Appointment update & news!!

I went to see Dr. Keith today and things got a little interesting! The first thing the Dr. commented on was that she noticed significant swelling in my ankles, hands and face which she hasn't really seen before. She also mentioned that I had some protein in my urine and my blood pressure was still elevated. She said that this is classic pregnancy induced hypertension and is somewhat common in first time pregnancies, especially in those with family histories of the problem (my mom had this as well).

Since the doctor was a little concerned about me and baby and the onset of the hypertension, she took me to a room where they hooked me to a fetal monitor for about 30 minutes to get a good look at baby's hearbeat and make sure he was stable and doing OK. Baby H had a strong and steady heartbeat at around 148 bpm, but much to our surprise, the fetal monitor, which was also monitoring me, showed that I was actually having several contractions and wasn't realizing it. I had been feeling my belly tighten up a bit, but thought it was just baby H rolling around in there.

Earlier in the visit Dr. Keith measured my belly and I was on the big side, measuring at 37 weeks. With the onset of hypertension and my contractions, Dr. Keith began to get worried that this baby may come a bit earlier than we have anticipated! She immediately scheduled me for an ultrasound so that she could get a better estimate of just how big baby H is and to make sure he isn't getting too big for me to be able to push out should he come sooner than later.

I had my ultrasound at around noon today and baby measured around 36/37 weeks and they estimate his weight to be about 6 pounds! Dr. Keith said he is in the 70% percentile but still not too big to be a concern to me just yet. Whew!! Unfortunately, he is so big and his head is so low that we were unable to get a good picture of him, but I did see his big round belly and little beating heart.

After my ultrasound I had a sit down with my doctor and she explained that not only does it look like baby H will be will bere before my due date, but she hopes that he will be here as soon as possible seeing as how I'm starting to have some complications. She said that should I go into labor anytime after today, they would not try to stop me and let things progress as normal. Right now I've got the OK for a vaginal delivery, but I've got visits scheduled twice a week from here on out to keep a close eye on the little guy and myself. Should he get too big or my condition worsen, we may talk about an early induction or a possible c-section.

Finally, Dr. Keith said that with the onset of the hypertension, she is ordering me to be on modified bedrest from here on out. No shopping, exercise, heavy lifting, laundry, cleaning or moving about too much. She said that I've got the OK to do a little more on the weekends, but only under supervision and just a little bit at a time. Luckily it's only modified bed rest so I don't have to be confined to my bed all day long, I can still move around as necessary but it will be limited.

Well, this was certainly a lot to take in and learn in one visit, but while I'm feeling a bit nervous and anxious with all the new information, I'm starting to get pretty excited that baby H may be here before we know it!!! I think Ryan is a little freaked out however, and I don't blame him. He went from thinking we had a solid month or so before baby arrived to being told that things could happen at anytime and would likely be sooner than later. Luckily, I think my motherly instincts kicked in a little and last week I went ahead and washed all of baby's newborn clothes, blankets, towels, washcloths, sheets and other necessities and set up his corner in our bedroom with the pack 'n play and changing table that Grandma & Grandpa Banks bought him. He's even got a stockpile of diapers and wipes ready and waiting. Now we just need to unpack the carseat that Grandma & Grandpa Banks also gave us and get it installed and ready for the trip home from the hospital!!!