At the hospital part 1

Last Monday I had a routine visit to my midwife at 9:30am. I figured it would be the usual: get weighed, pee in a cup, listen to the baby’s heartbeat, take my blood pressure and head off to work. It didn’t quite go like that…

My blood pressure is usually a little high at the beginning of my visits because I’ve rushed around to get ready in the morning and I’m usually thinking about the workday ahead of me. Wendy (my midwife) suggested that we start taking my BP at the end of my visit (with her instead of the sometimes cranky nurse who does it in the beginning). I thought this was a good idea and it turned out to be really good…my BPs have all been normal when Wendy takes them.

On Monday I figured it was so late in the game and I was feeling good that morning so I didn’t refuse the nurse when she went to take my BP. She didn’t tell me what it was, so I mentioned it was probably high from rushing around that morning and that Wendy likes to take it at the end. She agreed that we would wait for Wendy to take it.

The rest of the visit was fine. Wendy did have to swab me (down there!) to take my Group B Strep culture. It tests for a bacteria that’s common in about 20% of women and results in an antibiotic IV during labor. I never like having stuff like that done, but Wendy is great and it only took a few seconds, so I was ok.

We concluded the visit with Wendy taking my BP and instead of the normal reading she usually gets, she made a funny face and didn’t say anything. I asked if it was high and she told me it was 150/100. I was disappointed, but thought we could just try again and get a lower reading. She didn’t take it again, but instead told me that I’d have to go to the hospital. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200, just head straight to the hospital.

I tried to convince her that I must have been stressed or that the Group B swab got me worked up, but apparently the nurse had gotten the same BP reading when she took it, so I was out of luck. Needless to say, I was caught off guard. I had plans to go to work! I only started training my sub the week before! What was going to happen next?!

I don’t handle unexpected changes well, so a few tears were certainly shed. After calling Andy and updating my boss, I was feeling a bit better. Believe it or not, I was more worried about work than I was about my own health! My boss told me that I was crazy to worry about work and that I just needed to take care of myself…I’m so blessed to work for such a great man.

I swung by the house to get Andy and we made the 3 minute journey to the hospital. We spent a few minutes with a triage nurse on the 5th floor and were then led into a temporary room where they took blood and monitored my BP every 10 minutes. It got as high as 160/103 but then settled back down into the 150’s over 100’s. It didn’t take long for them to tell me I’d be spending the night there so that I could be monitored and they could run a 24 hour urine analysis.

We were moved into a birthing room and that’s where I stayed until Tuesday evening. My visit was not bad. There was a bunch of BP monitoring, a few non-stress tests, a bunch of peeing into a jug and too many crappy hospital meals, but overall it wasn’t horrible. I did have a wonderful nurse named Andrea! She was on the day shift both Monday and Tuesday and I quickly came to love her. She’s on vacation right now, but I really hope she’s back before I give birth and that I somehow give birth during the day shift because I’d love for her to be there!

The end result of the visit was that I have to be on modified bed rest for the remainder of my pregnancy. After a couple days off my feet, I was in much better shape. My follow up appointment on Thursday showed that the baby is doing well. She’s moving, her heartbeat is regular, she’s a good size and has plenty of fluid. So for now, I just stay off my feet and wait for her to make her grand entrance into the world.

Here’s a few pictures from my stay…