It was bound to happen I guess.
By it, I man a “bad” visit with Dr. MFM. My blood pressure has been creeping up steadily and over the past couple weeks has been consistently hovering around 130/90 on my home machine. I hope I made it clear to him though that that is the actual reading I was getting on my machine, meaning in reality it’s 130/80ish. But I think he did understand that and was still unhappy with it because the dipstick for my urine was reading 2+ on top of a bad bp reading at his office (140/90 – but it’s always high in his office, then after discussing for awhile it went up to 150/100 eek! I have a bad case of white coat syndrome).
All this has earned me: 1) a date with the giant pee jug of doom, 2) a new blood pressure medication, and 3) possible bedrest starting on Monday if my blood pressure doesn’t come down over the weekend and also pending the results of bloodwork I had done today.
Le sigh.
Dr. MFM also said very definitively, “You won’t make it to your due date.” He did not say it was unlikely or that I probably wouldn’t, he declared that I would not go to my due date. In fact, he said he’d be very happy if we could get through the end of January and that most likely I would deliver in the next 3-4 weeks. I asked if I would be induced, he was noncommittal about that and said I might just go into labor.
Erm. We are definitely not ready to have a baby in 4 weeks. For one thing, my prenatal classes (other than newborn parenting) are all scheduled for after that. Poor planning on my part I know. Paul is now wondering why our baby shower was scheduled for so late and why we are so woefully unprepared given that we both knew there was a good chance of me having to deliver early. I don’t know!! I was so focused on getting through 28 weeks that I forgot to plan beyond that and then the last four weeks just sort of flew by in a blur.
Don’t get me wrong, I will be VERY grateful if we can get to 36 weeks because that means we might be able to avoid NICU time and bring him straight home. I’m so glad he’s already 4lbs because that means he will hopefully be about 6lbs in 4 weeks which seems like a respectable size.
I’m also thankful that it sounds like if conditions inside my womb are no longer safe for Cheeks that my medical team is all over it. I’ve been reading some scary stories about the new 39 week rule and how some care providers have been taking the rule to the extreme which seems to be leading to a rise in stillbirth. Basically it sounds like doctors have much less freedom to induce before 39 weeks now. Just today I read this heartbreaking and scary story.
Being put on bedrest with strict orders to take it easy also wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world given how exhausted I’ve been feeling. I would feel bad though if I’m put on bedrest this week because all my coworkers have planned time off because I offered to take one for the team and be in all week so they could get their vacations in before my leave. But I guess if Dr. MFM thinks it’s necessary then I can’t feel bad about that.
Anyway, now we hope that the bp meds do their work and that my labs come back with good news. The goalpost for this pregnancy has changed from making it to 39 weeks to 37 weeks now. I’m still optimistic that we can do this but it’s nice to know that I really am being watched like a hawk and that swift action will be taken if/when it’s necessary.