Two Words

Bed. Rest.

Huh??? ME???

Ok, so I was gonna post a blog titled two words: still. waiting. And while that is still. true., I now have a more important two words in my vocabulary. This is the last thing I ever, ever expected. Ever.

I had my weekly appointment today and was all prepared to hear, "you're not dilated at all and nothing is happening, see you next week..." but that is not even close to what happened. First of all, I had trace protein in my urine, which she said by itself is pretty normal and nothing to worry about. But then later when she took my blood pressure, she kinda frowned a bit and then told me that it was high... and that she wanted me to be on bed rest. She then took a reading again while I was laying down and it was lower. This, she said, is why I needed to stay down.

"And I do mean bedrest," she said, just as I was thinking she was being a bit extreme. Great.

It's not terribly high, it's really just above the cut-off where it turns from pre-hypertension to hypertension, but that coupled with the protein (which again, is also just a trace) is pre-eclampsia, which can get serious. To be precise, she never said the word pre-eclampsia. 've I just read online that the combination of protein in the urine and high blood pressure is what the diagnosis of pre-eclampsia is based on. She said to stay on bedrest at least until Monday (my next appointment) but probably until I deliver. They are also going to do a biophysical profile on Monday to make sure that everything is a-ok with the baby. This checks the baby's heart rate, muscle tone, movement, breathing rate, and the amount of amniotic fluid around the baby. They usually do this routine if you get to 41 weeks, which I will be on Wednesday, but I think she scheduled it for Monday because of the blood pressure. She might have done it sooner had it not been Friday... I don't know.

Fortunately, I got almost all the loose end tasks on my to-do list completed yesterday - including some cleaning - and so I'm not freaking out about stuff left undone. Not that I like the idea of not being able to get up and do stuff... there's still plenty I could do and want to do, but I got the essential stuff done yesterday. Phew! What luck in timing! I'd be in a much different frame of mind today had I not gotten those things done.

So that's the bad news. The good news is that I am not at zero - YAY!!! - I am 70% effaced, dilated to 1cm, and the baby's head is at a -1 (which is almost half way to the finish line!!!) I was also having contractions last night that were enough to wake me up when they happened. So early labor is under way... although theoretically it could still be another week or more before I deliver. The midwife seemed to be talking like I might go into labor this weekend, so when we were almost done, I asked her if she thought that I might, and she said, "well, you might..." and I said, "but it could also be another week or so, huh?" and she laughed and said "yup."

She told me to use a breast pump for 30 minutes three times a day which will stimulate the hormone oxytocin, which is what causes contractions. I tried it when I got home and boy did it ever! The contractions I felt while I was pumping were really strong... they are still happening somewhat, but not nearly as strong.

There are two full-time midwives at the center that I have had all my appointments with and gone through the birthing class with and gotten to know pretty well and feel really comfortable with. One weekend a month, they have an alternate midwife on call so that they can both have the weekend off. Normal procedure is that at least once during your pregnancy, you have an appointment with this alternate midwife so that you can meet her for in the event that she is the one who ends up delivering your baby. Somehow, I never got this appointment with her, so I've never met her. Well, she's on call this weekend, so if I do go into labor, she will be delivering the baby. It's gonna be a little weird. I'd be a lot more concerned about it except that when I was about 20 weeks I had some really bad cramps one weekend and called the midwife on call and fortunately, that too happened to be her weekend. I liked her - at least over the phone - and so I'm not too worried about the prospect of her delivering our baby. It will be a little weird though, like I said. I hope it goes okay with her if I end up in labor this weekend... not that I would choose to wait for one of the other midwives if I had the choice - I'm ready to meet this baby!!