Roller-Coaster Ride

Well, this is going to be a long, eventful update!  It's been a bit of a roller-coaster around here.

First off, we had our 33 week u/s to check on the baby's kidneys.  The baby was measuring right on track, estimated to weigh approx 4.11 lbs.  Heartbeat was 144 bpm.  Kidneys were proportionally the same- right one continues to be larger but my fluid levels continue to be good!

My blood pressure at this appointment was high again so my dr wanted me to continue to take it daily to monitor it.

Throughout the u/s the baby was hanging out on left side so my belly was extremely  lopsided the entire time!  And once again, baby had a hand up by face/forehead!  Baby's favorite position!  So overall, this u/s checkup was a positive one!

We went home for our baby showers in the beginning of June, when I was about 33 and 1/2 weeks.  Our showers were WONDERFUL!  We were so spoiled by everyone and are so grateful and lucky to have such wonderful families!

Nick drove back to our Springfield home on Monday and I stayed for the week.  Throughout the week I was checking my bp as I was supposed to be doing.  It would go up and down, but never high enough to worry.  It was an extremely busy week and I was on my feet a lot so I assumed the varying bp was attributed to that.  Friday I went with my parents to the lake and spent the day there.  That evening, I checked my bp and it was OVER 140/90, which is what my dr said is too high.  I got myself extremely worked up because I was afraid of something happening without Nick being here.  At that point, my bp sky rocketed and it wasn't coming down.  We decided I need to go to the hospital.  Which as it turned out, was a good decision.

Once I got to the hospital, my bp was extremely high.  They admitted me and began to monitor my bp and the baby.  Baby was looking good, but my bp was not coming down.  We decided to have Nick fly out Saturday morning to be there in case anything happened (i.e. they needed to take the baby).  I had to do a 24 hour urine collection in order to check for pre-eclampsia, which is where there is protein in the urine and the kidneys aren't functioning correctly, along with high bp.  This affects how the placenta is functioning and can be very serious for baby and mom.  My bp continued to raise throughout the day on Saturday, even though I was only laying in bed all day.  At this point they decided to put me on bp medication.  Sunday morning my results came in- and it was NOT pre-eclampsia at this point.  I was diagnosed with gestational hyptertension (pregnancy-induced high blood pressure).  They had my bp under control with the medicine and allowed me to make the drive home to Springfield and continue my care with my regular dr.

They did an u/s of the baby at the hospital to check growth- baby looked great!  It was measuring right on track and fluid looked good.  Baby was moving around and had it's feet right up under my ribs- a favorite position!  Until, baby decided to put a foot right up by it's face... yes, I said face!  It was so cute.  We also got to see that the baby had HAIR!  Doesn't necessarily mean it's a LOT of hair by any means, but there was hair nonetheless!

We were glad to see baby wasn't affected by this whole situation.  It was an extrememly scary and stressful weekend but we made it back safely, thankfully!

Once we got back, we met with our regular dr.  She wants me to continue on my bp medication (which has been working to keep my bp at a normal level).  I will have to do a 24 hour urine collection and have my blood drawn weekly in order to check for pre-eclampisa. As long it doesn't turn into pre-eclampsia and my bp continues to stay under control, I will be induced around 38-39 weeks, most likely around July 4th (if any more complications arise, baby's lung development will be checked to see if I can be induced earlier).  I'm currently on bed rest (not strict, total bed rest- I am able to get up and do things, but majority of the day I have to be sitting with my feet up.  Luckily it's only for a few weeks!).

Needless to say, it's been an eventful couple weeks!  I just have to take it easy so I can keep baby in as long as possible so he or she is as healthy as possible when born!  We haven't been very good at keeping up with the belly photos with everything that's been going on so I don't really have much to update there.

32 weeks (picture taken from my cell phone!)

I will update more as anything new develops- let's hope nothing more quite so eventful!

Carrie