Today's Appointment

I couldn't sleep last night. At all. And before that, I had a headache, but blood pressure was fine. Call me nervous Nelly.

We went to bed at midnight, after the world series got over (Tigers sucked it up :-( Was quite depressing). Got up at 3:30 with a headache (and to pee)...blood pressure was normal (110/78). Woke up at 6:30 again to pee, and with acid reflux. Finally got up at 7:15. Took blood pressure again because I still had a headache (117/72). At this point I am frustrated. I guzzle some water, eat a bowl of oatmeal (I am constipated again...and up three pounds because of it! lol).

Head out for appointment, get stopped by a train. Get to building, late because of long train and hitting every single red light...and surprise, surprise...no parking until on the very top ramp (been an issue there lately). So 15 minutes late (when I should have been there on time) I walked into appointment, feeling SO ridiculously stressed and tired.

First thing they do is hook me up to the NST. Little man almost immediately begins kicking away, he REALLY doesn't like the monitors hooked up to him. But he cooperated in letting us hear him continuously on the monitor.

Then they took the dreaded blood pressure. 140/90! Are you FREAKING kidding me?!?! I have been having 100s/60s and at the doctors I get the highest blood pressure reading ever? WTH?

So she says just relax and reminds me to hit the clicker whenever little man moves. And ooh boy does he move! Within the first 15 minutes they had all the accelerations they needed on his heart rate. But I had to stay on 5 more minutes to hit the minimum of 20 minutes. So baby is healthy and active.

Then I waited in waiting room for ultrasound. Amniotic fluid was almost 9, which they considered normal (much lower than the 15 from last week, but with as active as he was he could have inhaled more and just needed to pee). BUT I will be drinking more water today to make sure that I have the extra fluid to give him if he needs it.

Then came the visit with the doctor. And a HUGE sigh of relief. I had brought in my blood pressure log this time, and he was like "your blood pressure looks wonderful...at home. Which is great, because that is where you live 99% of your life." He set my mind at ease. Said next week, when meeting with him again, to bring in my blood pressure cuff and they would check it compared to the girls doing it manual, and go from there. He said that he really doesn't want to increase my blood pressure meds because of how low it gets at times, but if it does increase that IS an option because of the low dose I am on. And that the doctor I saw last week has the tendency to make women nervous about their blood pressure concerns.

He went on to say, that baby is doing well, is in 53 percentile for growth according to u/s 2 weeks ago. Amniotic fluid is within normal range. And there is no protein in my urine. There is no reason to take the baby early. He said that as long as things continued where they currently are that I could continue to hope to make it between 37-39 weeks, not the 36 that last week's doctor told me. I also asked about the shot to develop little man's lungs. He said once at 34 weeks they feel that the shot isn't as effective because baby's though they may need a short stay in the NICU, end up doing just as well as baby's born at term in the long run. Also, he seemed to think with my blood pressure being controlled at home, no protein in urine, and baby doing fine that I had nothing to worry about needing to deliver next week.

He even reassured me that sometimes babies born at 35 weeks can get sent home with mom. I am just going to continue to pray for healthy developed lungs, normal blood pressure, and for my body to naturally go into labor itself. Which by the way, on NST I haven't had any contractions show up yet! Which is a good sign he said for me to go to term.

Woooohooo, huge weight off my shoulders. Now if my darn headache would go away, that would be wonderful. I am going to take a Tylenol drink another huge glass of water, and find myself a little snack.

And try to relax even though there is so much homework I need to do, thank you notes to write, baby gifts to organize and put away, and some chores to do. Deep breaths!! *sigh*