So, what has happened since the false alarm on Monday? A lot.
My co-workers at Westside gave me a shower on Wednesday afternoon. I was once again overwhelmed with everyone's generosity. We got lots of adorable clothes and some wonderful necessities, along with several of those fun little things that are perfect for celebrating babies.
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I worked on Thursday and came home feeling okay, but tired after being on my feet a lot and with a little bit of a headache. I spend a lot of my time going up and down the hall at work on Thursdays, so I expected to be tired. I picked Caleb up from school and ate an early dinner in preparation for going to a meeting at church at 6:00. Rudy got home at about 5:15 and we were catching up on the day's events, when I looked down and realized how swollen my feet and ankles were.
Holy cankles, Batman!!!! I typically have pretty small ankles - I mean, you can at least see them! But - wow - that's some swelling. (You're just going to have to pardon the lack of pedicure. It's January. I keep a pedicure religiously from Easter until October.) I wondered about my blood pressure in relation to the swelling, so I used the BP monitor that I borrowed a couple of weeks ago from Stacy and checked it. Sure enough, it was elevated. I ditched the idea of going to my meeting at church and hit the couch. After about 30 minutes of rest, I took my BP again and it had gone up to 150/90. That worried me. I called our school nurse and asked her for her recommendation. She suggested that I take it about every 20-30 minutes for another hour and see what happened. If it remained elevated or went up, I should call the doctor. I got in the bed and laid on my left side as directed to try to get those numbers down. I took a reading every half hour and was anxious to see that while it did go down a little, it certainly didn't go down enough. I decided to call my doctor's office and waited for a call back from the on-call doctor (not my regular OB). An hour later, I still hadn't heard anything, so I called again. When the doctor finally called back, I gave him the BP readings and he said it wasn't too concerning. He asked if I had a headache, dizziness or blurred vision. I said yes to all 3. At that, he said I needed to go to the hospital for some bloodwork. I wasn't too excited about another false alarm trip to the hospital, but knew it was the best thing to do for Nola and for me.
Rudy called his Aunt Kathy who agreed to come over and stay with Caleb. I took a quick shower and packed my toiletry bag and when Kathy got to the house, we headed for the hospital. We got there about 10:00 and headed up to the labor & delivery floor. I was extremely frustrated when we got there because there was nobody in the hallway for us to check in with and once we did finally find someone, nobody knew what to do with us - despite the fact that the doctor had called and told them we were coming. Our experience with the hospital where Caleb was born was so great. They were so welcoming and comforting and everything was well organized. That hasn't been our experience so far with Mercy. When we got there last night, they finally put me in a room and the nurse left to find out what to do with me. She left the door open and we got to listen to another woman screaming in labor pain across the hall whose door had been left open as well. Her family (including a child) was wandering in and out of her room and staring at me as I sat on the edge of the bed in my room waiting to find out what was going to happen. When the nurse finally came back and closed the door, she hooked me up to a blood pressure monitor, couldn't get the thermometer to work, wouldn't listen to what I was telling her about why I was there and basically had no idea what was going on. She told me to give a urine sample and she left the cup in the bathroom and then left me sitting there attached to the blood pressure machine. I was not a happy camper. To make it even worse, my blood pressure read a lot lower than it had been. I certainly wouldn't have called the doctor or gone to the hospital if it had been that low at home. I was pretty sure the nurses would think I was a complete loon and/or drama queen coming in there with a BP reading like that - especially if I couldn't get anyone to listen to why I was there in the first place.
Finally, another nurse came in and made me feel a lot better. Beth was my nurse angel last night. First of all, she listened to what I had to say. Second, she assured me that I had done the right thing by coming in. She even went so far as to say that they didn't care if I came up there every day until the baby comes - as long as we're doing what will keep the baby safe and healthy. (I'm not taking her up on the offer, but it was reassuring and very kind.) She sent me into the bathroom to change into a gown and then hooked me up to the external monitors and an automatic BP cuff. Rudy sat in the chair next to me and read a magazine while texting updates to my worried mom. After a little bit, Beth came back and put in an IV and drew some blood. It was in my wrist, which was very uncomfortable, but she said it's the kind the doctor had ordered, so she had to do it. She told me to settle in and she'd be back after a bit. Around midnight, a nurse came in and told Rudy and I that the doctor was coming up to see me, but it might be a little while, so we should try to get some sleep. She wasn't able to tell us why the doctor was coming or anything about the bloodwork results. Rudy and I both tried to sleep, but it was much easier said than done. He managed a little rest, but I was attached to a BP monitor that automatically went off every 15 minutes, an external fetal monitor, an external contraction monitor (of which there were none while I was there) and had a painful IV needle in my wrist. Plus - I was laying in a labor & delivery bed, which is not made for sleeping. Oh...and I'm 38 weeks pregnant, which works against any notion of sleeping other than in a normal bed with no other distraction and about 5 pillows to prop up. I dozed a little, but certainly didn't get any rest. Each time I looked at the clock, I got a little more anxious and a little more angry that the doctor hadn't come in yet. To make matters worse, another nurse came on duty sometime during the night and was working in tandem with Beth. Lisa was NOT my nurse angel. The first thing she said to me when she came in was "do you know that they won't even consider inducing you until 39 weeks? It's a Medicaid rule." My response: "Good thing I'm not on Medicaid." Every time the door opened, I held my breath until I saw whether it was Beth or Lisa coming in. Beth would tell me that it didn't matter how I positioned myself, as long as I was comfortable. Lisa would come in an hour later and slather more ultrasound gel all over me (literally - it was even on my leg at one point!) and tell me she needed to adjust my fetal monitor and I needed to lay so that the monitor would pick up Nola's heartbeat. She kept telling me I needed to move this way and that and she wanted me to stay on my right side - even after I told her that laying on the same side for that long was quite painful. Yet another frustration...
At 5:30, Rudy got up and went home. He needed to relieve Kathy and get Caleb ready for school. At 6:00, I called my principal and told her I wouldn't be in for work. At 6:30, THE DOCTOR SHOWED UP. Six and a half hours after they told me he was coming to see me, he sauntered through the door without apology. He told me that my bloodwork was "borderline" but that my blood pressure had gone down and stayed down all night. My reflexes were good and my headache had subsided. So...he sent me home. My instructions were to "take it easy" this weekend, monitor my blood pressure and headache, determine how I was feeling about work on Monday and Tuesday and then go to my scheduled appointment on Tuesday afternoon. I can't even explain how I felt. I was glad to know that things were okay, but so flipping frustrated with the whole situation and honestly, disappointed that we were leaving the hospital yet again without having our baby. After the doctor left, Beth came back in and rehashed my instructions, answered a couple of questions and reassured me that it would all be okay. She told me that the best news was that Nola is healthy. Her heartrate is strong, she is responsive and she is demonstrating the typical sleep/wake patterns that she should be. That definitely made me feel better about the whole situation. After telling me that, she took the monitors off, removed the IV and sent me to get dressed. I called Rudy to let him know that I needed him to come get me when he took Caleb to school then went down to the lobby to wait for him. I called Mom and rehashed the whole thing. When Rudy picked me up, he took Caleb and I to Einstein's to get a chocolate chip bagel and then took Caleb to school. He brought me home and got me settled in the bed, then got dressed and went to work. I slept until 3:15 this afternoon to make up for the night and then spent the evening goofing around on the computer and watching TV. I tried to eat dinner, but felt nauseated, so I came back to bed. My stomach has been upset tonight, but I remember that happening towards the end of my pregnancy with Caleb too, so I'm not concerned about it. My blood pressure has been up a little today, but not enough to worry about and I haven't had a headache, so I'm staying put.
I have to say for the record that I might have the best friends in the world. Through the past week, I've gotten so many texts, phone calls and facebook messages telling me that people are thinking of us, praying for the best for Nola and for me and wanting updates. Of course, people can't help themselves and want to share their stories as well. Several people last night scared me by telling me that my blood pressure might be indicative of all sorts of dangerous conditions. I eventually deleted my facebook status, which I hated to do, because it meant that I couldn't go back and read people's encouraging words, but it wasn't helping me to read the scary words either. Today, I've taken so much comfort in the kind words of other people and, as I posted earlier on facebook, I can actually feel people's prayers - kind of like a cozy blanket making everything feel so much better.
As usual, Rudy has been my saving grace by taking care of Caleb and me and never complaining for a minute. He did say a few minutes ago (as he headed to the couch with his pillow), "Here's to an uneventful night." I know he's tired and looking forward to the end of my pregnancy as much as I am. Of course, we are both looking forward to having Nola in our home and in our lives. We've both said that we know having a newborn in the house won't be easy, but Rudy put it best by saying that it won't "magically be better, but it'll be different and renewed."
Now, go put your guesses in the pool! Entertain me while I'm "taking it easy."
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