the swing put together, the travel system put together, our bags are in the process of being packed for the hospital stay, bottles are sterilized and put away, bassinet is put together and has a spot in our bedroom, I feel all we're missing materials wise is our son. Mentally I know it's going to be a task, and it's going to be difficult. There will be happy times and not so happy times. It'll take a lot out of Joel and I's relationship to care for our child, and it's not going to be easy. I know all this and I'm still ready. I'm ready for this new journey of beginning our family. I'm ready to watch Nathan grow up, and Joel bond with his son. I'm ready for the late night feedings and diaper changes, and am ready for the midnight car rides just to soothe him to sleep. I'm ready for whatever it takes to make sure our son is 100% taken care of, that my husband is taken care of, and that our family can handle anything that's thrown at us. I know a lot of people have been telling us, "Oh you say that now just wait until you have 2 hours of sleep"... 2 hours of sleep?! I don't think loss of sleep will be anything compared to what we've endured already losing our angel, going through infertility, the fertility treatments, and after what seemed like NO hope conquering it. Not to mention this pregnancy hasn't been easy on my body. SO.. Loss of sleep is the last thing on my mind, this is what we wanted. We wouldn't change it for anything in the world. We absolutely can't wait for our son to be here. I dream of the day I finally hold him and look up at Joel and say, "he's ours, our miracle baby is FINALLY here, they told us we would never have this experience, now look at us." That day will come and it'll be the best feeling in the world..