Happy Halloween

If you have followed our McBaby updates up to this point... you will remember the last few appointments my blood pressure had started to rise. They still only found a trace to nothing on my protein levels, so they weren't too concerned.... but they were definitely keeping a close eye on everything.

The night of October 30th, Gabe & I were just relaxing on the couch when I started feeling funny. My heart started racing out of the blue... like I had downed 3 Red Bulls (which I have missed so much while being pregnant). Also, I felt super cold, and even had goose bumps (first time I've felt 'cold' since being prego). My stomach was doing flips, and I also had a stabbing pain in my left shoulder. It all happened, all at once, and I was scared. We tested my resting heart beat, which was about 100. I decided to call my Dr, and leave a message for a nurse to call me. It was all just too weird. About half an hour later, I hadn't heard back from the nurse, but I had started feeling better. My heart rate had dropped to around 90 bpm, and I had warmed back up again, and the nausea had died down. I was still fighting the pain in my shoulder, but since everything else had gotten better... we decided to head to bed.

I was able to get a few hours of sleep, but around 3 AM on October 31st, the pain in my arm was unbearable. I was almost in tears, and could not find any position I was able to sleep in. Gabe woke up, and I talked with him over and over again about what we should do. I decided to try to call Dr. Jensen's nurse again. Finally, she called back. At this point, I was worried I might be suffering from preeclampsia. Since my blood pressures had been high the last few weeks, and everyone knows how bad my swelling has been... I thought all these added 'symptoms' were a bad sign. The nurse didn't offer too much advice, but did say if I was worried, I should go to the hospital. That way they could check me, and baby to make sure we were both safe. At about 5:30 AM... I gave up, and decided it was best we went to the hospital. I could deal with the pain, and being uncomfortable... Being 'uncomfortable' was nothing new to me at that time, BUT - thinking the baby might be in trouble was enough to swallow my pride, and get everything checked out.

We got checked into Wesley around 6:30 AM. Gabe & I had no idea what a long day it would be. We had both just had a few hours of sleep... and we had hours and hours and hours of waiting ahead of us. Our nurse was very sweet, probably because she was a DHS alumni... and all of us 'Derby Girls' are so nice (ha ha - Gabe!). Her name was Megan, and she really did take good care of us. She kept the cups of ice chips coming to me while I was hooked up to all the monitors watching my stats, along with baby's.

One thing we did find out right away... my blood pressure WAS very high. The highest it's been my whole pregnancy, heck- the highest it's been my whole life! The nurse had me give her a urine sample, and found just a trace of protein in my urine again - no high levels. (BTW: I keep talking about protein levels because if this number was high along with my high blood pressure, they would diagnose me with preeclampsia. Which would mean they would induce, because it's dangerous for baby and I.) While I was in the hospital though, they decided to start a 24 hour collection of my urine (oh - so much fun). This would give them a larger sample to test my protein levels, instead of just a small cup.

After about an hour in the hospital, we saw the our first doctor, Dr. Luking. She was so sweet, and very calming. We told her all the symptoms we were having, and our concerns. She took all the info, and told us that the 'head doctor', Dr. Peregrin would be in to see us in a short while. Short while = 1 Hour. (We figured out hospital 'time' lingos pretty quickly, or I guess you could say... pretty slowly!) Dr. Peregrin came to see us, and told us that my blood pressure was high, but not high enough for it to be threat to baby and I. And, at the moment... they could not find high levels of protein, so they could not diagnose me with preeclampsia. Yes, I had severe swelling which was spreading, but the only factors they could use to diagnose pc was high blood pressure and protein levels.

Dr. Peregrin was getting ready to tell us that we could go home when she saw me grimace, and lift my left arm up with my right hand to move it. Up until this point they had dismissed the pain I was having in my left shoulder - saying it had nothing to do with preeclampsia, and thought I had just done something to it. Dr. P came over and started moving my left arm around, which brought me to tears. Granted... I was 4, but the pain in my arm reminded me of the pain I felt when my arm was broken when I was little. The pain, and the 'deadness' in the arm I felt all too familiar. Dr. Peregrin then got on the phone with Dr. Jensen... and when she came back into the room her mood had changed. Before, she was very dismissive to my symptoms, and concerns... but now she told us that Dr. Jensen was going to order a High Risk Specialist to come see me, and he also ordered another Sonogram to check on baby.

Talk about a swing... we went from thinking we were going home, to specialists coming to see us?? That was about enough to bring this emotional pregnant woman to tears all over again. Thank God that Gabe was there with me. He was definitely my rock throughout the whole experience. He was there to reassure me, and to pray for us, and for baby.

The sono tech came to see us about an hour after Dr. Peregrin had given us the new game plan. They tested the amount of amniotic fluid around McBaby. The levels were low, but not 'low enough' to be worried... especially since it was towards the end of the pregnancy.

Then the waiting game began while we waited on the High Risk Specialist. We had seen his under study, Dr. Chenoweth right after the Sonogram, but she didn't have much to add. Just that the specialist would be here in 30 Minutes. '30 Minutes' = 5 Hours in Hospital Time.

So we waited, and waited. We didn't want to fall asleep because they kept telling us that the new Dr. would be there any minute. Gabe & I both sat there, completely zombie-like. Which was fitting... it was Halloween after all.

Hours later, the specialist finally arrived. He checked all my stats, and checked my arm. He said that he was going to advise Dr. Jensen to keep me in the hospital over night, continue my 24 hour urine collection, and if my protein levels were high from this new sample... he would induce me the following day. We thanked the doctor, and he was on his way again. Now we were trying to wrap our minds around possibly having this baby sooner than we thought. Which, we had considered... since almost two weeks earlier a sono had said our baby was already almost 8 lbs!! But- the reality of it was way different - at least for me.

With the news that we'd probably be staying overnight, I called my parents, and they were kind enough to go to our house, and pick up our hospital bag along with a list of 100 other things that we wanted. So, they grabbed our things, turned on lights in the house, fed the cats, and soon after arrived at the hospital. However, at their arrival, the specialist's under study... Dr. Chenoweth returned. She had said that she talked to Dr. Jensen, and he was sending us home. We were to continue the 24 hour collection, and bring it back in the following morning. We were so relieved. With almost no sleep from the night before... nothing sounded so sweet as our own bed. So, with all of our 'hospital stuff' in tow, we were discharged, and headed towards the parking garage.

We got home around 7:30 PM. Just in time to see that we missed our first 2 trick-or-treaters in our new house. I came inside, and immediately grabbed a bowl of cereal, and put my feet up. Gabe turned on all the lights, and eagerly awaited more kids in costumes. We had about 15 kids all together, turned off the porch light at about 9:00 PM, and were passed out in bed shortly after. It was definitely a memorable 'last Halloween' before kids. :)