April 30, 2008

Pregnancy gives me a headache


Literally.

Hi friends.... just thought I'd give you a quick (or long winded.....) update on where we are ..... a couple of days shy of 35 weeks pregnant, and been battling high blood pressure..... yes, you've been here with me before.... twice, actually -- but who's counting?

The first time it kind of caught us off guard, we weren't really clear on how serious my condition was or would become -- it all happened so suddenly.... and left us in a tailspin.

The second time was different -- they watched me so closely -- and as they were unwilling to risk a repeat performance -- once my readings started to rise, they delivered me at 37+ weeks.

This time..... well, the BP's been rising steadily for a month or so now -- but it seemed to have plateaued -- so, we were all content to hang on a few more weeks and then probably deliver around 38 weeks again.

On Monday, while sitting at my desk..... my vision got kind of blurry. I'd been staring at spreadsheets all morning -- so, I chalked it up to typical accountant-in-poor-office-lighting eye fatigue. I took my blood pressure (yeah, I'm one of those wicked awesome cool people that has my very own blood pressure cuff.... c'mon you know you want us to be friends) and it was high..... too high.... higher than it has been this time 'round..... (Insert four-lettered and probably vulgar word here)

I decided it was probably a fluke and that I should just go get some air, something to eat will probably help too...... a lot can be solved by getting away from the desk for a bit. Well, air is always good -- but the food? yeah, that made me all kinds of nauseous. Checked the BP a few more times -- still unacceptably high, but the vision was back to normal. The Big Dubya was working Monday night, so I knew I had the rascals on my own -- but, I also knew that I should, at a minimum, take it easy -- so I did the unthinkable...... yes, I got them McDonald's drive-thru for dinner. I normally try to avoid fast-food, but...... given the choice..... it seemed like a great idea to me. To add insult to injury -- after dinner and a quick bath..... I sat them in front of a Disney movie.... the three of us cuddled up on the couch and watched Nemo 'til they fell asleep. In some strange way it was really sweet -- I just laid there with them asleep on either side of me ..... I listened to them breath and wondered if this was the night..... would this be the night the two of them would become three? Relax, it wasn't......

By the time the Big Dubya got home, they were both out cold and my BP was back to merely elevated -- crisis averted, right?

At the beginning of this, I promised him that I'd be honest about what's going on with me -- rather than try to sugar-coat these things to keep him from worrying -- so, the Big Dubya suggested I check in with the doctor in the morning -- I half-heatedly agreed with my token "well, let's see what happens in the morning"

When I woke up yesterday morning, I had a headache that I could barely lift off the pillow. I lumbered downstairs and took some Motrin and checked the BP..... Ugh!

When I got back to our room, I woke the big guy and let him know that we might be at the start of something..... Once the Motrin kicked in, I decided that Dubya and the kids should start their day as usual and that I'd call the doctor at 8 when the office opened. The Big Dubya begrudgingly went to work..... as long as I promised to call as soon as I knew more. The receptionist was sweet and said she'd have the doctor call when he/she got in --

The doctor (there are four in the practice and of course I get the one that I don't really like much) was actually quite nice and said that because of my history I should go to the hospital and get hooked up to a monitor -- let's be sure we know what's going on. So, off I went.......

Where are we now?

Good Question

After 3 hours of monitoring, they agree -- the BP is too high. The baby's heart rate was also high, but that settled down with some rest. For obvious reasons, we'd like to delay delivering the baby at least a couple more weeks, but...... for now, I'm on bed rest 'til tomorrow when we get to go back and do it all again.

Let's hope the rest works....

How are you?

5 comments:

Kara said...

Eek!

So are you officially on maternity leave now? Good thing W is finally working closer to home. Seriously LET US KNOW what we can do to help and we'll do it.

Fingers crossed. Love.

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Arwen said...

I think about what you have gone through and how remarkably ignorant of pregnancy I was. I did little or no reading about it with the theory that people have been doing it for eons so I will be fine. Then I hear your story and think 'I was so lucky'. You are in my thoughts, and it has been proven that hugs reduce BP so get extra hugs from everyone you love. And make sure they feed you chocolate ice cream, because ice cream is good.

Unknown said...

I hope everything settles down and you can at least make it to 36/37 weeks! I completely sympathize. I was induced the first time around at 39 weeks because my bp was suddenly way too high. I wasn't nearly as sick as you got, though. No HELLP, just preeclampsia. This time, my doctor's already warned me I'll be going on bedrest sometime after 28 weeks just to be on the safe side since I'm carrying twins. We're a "have our own cuff at home" family too.

Sue said...

Let me know if you need anything (seriously!).

I had high bp throughout my pregnancy with Clare (plus the fun of gestational diabetes!) I remember the days of laying (lying?) on my left side and drinking lots of water well. I always thought that was rather mean - make the pregnant person drink lots of water while the baby uses their bladder as a trampoline.

 
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