This has been quite a busy week so I'll go ahead and make sure everyone is up to date. I went in for my regular checkup on Tuesday evening and everything seemed pretty normal as far as baby's heartbeat and my weight gain (up to 32 lb gained) except my blood pressure was elevated so I was told to come back the following morning. The next morning it was still in the range where the doctor has to really keep a close eye and start looking for other signs of preeclampsia. If your top number hits 140 or the bottom hits 90 then you have to be very careful. Unfortunately, mine were going over 90 and sometimes hitting 140, so I was put on the monitor for an NST (fetal non-stress test) to keep an eye on the baby and make sure he was doing ok. He passed with flying colors but the doctor wanted me to take the next step to determine if I was getting preeclampsia, which is a 24 hour urine collection to see if there was any protein. The next day I headed over to Labor & Delivery at the hospital so they could run my urine as well as blood work and put me back on the monitor for more NST and periodic blood pressure readings. After a couple hours I got my results back and my protein reading was 165 (300 is the magic number to be worried about preeclampsia and 0 is normal) so I wasn't high enough to worry about an official diagnosis, but enough for the doctor to want to keep a close eye on everything. My blood pressures were still elevated so I was told to keep a close eye and call if I got readings above 140 or 90. Unfortunately, I took a reading the next day (Friday) and it was 141/95 and a few minutes later it was 146/88 so I called the doc and he had me come in. At the office I had a reading of 150/94 so the doctor was definitely concerned and put me on the monitor for another couple hours. Luckily my BP came down over that time and I was cleared to go home and continue my second 24 hour urine collection. After finishing the second collection, I went back to the hospital on Saturday for a repeat of what I did on Thursday. My protein level had only gone up to 172 (not a noticeable increase) which is good and means I'm not making big strides toward preeclampsia, but I was told that I have gestational hypertension so I have to adhere to strict bed rest either until my BP comes down (doubtful it will) or until I deliver. Obviously the goal is to make it as long as possible so I will continue to be monitored for blood pressure and collect urine a couple times a week until I deliver. The doctor said he wouldn't deliver the baby for high blood pressure alone but if it got up to 160/110 he would have to because there is a risk of seizures. If my blood pressure stays where it is, the doctor will probably want to discuss the possibility of delivering at 38 weeks. It is still a week away so keep us in your thoughts because I really don't want to have to be induced or have a c-section. I have no idea how I'd be able to do this without all the wonderful help from Mimi and Chris, so thank you guys from the bottom of my heart for taking care of Blake and me through all this!
The only other thing of note that I've had time to even notice is that I've started getting a little more swollen in my hands today but nothing dramatic. Hopefully these next few weeks will go smoothly and baby Brett can continue to grow as much as possible!
Oh and one more thing, Happy Mother's Day! This was the adorable card Blake made for me for Mother's Day (with Mimi's help). I love how he traced his hand and colored it with his favorite crayon (the black one). =)
This is the last comparison picture since Blake was born the day after I took this. Hopefully Brett makes it a little longer!
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