I guess today was the first real day of my leave from work. I finally went in on Monday, New Year’s Eve for a few hours to clean up my emails and leave instructions for my coworkers about what I’ve been working on.
It was strange to walk out the door knowing I won’t be back there for months and months. And that things will be so different when I do.
As I mentioned, I also had an appointment with Dr. MFM on Monday and it made me feel better to have more clarity on the current situation and what we are watching and waiting for. My repeat labs showed my protein/creatinine ratio to be around the equivalent of 850 for a 24hr urine. In case you aren’t familiar, a 24 hour urine collection is when you collect every drop of pee for 24 straight hours (actually you discard the first “sample” after you start the clock, but everything after that gets collected) and then they measure the amount of protein you are spilling. They can guestimate an equivalent with a less time consuming test by simply comparing the amount of protein vs creatinine in a single sample. It’s not quite as accurate but it’s a heck of a lot easier than collecting and storing all your pee in a jug for an entire day.
So anyway, my previous numbers based on the ratio earlier in pregnancy have been anywhere from 300-500 which is already higher than what is “normal” for most people because of the permanent damage to my kidneys that has been done by previous flares. Dr. MFM said given that my current numbers aren’t alarming and they would have to see a number in the 2000-3000 range before they got worried. For now I’m repeating the ratio weekly so they can keep an eye and make sure it stays approximately where it’s been.
He also agreed that this probably is not a lupus flare given that my C3 is not low (for me) but that this is probably at this point very mild pre-eclampsia that at the moment is progressing slowly. My blood pressures are still higher than they have been but not quite at the threshold where they could even technically diagnose pre-e. I had one of my best readings ever in his office (where I ALWAYS read high) at 124/82. This is largely in line with my home blood pressures which can be anwyhere from 120/high 70’s to 130/low 80’s.
So far I’ve had zero swelling, no persistent upper-right quadrant pain (which can be a sign of liver damage), no persistent headaches (just mild ones which started after I began taking the bp meds for which headaches are a known side effect), no vision changes and no remarkable weight gain. These are all very positive signs.
For his part, Cheeks is rocking out his NST’s and the only concern through those has been that I have contractions during them. The doctors don’t seem concerned though, I guess because they still aren’t painful? I’m going to ask about whether they will be checking my cervix again anytime soon though just in case.
I asked Dr. MFM what we’re hoping now and he said that we’ll take it two weeks at a time. The next goal is to get to 35 weeks. After that we shoot for 37 weeks – full term! He said once we get past 37 weeks the threshold for inducing me goes way down so it sounds like I shouldn’t expect to get a whole lot further than that. Which, really, is okay with me. When the time comes that it’s safer for Cheeks to be in than out, I want him safely out.
It’s a bit funny really, that story I read a few weeks back about the woman who’s son died because of the 39 week rule? I went to her FB page that she created and on it I found that she had linked to a presentation that she called propaganda in favor of the 39 week rule. Lo and behold, who authored that presentation but Dr. MFM! I was shocked because it was actually the same day he had told me I would probably have to deliver at 36-37 weeks. I really don’t think he meant it to be propaganda for the insurance companies to limit doctors’ autonomy when it comes to delivering early because he has always been quite candid about the fact that I’ll be delivering early. Yes, earlier on in my pregnancy he mentioned 39 weeks, but as soon as I started having even what he considered mild signs of complications he has not mentioned 39 weeks to me again, only 36 and 37.
Anyway, I’ll probably be blogging a lot more now that I can’t do much beyond laze about in bed. I had planned to clean up the bedroom a bit today but was feeling crampy all morning so I decided to do nothing instead =P