Well...I made it! This time in my last pregnancy I was being admitted into the hospital for an extended 5 week stay. I have to say, I was slightly nervous heading into my appointment today. I felt alright, my feet looked pretty skinny, but I was still a tad nervous. Everything checked out great!
Here I am 32 weeks and counting with Cari (11 weeks preggo). I'm not a huge fan of taking pictures while I'm pregnant...so enjoy this belly picture because it might be the last one before D-Day.
Okay...that was the post that I had written and saved last week. Things have drastically changed since then. Well, I did make it to 32 weeks without being put in the hospital, but I didn't make it to 33 weeks. At my 32 week appointment my blood pressure was pretty high, so I told the doctor I'd monitor my blood pressure with the nurse at school. I went in a few times and it was always in the 140/100 range. I called and left a message with my doctor on Friday morning to report my blood pressures, they called back and told me to come in ASAP. Great. Chad and I went in and my blood pressure was still high along with a trace of protein in my urine (one of the symptoms of preeclampsia). They sent me right over to the hospital and warned that based on further test I might not be going home. Well, luckily my blood work came back okay so they sent me home on bed rest. I had another appointment on Monday, a sonogram on Tuesday and another appointment on Wednesday. My doctor was out of town so the Wednesday appointment was the first time I was going to be able to hear things from her. Turns out I have mild preeclampsia. My levels are about the same as they were with Brooks at 32 weeks. In case you've forgotten my post back in May 2008 when I explained preeclampsia, here's another definition:
Preeclampsia is a disorder that occurs only during pregnancy and the postpartum period and affects both the mother and the unborn baby. Affecting at least 5-8% of all pregnancies, it is a rapidly progressive condition characterized by high blood pressure and the presence of protein in the urine.
It goes on to give more details, but I'll spare you the rest.
So, here's the plan:
> Bed rest at home unless my levels continue to increase. Depending on how high they go we're talking another hospital stay or delivery.
> Frequent doctors visits and sonograms. We're talking 3-4 times a week I'll be going in for blood and urine tests.
> 1-2 24 hour urine collections a week. That's right - I get to collect my urine in a huge orange juice looking jug to get a more accurate read on my protein levels.
> We'll go as long as we can up until 37 weeks, and then we will go in for a c-section. At that time the risk to me becomes too high and the benefit for Delaney isn't high enough. See, the only "cure" for preeclampsia is giving birth.
So go ahead and put November 9th in your head. That's the date we're shooting for. That's the date I'm asking you to pray for, please. On top of that, we're praying for a healthy delivery and a healthy baby. Brooks was born at 37 weeks and was 4lbs 15oz so I'm expecting Laney to be of similar size but hopefully bigger. I truly believe that the power of prayer helped us get to 37 weeks with Brooks so I expect that God can pull us through this again. I'll keep everyone updated as the doctors appointments continue.
Thanks for your prayers and support.
