Size of Gerominima: A pineapple!
She's 4 lbs and has surpassed the 17-inch mark. Her skeleton is hardening and she's losing her wrinkled, alien-like look. The bones in her skull aren't fused together - they move slightly and overlap a little, which will make it easier for her to fit through the birth canal when the time comes (yes please - every little bit helps!). She's also started to open her eyes when she's awake.
Weight Gain So Far: +24 lbs from Thursday, and another +4 today. Not even kidding you. 4 lbs in 4 days. +28 total. SIGH. Doctor and nurse said it is due to the fact that I am retaining so much fluid - I am so swollen that my feet and hands ache. More on that later.
Cravings: Salt and sweets, mainly because I've been trying to cut them out of my diet to reduce swelling and since I can't work out. Le sigh.
Aversions: Does high blood pressure count? LOL. Really nothing food-wise.
Symptoms: Swelling, swelling and more swelling - and achy body parts as a result. Exhaustion - pretty sure I have taken 3 naps a day since my vacation started. Still hip pain, which is terrible at times. Charlie horses - and yes I've been eating bananas for potassium, but one still woke me up in the middle of the night the other night to the point where I cried out. Dan was not amused at the false alarm. Also, Braxton Hicks contractions have started for the first time this week. Totally normal, per all of my readings and the doctor.
Movement: Tons. When they hooked me up to the fetal heart monitor again today, I was afraid she wouldn't cooperate because she'd been moving some in the car. Boy, was I wrong. She decided to show off - both the doctor and nurse were surprised and impressed. Also she still gets the hiccups 2-3 times/day.
What I Miss: Never thought I'd say it, but working out. Most of the time I don't want to go to the gym because I'm tired, but I always feel so much better after I work out.
Things I am Thankful For: My wonderful husband and our wonderful families. And Baby Jesus being born. Also for my doctors, all of whom are incredible. AND I am VERY thankful that my bestie had a smooth birth and produced the sweetest baby ever (that's you, Hadley Jo!).
What I'm Looking Forward To: All of my baby showers coming up, assuming we don't have to cancel any (Again, more on that in a minute, I promise).
Signs of a Bump: Yep, still there and still growing by the day it feels like:
I think my shirt is getting a little tight, and also my pants are doing something weird in the back. Whatevs.
Next Doctor Appointment: Friday, December 30 at 10:00 a.m. This seems like a good place to update you on what happened today. If you're still reading by the end of this one, I'll be shocked...it is a long story!
I arrived at the doctor and did the usual: peed, weighed, and had blood pressure (from here on out, referred to as "bp") checked. My mother-in-law has a blood pressure machine at her house, so we took it this morning to see what it was and it was still high - 141/76 I think? I can't remember what the bottom number was (too many numbers since then), but I know the top one is at least close. As mentioned above, I was up another 4 lbs, but the nurse didn't seem worried - said I am retaining a TON of fluids. Um, yes, I'd say. I told the nurse we'd taken my bp this morning, and that it was still high. We were both sad. She took it and it was even higher - 148/86. SIGH. She hooked me immediately up to the Fetal Heart Monitor ("FHM") so that we could check in on baby girl. As mentioned above, the nurse asked if I thought she'd cooperate and I wasn't sure because she'd been active on the car ride home. She gave me some juice and just said that if she didn't cooperate, no biggie they'd just take me off. She moved more in that 30 minutes than I think she has moved all day - she was definitely showing off, and they were pleased (normally, if I want her to move, she won't). However, the doctor came in at one point and said, in a very surprised tone, "Oh wow, you're contracting quite a bit and pretty consistently. Can you feel that?" I told her yes, but they weren't painful, just uncomfortable. It made me a little uneasy that she seemed surprised that they were consistent-ish - but she didn't say how consistent.
She left us for a few more minutes to finish up with the FHM, and then came back in to check me out and chat. She asked if I'd truly stayed off my feet over the weekend, which honestly I really did, but I guess not enough. She said that my labs came back normal, and that my platelets were actually up from the last time they checked in November, which was good news. She also looked at the FHM printout and said that baby is absolutely wonderful, that it's me they're worried about. I am okay with that, as long as she's ok I will do what I need to and be fine. She put me on bed rest and told me that I need to come back in on Friday. She asked when our last ultrasound was, and we told her 16 weeks, so she said that on Friday we'll get another one (Score! We high fived after she left the room at that, no judgment zone. We were both hoping we'd get to see her again, although she's so big at this point that who knows what we'll actually be able to see.), they'll hook me up to the FHM again, take my blood pressure, etc. and see what happens. I also have to do a 24-hour urine sample, which basically means that starting when I wake up on Thursday morning, I have to pee in this little hat thing in the toilet (like what they use at the hospital) and collect it in this jug for 24 hours and refrigerate it and then bring it back in with me. Dan was SO grossed out at the refrigeration part - literally mortified. It was hilarious. The last bomb she dropped was, "go ahead and start wrapping your mind around the fact that you may not be going back to work." Great. When Dan asked if we were allowed to travel (we had plans to spend the weekend in Charlotte with my family and visiting our friends for NYE), without a second's hesitation she said, "Absolutely not." She said I'm not even allowed to walk the dog. Sigh. As she was walking out of the room, she told me, "I'm sure this will be hard on you, but I'd like for her to marinate in there a little longer. I'm not quite ready for her to come out yet." Um, me neither, sister. Talk about a panic attack at the thought.
So, that's that. I am a little bummed because I was hoping that last week's high bp was just a result of all of the excitement around Christmas and Hadley's birth. I'm also a little worried (not shocking, I know). I'm also bummed that we can't go to Charlotte and that we won't get to see our friends for NYE. Not to worry, I will still don the sequin skirt I bought for the occasion on the couch. :-) I am still holding out hope that if I can rest up this week and take it really easy, Friday will go really well and all will be fine. Fingers crossed, and all prayers are welcome!
The good news out of all of this is, baby is fine. I have all of the Harry Potter movies, and I got a Kindle for Christmas, so hopefully I can find plenty to do and won't be bored to death. I'm sad for Dan that he'll have to do basically everything around here, but hopefully it will only be for the next few days. I'm also thankful that he is so incredible and sweet. He has been doing tons of research, and for anyone who is interested, he sent me this article on preeclampsia today, which is the most concise and informative that I've seen thus far. I guess more good news is, I'll have plenty of time to blog? ;-)
If you're still hanging in there, thanks for reading. I'll keep you all posted!
Sarah
Hey Sarah~ I didn't have high blood pressure but I did have low fluids around week 33 and was put in the hospital for 4 days and monitored very closely and then Thank GOD was able to be sent home and put on bed rest. Thankfully my fluids started to rise and everything looked good. I pray that everything works out with you and the baby and you can have her bake a little longer! That was a major concern of mine in the hospital. I wanted my baby boy to stay in as long as possible and thankfully he listened and stayed put until 38 weeks. Bed Rest is def. not fun at all, but whatever you have to do to keep her in!
ReplyDeleteSar, just want to send some encouragement your way!! If the worst thing that happens is that you have to be a lazy bum for a few weeks, I can think of so many worse things! Spend this time trying to relax and store up some energy for when your sweet baby girl arrives. If I lived closer I would love to come by and help you out in any way. Stay strong and remember your sweet reward. You can do this, mama!
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