37w Appt

And it was with the female Dr. of the practice, the one that actually talks to me about what she's thinking.

She again made it clear that she doesn't think I will make it to my due date. I felt like telling her "Well, you don't know my body. It likes to play tricks with me. It will most likely make me suffer and keep all my symptoms just below the threshold of what you all need to approve putting me out of my misery (i.e. inducing me) until I am 1w5d past due, the date you said you would induce me if Cole hasn't decided to show up yet."

I did like that she acknowledged my other symptoms. Basically the other Dr. I have been seeing regularly only sees the HBP, and the possibility of protein in my urine and/or abnormal blood work. He completely ignores the ridiculous swelling, the horrible headaches and now the spots I see in front of my eyes. But this Dr. (I will call her Dr. P) noted down all the other symptoms and kind of groaned when I told her about them.

Oh, and I didn't mention the trip to L&D yesterday since I was worried about an onset of constant pain in my stomach (ALL over it) since Friday morning. I thought I might be in labor, but no, my body is laughing at me and my pain. I can't walk anywhere, I can't get into a position that has the pain at least subsiding enough where I can ignore it (forget the word "comfortable" from now on), I can't focus. But Cole is just fine, thank God.

The Dr. in L&D said there was 1+ protein in my urine and had me do a 24 hour collection. I should know the results by Wednesday at noon. I will be induced (no clue when) if there is protein present in the collection. I was very surprised (and grateful) to hear Dr. P go "I hate to say it, but I wish something would tip the scales so we can get you induced." I almost wanted to cry knowing she at least understood what was going on with me enough to say that. And I admitted to her I felt the same way.

So as much as I hate to hope for something to happen that's dangerous to both myself and Cole, I trust my Doctors and the timing of catching this thing enough to hope there is in fact protein in the urine collection. I hate playing around with our health when there's so much pointing to something being even a little bit wrong. Please pray we'll be welcoming Cole (and my recovering health) very soon.

Sorry for no updates

Things have been busy. I've been back and forth from the Doctors' for almost a week now. Last Wednesday I went in for a regular visit and was found to have high blood pressure (from here on out, referred to as "HBP). There was no protein in my urine but they sent me to L&D (labor & delivery) for blood work and an NST (non-stress test...and these explanations of abbreviations are getting annoying!). Baby Cole is perfect, blood work is "beautiful", but mommy continued to come in and have HBP. I also developed a hideous headache that one Dr. prescribed a migraine level medicine for and guess what? It only partially touches the pain.

I'm also put on modified bed rest and was told they're trying to get me to 37w...which was scary and, I admit, a bit exciting until my last appointment. Here's an update I had sent to a friend in an email: "I went in to the Dr. again today (headache is so much worse) and BP is back up. I had the Dr. I like the least and he pretty much confused me again...he said that something else would have to go "wrong" (higher BP, protein in urine, abnormal blood work) in order to induce me...but I don't know if that means before 37 weeks or at all. I feel like things change from Dr. to Dr. He also said I have to "deal with" my headache until the baby is born.

He did the Strep B thing and an internal, I'm apparently 1 cm dilated (which could mean nothing) but he said it was "Good for a first time mom" UGH!"

So this is where I am right now. Trying to stay calm for Cole's and my own sake, but ridiculously frustrated that one Dr. made it seem like I would be induced around 37w in order to help with my severe pain but another doesn't think it's a good enough reason to induce me.

I'm going in tomorrow for another BP check...it sucks to say this but I hope I'm either fine or something has happened to convince them to "help" me next week because this limbo is frustrating and painful. I keep praying to go into labor so they don't have to do anything.

In happier news, I had my shower this past Saturday. Sure I was drugged and out of it with pain, but I couldn't have had a better time. My family and friends are the absolute best! You should see what they got Cole, he's one lucky little boy! :-)

It's my 35/35!!!

Wow, I'm actually 35 weeks and 35 days from my DD! I was looking forward to today all last week and I almost forgot...it took my ticker to remind me!

Things are definitely uncomfortable right now, incredibly so. And they feel different. I wonder just how much longer I have.

If there's anything to having a pregnancy similar to your mother's, then Cole will be making an early entrance. This is how it went with all her kids, in order of oldest to youngest:

Kathy: 2 Weeks early (38w)
Willy: 3 Weeks early (37w)
Kenny: 8 Weeks early (32w)
Me: 4 Weeks early (36w)

I guess we'll just wait and see!

Forgot to update on Cole

I went for my 33w appt. last Wednesday and initially had a high bp reading. They had me lie on my side after my appt. and when they took it again, it was back to normal. My doc didn't seem to like the high reading though and I'm now down to weekly visits. I'm not too thrilled with that but oh well, better safe than sorry.

Our Dr. also reviewed the u/s, said Cole was in the 72 percentile and everything is in the right place. I asked him if there was a limit to the size they would allow me to go over term with and he said no. He must've seen the fear on my face because he started explaining how I had a certain percentage chance of having a c-section no matter what and even though he thinks I will deliver vaginally, it might not be in the cards for me anyway. He also said the u/s could be off by 2 lbs. either way. After a friend of mine delivered an 8 lbs. baby girl this past Tuesday (when she was supposed to be 6 lbs.) I decided to stop worrying.

I also learned this week that my dad is calling a Thanksgiving baby. I think I turned white after hearing that haha!

Update to the last two posts

So I told Jeff that I don't think there's any way I'll be surprised for my shower. I didn't peek or anything (I designed an invite w/o the info and dh filled them in and printed them for my mom)...but I'm pretty sure I know the general time and I know the place. My mom isn't good at keeping info to herself (sorry, mom!)

We spoke about having it at her house cause I didn't want a ton of money spent on the location. And after announcing the pregnancy to my Godmother, she insisted she be here for the shower. She's coming up for Thanksgiving... ;-)

So dh responds to me that he'll just have to blind fold me for the same amount of time I'm wearing my lovely shower top. Mom jumped on that real quick going "That's a great idea! We need to trick her!" This month is going to be interesting!

As for my maternity pics, I received the CD from Caitlin and wanted to post a few more on here...yeah I can be a bit of an AW, but I LOVE them!

My shower

My mom bought me a top that she wants me to wear for my shower. My surprise shower. So when I asked her how I'm supposed to know when to dress in the top for the shower she said "Well, you can wear it for Thanksgiving. And every day, every weekend afterward. Just in case." That shirt won't make it to the New Year ;-)