Our Trip to Labor and Delivery

Sweet girl, today we took a little tour of Labor and Delivery.  Our official tour date is not until December 11th, but we got our own tour today. 

This morning we had our follow-up appointment from our 28 week appointment last week with the high blood pressure.  We were high again!  At the initial reading we were at 142/110.  We were put in our little room and the nurse took it again.  150/100.  At that point we heard your heartbeat.  You were holding out strong at 145 bpm and doing wonderful.  The doctor we met today, we loved.  She explained everything and definitely calmed our fears.  We talked about my blood pressure, my swollen feet, when I get headaches, etc.  She told us, that so far all of my labs (blood and urine) have come back perfect with nothing to be concerned about.  However, a nurse was going to return to take my blood pressure again.  If it was high, she was sending us over to Labor and Delivery at the hospital.  This is where my panic kicked in!  BUT, she was so wonderful and calmed us down.  She said since everything else was so normal, it just looks like chronic hypertension runs in my family and has just decided to show it's ugly face in my pregnancy...so we were going to Labor and Delivery just to check on our sweet little one to make sure you were not in distress and to make rule out preeclampsia again. 

I freaked a little, had a few little tears, but held it together fairly well....I must say your daddy rocked it with the support and so glad he was there.  So we headed over to Labor and Delivery.  Need I mention, it was like a monsoon outside....perfect day to lay down hooked up to machines?  I thought so myself.  We went up to Labor, got in a room, and all that run stuff.  We took blood, started out 24 hour urine collection (these are the rule out preeclampsia parts) and chilled out for 3 1/2-4 hours.  They hooked me up to an automatic blood pressure monitor that every 15 minutes took my blood pressure.  The original reading was 140/100.  For an entire two hours with me laying there with my feet elevated, my blood pressure continued to drop every 15 minutes....it got as low as 109/63....the last reading was 112/71.....which is perfect to where they want it during pregnancy.  I was so proud.  Then I had to use the restroom....aka, go collect my urine.  I stood up, walked 5 feet, did what I had to do, and walked 5 feet back to the bed.  The nurse was there waiting on me, curious to see what my blood pressure was after standing up....154/91.  Fifteen minutes later it was 146/85...and continued to go down.

So it's not chronic hypertension, because it can and does go down.  It does not look like preeclampsia.  It just looks like hypertension in pregnancy that spikes when I exert myself....Ha, if standing up to use the restroom is exerting myself, I am curious to see what my blood pressure is at work after a 10 hour day.  Your daddy and I feel like this was the best case scenario for our situation for the time being.  It could be a lot worse.  They put me on Aldomet 500 mg 2x a day.   We have a follow up first thing Monday morning to see how the blood pressure medicine is working.  If it stabilizes then we will call it a day and just continue to monitor with routine visits and routine tests to make sure there is no protein in the urine, etc.  WE PRAY THIS IS THE END RESULT!!!!  If the medicine, does not seem to be working, we may increase dose, talk about bed rest (since it only elevates when I exert myself, etc.), so we will see.

THE AMAZING NEWS IN ALL OF THIS!  You, precious little one, are doing wonderful. So wonderful, after only ONE hour at Labor and Delivery, we were allowed to take you off the monitor because my elevated blood pressure was causing you NO stress. This was great and means as long as you are healthy and fine, we should easily be able to control my blood pressure....and with you not in distress, you can stay in there and cook a little longer!  YAY! 

You were so happy to be off the monitors....you were NOT a fan.  You kicked the contraction bands and kept trying to move away from the doppler.  Silly little girl.  So sorry we were bothering you.  You did amazing, though!  I loved the fact that your daddy actually was about to hear you and get a feel for your personality more.  I always tell him, "Wow, she's not happy about this!" or "She is kicking up a storm..." but being hooked up to monitors he was able to constantly hear your heartbeat and your angry kicks. We even got to hear you hiccup.  The other day, I felt them for the first time.  Hearing them, was even more wonderful.  You had them for a good 3-5 minutes.  I couldn't stop giggling.  Your daddy and I both had smiles from ear to ear and tears in our eyes.

We get to see you on Friday...then back to the doctor for a hospital follow up visit on Monday....

You are absolutely precious and you have both of us wrapped around your little fingers. We love you so much, sweet girl. 

Love you,
Your Proud Momma and Daddy