I'm going to take you on a little trip back in time - think Sheldon's time machine a'la Big Bang style.
Thursday: I was feeling "wonky" for a lack of a better description all day. I was having headaches on and off all day and I had spots in my eyes a few times. By the end of the day my feet, fingers and legs were so swollen that I was back to not being able to walk without being in a bit of pain. My stomach was crazy! I was hungry (hello, I'm pregnant!) but couldn't eat - when I did I was sick within the hour. I "toughed it out' b/c I really wanted to make it to my next appointment (next Tuesday) without calling the doctor. When I went to bed that night I started to have this strange pain that I can't even explain - however, figured out quickly it was contractions. The doctor had said to call them immediately if I had 6 or more in an hour. I had 5 so I didn't call, I went to sleep.
Friday: I woke up and felt quite a bit better but the swelling was still there (it usually goes away when I sleep) and I had two more contractions. I decided to call the doctor when they opened to see what I could do to help this not progress to the same level it was on Thursday. After hearing my story the nurse decided not to do a phone consult, but instead, to have me come in and speak directly with my doctor. That's never a good sing with this office - usually they just say "lay down and take it easy" or "drink some water" and kind of brush it off (I'm assuming b/c it's never a big deal when I call) so to get into an appointment in less than 30 minutes from my call was slightly alarming. I tried to keep cool though.
The results: After various test, poking, an ultrasound and a bit more the doctor decided to put me on bed rest until I gave birth for the following reasons: 1) I'm starting to have contractions. 2) I'm showing early signs of pre-eclampsia (check out The Pregnant Chicken's take on pre-e - she can explain it much better than I can!! ) and she wants to try to avoid me showing the big sign of protein in my urine. Apparently when that happens things get bad, fast! So, to avoid that she wants me to take all of the pressure/stress off of my body and just baby myself into keeping the girls in much longer! 3) I'm back to being dehydrated. Majorly dehydrated. I did go to the hospital and get fluids via IV so hopefully that's not an issue, however, I tend to stay hydrated much better when I'm on bed rest.
So there ya go. All of the big exciting news. I was mentally crushed yesterday and spent most of the day crying on and off. I was not prepared to hear that news by any means. I really had thought I'd make it to 35 weeks before being pulled for bed rest. Thankfully, to take a little bit of pressure off of my shoulders, work was absolutely amazing with this news. I'm so blessed to work somewhere that is so family oriented and understands the importance of bed rest in my condition to make sure my girls are okay. I feel/felt like I was really leaving them in a bad place going out so early - but they reassured me multiple times that they'd be okay without me and that nobody would hold this against me. It's hard because I don't like missing work - and now there is a good possibility I won't return until January!! WTH!? That's half of the school year for a teacher!! Oh my.
Anyway, as you can see I'm still processing. Why am I sharing all of this thought process? B/c anywhere you look online about bed rest - all you see are the details and/or how people are staying occupied and what the outcome of bed rest was. You don't see the mental process - which to me at least - is really important. It's a lot to process, I'm still in shock, but I'd like to think it's normal.
So here's to the next 7 weeks - may the girls do their job and stay in and get healthy and strong while I do my new "job" of laying around the house. Our next big goal is to make it 2 more weeks - to 32 weeks - where I can deliver the girls safely in town (otherwise I'd be flown to SLC) if need be. I'll take all the good thoughts, prayers, positive energy you have to spare that I make it much longer than 32 weeks...and that I don't go mental in the meantime!! ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment