Bed Rest

Well, it's official.  My blood pressure was again elevated at my OB appointment yesterday and it has earned me bed rest for the rest of this pregnancy. 

I am 29 and a half weeks.  Up another 5lbs since my last appointment (Boo!  I'm thinking of standing backwards on the scale so I will not be so depressed seeing that number go up every time).  Zoey is looking good though!  She was very active and her heartbeat was up in the 150bpm. 

When I first got back for the cervical length check ultrasound, the u/s (ultrasound) tech took my blood pressure.  It was 140/95.  Not great, not good at all.  My cervix is holding strong at 3.75cm, though it is shorter than it was two weeks ago (was over 4cm).  However, my OB is not concerned about that at this point.  After the u/s, my BP was still up at 138/94.  So, the "lay around more" talk that I got two weeks ago became "lay around ALL the time, until delivery" yesterday. 

She is thinking I'm in the early stages of pre-eclampsia.  While I do not have any protein in my urine at this point (pre-e is diagnosed by high blood pressure and the presence of protein in urine in pregnancy), she is going to be very proactive to try and make sure baby and I stay healthy.  She made me lay on my side at the end of my appointment and then took my blood pressure again before letting me leave.  Thankfully laying on my side got my BP down to 118/78.  That also reaffirmed to my OB that bed rest is what I need to do to keep my BP down.  She also had me stop by the lab to get some blood drawn to get a baseline of what my levels are now.  That way if my BP/health gets worse, they have something to compare everything. 

Then, and this was the scary part, she sent me over to the Birthing Center/Labor & Delivery to get the first of two shots of Celestone.  Celestone is a steroid shot given to me to try and help mature Zoey's lungs faster.  In case she has to be delivered pre-term.  Because the only cure for pre-eclampsia is delivering the baby.  I'm not yet 30 weeks, and a pregnancy is supposed to last 40 weeks!  I am not in danger of having to deliver Zoey yet.  But my OB said she wanted to be more safe than sorry.  As she put it, she would rather look back and say, "I'm glad we went ahead and did those shots," than "Man, I wish we had done the steroid shots when we had the chance."

It was emotionally hard walking past the nursery on the way to the L&D desk.  That is where Zane stayed for a week after his birth.  Walking past it yesterday on the way to get that shot was like a blow to my heart.  Because Zoey may have to spend some time there.  What is even more frightening is that I can't deliver in Kokomo until I hit 34 weeks.  If I have to deliver before 34 weeks, they will send me to Indianapolis.  This is because Kokomo is not equipped to handle a premature baby before 34 weeks due to the respiratory support most likely to be needed.  So obviously I want to keep Zoey cooking as long as possible.  But should she come too early, and I have to deliver in Indianapolis, she would have to stay in the NICU down there for some time.  How much time depends on when she came and how well she does once she's here.  But ANY time is too much.  Because I would be 45 minutes away from my home, from Zane, from Jeremy.  I can't imagine having to spend time away from my son.  :-(



But anyway, at this point I'm just on bedrest.  I can stress and worry about all the what-ifs all day long.  It won't change anything.  One thing I am thankful for is that I already work from home.  So we are not losing my paycheck or anything by my being on bedrest.  I was already on a modified bedrest anyway!