Last Wednesday was my regular appointment with Dr. W. Everything went really well. I decided to be brave and ask if she had planned on putting me on bed rest at any time. Dr. W said no, at this point she didn't foresee a reason for that to occur and felt it wasn't something that should be "mandatory" for twin pregnancies. I was rejoicing on the inside when she said that!!! She also said she'd like to deliver the babies between 36 and 38 weeks. This puts our due date from around 4/15 to 4/30, at the latest. Now that February has started, April doesn't seem far at all. We talked about gestational diabetes and she wanted me to have 1 week of glucose readings before determining the dosage of medicine she'd place me on. We decided I'd call her office the next Monday and give my readings, until then I was to watch my diet. It was a good visit and I was excited to share the news with my Casey.
The next morning I went to work and just felt really tired and kinda weird as the day progressed. By 2 pm I was very winded, felt like my face was on fire and noticed some slight swelling in my hands. A couple of colleagues commented on how red my face was, too. As I was packing up at the end of the day, I thought maybe my blood pressure was elevated. Instead of driving all the way to the fire station for Casey to take my BP, I called Dr. W's office to see if I could stop by and have one of the nurses check for me - no big deal. WRONG!!!
When the nurse saw me, she commented that based on my face and hands she wouldn't be surprised if my BP was high. I don't remember what the reading was when I got there, but I know they moved another patient out of an exam room and had me lay on my left side in the dark for 20 minutes to see if it would lower. Twenty minutes later the nurse came back in and to her surprise, it had increased further (160/104). I believe her reaction was "0h my stars". Dr W came in very soon after that and said that she had some serious concerns and wanted to me to go straight to Labor and Delivery at the hospital (which thankfully is just next door). I tried to remain as composed as possible and tell myself this was all just a precaution. I immediately called Casey as I headed to the hospital, he was just as surprised as I was. Casey's mom came to wait with me at the hospital until Casey could get there from work.
I was in triage for approx 5 hours for observation. There was never a concern with the babies and they were having a ball playing in my uterus. In fact they were so loud and active that I had Casey silence the monitor due to the noise of them punching, kicking and rolling. My blood pressure eventually came down, however due to my hands, feet and face swelling they were concerned about pre-eclampsia (toxemia). Dr. W had wanted me to stay overnight for observation and for the 24 hour urine test and I completely understood her concerns. My point of view was the babies were fine, my BP was down and I really wanted to go home and be in my own bed after all the drama. She agreed that I could do my urine test from home, however I'd have to stay on bed rest for at least a week (I must have jinxed myself by asking about bed rest the day before). Poor Casey had to haul my big pee jug back to the hospital the next night - what a trooper!
In the end my urine test was fine, no concerns with pre-eclampsia and I've been on bed rest since last Thursday. The biggest bummer was my birthday was last Friday - I had definitely not planned on spending the day and ENTIRE weekend in bed...not fun. My blood pressure has been under control since leaving the hospital. Due to my glucose readings, Dr. W did go ahead and prescribe medication for my diabetes. Now I feel like a 60 year old between my blood pressure meds and diabetes meds, but they both seem to be working.
Today I was able to begin working from home on the condition that I stayed in the recliner or bed and continue my bed rest. With all the stress of the past few weeks, Casey and I have decided it would be best if I worked from home at least 2 days a week once my week of bed rest is up. I don't really care for working from home, but I realize that the change is worth it to avoid situations like last Thursday.
Next week we'll be going to the nutrition class with the dietitian and then we have our Newborn Care class that evening. The next day is my regular appointment with Dr. W. We're praying there are no more incidents until my regular appointment (or due date, for that matter). Its been a crazy week, and hopefully the worst is past us!!!
Just for Jenn Hale Green: Happy birthday to you, too! Hope you had a wonderful day....31 - can you even believe it?!?!?
3 comments:
Holy Cow! I'm looking at your ticker seeing you only have 69 days (or less) to go. This pregnancy is flying by! I sure wish you would post some belly pics! ;-) I'm glad everything is ok. Keep baking those babies just a little while longer.
Wow - I am glad to hear things are under control now!
Take care and happy be-lated birthday!
Keep up the good gestational work, Rika. Will your twins be my second cousins or my first cousins once removed? I'll have to figure that one out. By the way, a certain cousin of ours called me at 7:15 AM on Saturday. Let's hope that whatever gene in our family that causes that is recessive in your twins. For your sake.
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