Tales from Bed Rest

So I went to the Obstetrician's office on Thursday for a routine visit. My plan was to go there, come home, go register my car, get my new license at the DMV, go to work, and come home. The only problem was, nothing about that visit was going right. I dropped the cup of urine for the sample, and then found out my blood pressure soared from a normal 120/80 to 140/104 in not even a week. I could hear the doctor talking to the nurses in the hall, and suddenly everything seemed sort of frantic. I know about pre-eclampsia and what it is and can do, but I didn't think they'd make that determination on the face of one bad reading.

The upshot of it is that my doctor told me I wasn't going to work that day (and probably not again for the semester) and that I was to go immediately to the hospital for "evaluation." She gave me some papers in an envelope which read "Evaluate for PIH"...then some names of tests, then "bed rest." That's when I started to get scared, because I know some women who have been on hospital bed rest--and I'm not due for a month! Still, I was hoping they'd do the tests and released me.

When I got there they sent me right up to the birthing center, put me in a gown and in a hospital bed, hooked me up to monitors, took blood, and I didn't even get to call Scott until I'd been there an hour. A nurse told me that my doctor probably hadn't mentioned that I might be there for 24 hours. Fortunately, the fetal stress test, the blood tests, the urine tests, and every other test turned out fine, and I did get to see the baby's face on an ultrasound (very cute, chubby face) and I discovered that our so-called giant baby is actually 3 days udnerweight--5.5 pounds as of Thursday. Which definitely means that he or she needs some more time in there.

So I got to go home at 6:00 that evening, but my doctor is still putting me on bed rest indefinitely. I should not really even be at the computer right now, but my readings have been good so far today, so...

Now this Saturday night/Sunday morning was the worst. I had a headache that started at 5 PM Saturday night and got progressively worse, and I was throwing up by Sunday morning. Since that's a warning sign of pre-eclampsia, and the doctor had said to go to the hospital if this were to happen, Scott brought me in. Luckily (or not) it was just the worst migraine I had ever had and my blood pressure numbers were already much closer to normal. However, I could not stop throwing up until after 2:30 on Sunday afternoon and the pain would not cease..but then it was over by Sunday night. The worst part was that when I asked for something for the migraine, the nurses prescribed what I already had at home--regular strength Tylenol, which I couldn't keep down anyway. Anyone who has ever had a migraine knows what a joke that is!

So now Scott has to do everything--drive me to my appointments, cooking, dog care, shopping, everything--which sounds like quite a picnic for me, but I feel pretty guilty about it. And reclining all day is not too comfortable. However, it is a great motivator to have this baby and to recover quickly from the birth. Just walking around feels like a forbidden treat, and to be able to do that (albeit with losing sleep) is going to be great.

The one who loves my bed rest the most is Bubba. Every day is bed rest for him--he sits right next to me on the couch and is very content.