Uff da.
So. We had a doctors appointment on Monday. Sometimes I feel like saying that should be accompanied by a dark and ominous tune. My doctor is getting worried. I am not. But because I'm a hypochondriac she is making me worried. For the first time in a long time my blood pressure was high while I was in her office. Meaning that normally when they take it I'm somewhere in normal to a little high range. Monday it was in bad range. But even when I do it at home that's how it is, one hour I'll be 118/72 and the next I'll be 148/90. It's irritating that its so random. Anyway. Between that and the protein levels starting to creep up, my doctor has handed down some heavy duty edicts. Last week when I went in I was put on a once a week appointment routine instead of every other week. Most pregnant women, at this point, are still only going to the doctor once a month. So this week started my once a week program, only not so much. Because my doctor has decided that while once a week is going to be fine next week, the week after we need to be coming in twice a week. And every appointment will consist of an NST, and visit, and one of them will also have an ultrasound.
An NST is a Non-Stress Test, where they strap a fetal heart rate monitor around my belly for an hour to listen to the baby's heartbeat so they can see what his heart rate/activity level is like. The weekly ultrasounds will be measuring his physical growth, how long is he, how much does he weigh, how much placenta/blood (yuck) is surrounding him, and stuff like that. The NST's along with the sonograms will tell the doctors how he's growing. The worry with the hypertension/preeclampsia and the Factor V Leiden is that not enough blood would be getting to the uterus, which means Gabe wouldn't be growing as much as he needs to. Fret not. At our last ultrasound and all the ones before that he was a beast. Well not a beast, thankfully, but he was literally right on target for what he should be. So that's good. Nothing has elevated so high that they think that's changed, they just need to be careful and watchful and make sure that hasn't or doesn't change. With this new schedule, if anything changes or seems to not be what it should be then they can act fast. Which is a really good thing. My doctor even joked in the office "A little bit of doctor voodoo for you, we're going to do all this to monitor you and you're going to be perfectly fine and think it was all unnecessary, but if we don't do it something will go wrong." Ain't it always the way?
The doc did say that if things don't look up to what she wants them to be then we're looking at an even earlier delivery (at this point she'd already said she'd probably try to induce at 38 weeks). Which means the baby could be here as soon as a month. Which, you know, is intense. The good news there again is that even at that stage he will be big and strong enough to be safe to be born early. So it's all okay, everyone, don't fret.
The only sort of downside is that after this past appointment we walked out of the office just shy of her putting me on bed rest. She asked a LOT more questions about my job and what I have to do during the day, how many times I get up and have to walk around and how stressful I would consider my job. She told me no extra stuff during the week, just work and home, and she said I could continue to go to church as long as I'm sitting the WHOLE time (this was said with Stern Voice, and Serious Eyes).
I'm so thankful for what incredible insurance we have. Most people's insurance doesn't allow for more than 2 or 3 ultrasounds in the whole pregnancy, I've already had more than that and will continue to rack up a higher number. The one downside on that is that I do have a copay for my ultrasounds. It's nowhere near what an ultrasound would cost out of pocket, no insurance (in fact, from here on out if I carry to term I will pay for approximately one uninsured ultrasound with my copays, and I'm actually receiving 10), but the weekly copay will still mean a budget cut, especially if I have to go on bed rest. And again, this is barely a downside considering that this is also the insurance that is covering my almost $1000/month medication, so I really can't be too upset by it. A while ago I had spoken to a photographer friend of mine, a woman Aaron and I went to college with and her husband. They're incredible, for sure check them out on facebook, Seven Stars Photography. Anyway, she was offering us a really incredible deal on a three session package that would include pregnancy photos, new born photos, and three month photos. As exciting as this prospect was, it just doesn't seem like it would be wise to try and spend the money now with the weekly ultrasounds on the books. Which is disappointing, sure, but what can you do. Baby's health comes first. But good thing the baby isn't a girl, because let's get serious, any daughter of mine would be furious not have her picture taken as many times as humanly possible. Haha.
So that's the news for now. This weekend is a baby shower. Woohoo!! I'm really excited. Is it bad that part of me is most excited for the food? Hehehe.
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