If you recall the last post, I shared about a little problem we had last week with my Blood Pressure. Urine and blood work was completely normal. This week (yesterday) we had a follow-up appointment at the Midwifery and my BP was high again, not to mention, I had somehow gained SEVEN pound since the last appointment. Even though my labs were normal last week, the midwives thought it would be best to send me over to the hospital to have more labs done and be monitored. The reason being that although I'm not high risk just yet, I still have 6 weeks of pregnancy left and anything can happen in an instant. At the very least, I'd be able to meet the midwifery's OB team and start talking about a birth plan with them should I have to transfer later.
I was a wreck as soon as we left the birth center. I hadn't planned on the possibility of a transfer of care and I was freaking out. Todd was awesome at keeping me grounded and reminding me that ultimately, the goal is to make sure Snowflake is healthy and gets out just fine, even if that means he/she has to arrive early.
When we arrived at Labor and Delivery (around 9:30am) they showed me to a room and made me change clothes, lay on a bed, and hooked me up to a BP monitor along with a baby heart rate monitor. I hadn't really expected that. I just thought I was going to meet the OB and get some labs done. So I freaked out a little more before settling in. Once the baby's heart rate was clear and audible I relaxed a bit. I just let myself settle into the rhythm of Snowflake's perfect little heartbeat. It was so cool to hear the heart beat and it was a really helpful reminder of why we were there. We just want a healthy baby.
At first the BP monitor was set to take my BP every 5 minutes. It was in the upper 120's-Low 130's/80-90. Not tooo bad, but I can understand how this could turn into a serious condition at some point. They took my blood and urine and sent it off to the labs. Then the nurse set the monitor to go off every 30 minutes and went away.
So, there we sat, twiddling our thumbs and wondering what in the heck was supposed to go on. Todd started snooping because he can't sit still. He found lots of fun stuff, like amnio hooks and infant electro wires and fun buttons to press! After about an hour the nurse came back in and told us she was still waiting on a couple more labs and would be calling the doctor soon and discussing how to proceed. That was around 11:15 or so. Bleh! This was taking forever!
I was trying really hard to drink as much water as possible but it made me pee every hour. And, of course, I had to call a nurse in every time to help me detach from the machines confining me to the bed. Annoying, but every nurse that came in always commented on how great the baby sounds! It was great to have so much affirmation regarding Snowflake.
Around 12 a midwife from the birth center stopped by our room. She was visiting a new mother down the hall who had to transfer last night while in labor. Finally! We could talk to someone and figure things out. She had already looked over my labs (which were normal) and spent some time answering our questions and possible outcomes. The biggest concern to her at the moment was the higher than average BP combined with excessive weight gain and swelling. Now, since my labs are perfect, there's no indication of pre-eclampsia. However, the next step down from pre-eclampsia is gestational hypertension, which can become pre-eclampsia at some point. Argh. At this point, I don't have GH. It's usually diagnosed near the end of pregnancy, but since I'm showing tendencies for it at 34 weeks they're concerned it could rapidly change. So, I'm not kicked out of the Midwifery just yet. They just want to get a doctor behind them if I need to leave.
We finally met the doctor around 12:45. He seems pretty nice. Apparently, the midwifery loves him because he's so patient and cooperative with women seeking a natural birth. His C-section rates are very low and he is known to deliver breech babies vaginally (which is a VERY uncommon practice in the US today). He addressed his concerns with us just as the midwife did. He also commented on how great the baby seems to be doing on the monitor but he explained that, with mothers who have Gestational Hypertension, there can be a risk to the baby being low birth weight due to restricted blood flow to the placenta. He told us he wanted to get an ultrasound and make sure the baby and it's surroundings look good.
Now, we haven't had an ultrasound since Snowflake was 8 weeks old and was still just a blob. Believe me when I say it was the best part of the day to hear we were going to get a peek at Snowflake! I was so excited! A nurse came in to give me a menu to order some food and told us it could be awhile before we get in to have the ultrasound done. I guess there was a woman in line before us. But then she came in 15 minutes later and said we we'd be bumped up because this other woman had lots of issues and they had to put off her ultrasound for a bit. Yay!
Snowflake is so cute!..... I think. The ultrasound machine that was used was brand new and there was another woman from the machine's company there to train the tech in how to use it. We told both of them we didn't know the sex of the baby and the tech did a really good job at telling us when to close our eyes and not let the gender slip. We got to see the heart and diaphragm and even a renal artery. She even got a great shot of Snowflake's face at one point. It was only a quick glimpse but I think I may have seen my sister's nose and Todd's lips. I wish we had asked her to freeze that shot and print a picture. Snowflake is resting happily head down with one foot by it's face and an arm behind it's head. The other arm and foot are up above my belly button. My mom thinks we have a climber, for sure! After she was done taking measurements she left and went to estimate Snowflake's size. While she was away, the trainer asked if she could take a look with the 3D imagery. While she was trying to get a shot of Snowflake's face she slipped a gender specific pronoun and then quickly tried to cover herself by saying she refers to all babies as a "____". (I don't want to say the pronoun in case she's lying.) Oh well. The original tech came back and said she estimates that Snowflake is about 5 pounds and that was perfect. So, again, perfect "test" results. There's still nothing sealing the notion that I may have a serious condition. But that's okay. I wouldn't want something negative to show up with the baby.
By the way... We did get a couple pictures to take home. Here's a sneak peek at Snowflake.
The top image is a 3D scan and the bottom is 2D. It's hard to really see anything in either image. They both look like every other baby I've ever seen..... Except for that nose. It's Mary's.
Sorry Mary.... This was the best pic I could find that showed your nose at a similar profile. :-)
After the ultrasound, things moved pretty quickly for us. They hooked me up to the BP monitor one last time and said I could go home but that I should set up a follow-up appointment with Dr. Hall for Friday.
So here we stand. I've been chugging water like crazy, hoping to reduce some swelling. The swelling is staying the same but I'm down 4 pounds since yesterday morning. Baby steps. I really hope I have a good check-up tomorrow and my BP stays down. Please keep us in your prayers. I wanna let Snowflake cook a little longer before we need to take drastic measures.
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