Good News!

We want to thank everyone who messaged or checked in on us in the last few days to see how we were doing! The Lord has blessed us with many, many caring people in our lives. We are so blessed. 
This afternoon the doctor called with the results from our tests and we have good news! We wanted to share it here as many of you have asked us to let you know when we find out. So here it is. 

Doctor Codd, called us this afternoon to deliver some great news. All of our test results came in earlier today and he was able to take a look at them. He said the blood work came back normal and the 24 hour urine analysis looked good. I was at a level of 262, and they don't consider you to be preeclamptic till you have reached 300. So, for now NO PREECLAMPSIA! 

Wahooo!

This is exciting news for us, as we were a little worried of what it would mean if we did have it this early in the game, with a little more than 8 weeks to go. Dr. Codd did want to make it clear though, that we aren't out of the woods yet. There is still a good chance I might develop preeclampsia later, but for now we can breathe a little easier and we can rest assured that Evie has more time to grow and get stronger. 

He did say that while this is great news, it does mean I have gestational hypertension. But the risks and affects on the baby are far less with this diagnosis, so we will take it! He let us know that essentially our treatment plan for now is to increase our number of appointments. Instead of going in for a checkup every two weeks he would like to see us once a week, possibly twice a week the closer we get to Evie's arrival date. 

At these visits they will continue to closely monitor for preeclampsia as it can turn into that very quickly. They will check to make sure my placenta is getting enough blood, because if the placenta isn't getting enough blood flow, it could mean Evie won't be getting enough oxygen and food and may struggle to gain weight.  

Dr. Codd told us that when we went in for our appointment on Friday the ultrasound they did showed we still had good blood flow to the placenta and Evie was growing well, so that was great news too. He said they will continue to monitor that and also do non-fetal stress tests to see how Evie's heart rate is doing at our remaining appointments as needed. 

He said for now, my job is to be as healthy as possible. Our main goal is to let Evie grow and finish developing her lungs. He emphasized the importance of getting plenty of fluids, ideally 100 ounces of water a day. He also said he wants me to go on scheduled bed rest. 

Essentially this means I am still allowed to go to work everyday, but I need to make sure I am taking it easy while there and keeping my feet elevated when possible. Once I come home from work he'd like me to rest on my left side as much as possible so I can take the weight of the baby off my major blood vessels and bring my blood pressure down a little. 

He added though that we aren't at a point yet where my whole life needs to be turned upside down, but that if someone else can take care of it I should probably let them. … If someone else can do the grocery shopping or the laundry or the cooking and cleaning to let them. He said it is my job to rest as much as possible since I am already putting a large amount of strain and stress on my body by working full time in a high-stress environment. He said we can still go visit friends, attend church and go out to do fun things where I can be sitting, but after doing things like this to make sure I am allowing my body and the baby the rest they need. 

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

If I am being totally honest with myself I'd have to admit that scheduled bed rest terrifies me. (Trust me the idea of it is way better than full bed rest, but even this level of bed rest scares me.) I can already see scheduled bed rest being a challenge for me. 

I have always been a take charge, make a plan, get things done, kinda girl. I don't wait around for someone to give me direction. If I see something that needs to be done, I make sure it gets done.  I work hard now so things are done right and I won't have to redo them later. I thrive off of efficiency and productivity.

I have a difficult time asking for help. If I am being honest, part of it is because I feel like I can get it done quicker if I do it myself, but the other part is struggling with the feeling of burdening others ... I know how busy and stressed everyone is with their own lives and their own responsibilities and I don't want to add to that. 

But I understand how important it is for me to take it easy. I realize this isn't just for me, my decisions will directly affect Evie. And the weight of that will force me to slow down whether I want to or not. I fully understand what can happen if I don't. I realize I might onset things sooner than they would come on otherwise if I don't slow down.

So we will see how this goes. We will see how good I can be. I know it is going to take a change in my perspective, it's going to require me to adjust my end goals and find a new way of working towards them. It is going to take a lot of prayer and help from my Heavenly Father. 

But all in all, we are happy here to have received such great news! We are excited that for now we can continue to work towards making it to at least 38 or 39 weeks and maybe letting  Evie come on her own terms and not having to encourage her to come sooner than maybe she is ready for. 

In the mean time we will continue working on staying safe, healthy and learning how to take it easy!

(And if anyone has suggestions on how to accomplish all three let me know! I'd love the tips and advice.)

Our Trips to the Doctor this Week

Alright, I've debated posting about this at all, but I feel like I should, if for no one else, for myself. Maybe it'll be therapeutic and help me from bottling up stress and anxieties that may come. 

Starting at 19 weeks I began having severe swelling. I called home and was talking to my mom and told her I knew pregnant women had swelling, but I had no idea it was this bad! She asked what I meant, I told her I had swelling in my feet and legs and some days the swelling would even go up above my knees.

My mom was concerned and told me to call the doctor. Sure enough they wanted me to come in. They told me that swelling with my level of severity wasn't supposed to occur till after week 22. The mid-wife I was going to told me we would keep an eye on my Blood Pressure (BP) but for then we were doing okay.

In the last two or three weeks though my BP has been on the higher end of the normal spectrum and my mid-wife had mentioned that this was something we needed to start monitoring a little more closely. So she told me to occasionally check my blood pressure at home. She let me know that anything with a systolic rate over 140 or a diastolic rate over 90 would be considered in the “Danger Zone” and I would need to call in to the office, and if I had anything 150 over 100 that I needed to come in or go to an urgent care immediately. She also said that if I ever had really bad headaches, dizziness or saw spots in my vision to take my BP.  

So we have been watching things. And then last Sunday, I was sitting in bed and got really, really dizzy.  As soon as the dizziness lifted I began having an extremely intense headache that come out of nowhere. So we took my BP and sure enough it was in the "danger zone" at 144/83.

With my mom’s history of high BP I gave her a call and she suggested that I lay on my left side for 15 minutes to see if we could get it to come down naturally. After 15 minutes it had dropped a little so that was a good sign. Throughout the rest of the evening I laid on my left side and it slowly continued to drop until we got it back down to the higher end of normal at around 132/80.

But the next morning when I woke up and checked it again it was slightly elevated. After getting up and ready for work, it had spiked again to the "danger zone" this time being 129/91. So we called in to my doctor to see what they wanted me to do. They had me come in to check Evie's heart rate and see how she was doing. When I got to the doctor my BP was 143/83, again in the "danger zone". But Evie looked good, thank heavens.

So we talked about a few possibilities and scheduled some more tests and a follow-up appointment for Friday. The doctor asked me to monitor my BP from home until our appointment on Friday. My BP was elevated all week with one number or the other in the danger zone. So yesterday we went in and again my BP was 142/81.

The doctor had ordered a growth ultrasound to see how Evie was measuring and she was in the 77% and her heart rate was good, but my amniotic fluid was looking a little low. The ultrasound technician was a little concerned but said we still looked okay.

After that we met with the doctor again. Sam and I both really liked him. He was extremely informative without giving us too much information that would just stress us out. He came in and talked to us about how at this point since my BP has been on the elevated higher side of normal and dipping into the "danger zone" we could be looking at either preeclampsia or gestational hypertension.

He wanted to order a few more tests and sent us over to the hospital to have those run. He told us that because he will be on call at the hospital in Labor and Delivery on Sunday, he would go down and get the results. He told us that he would call us with those results Sunday afternoon.

Preeclampsia is not a new or foreign term to us. My mom had preeclampsia with all 6 of us. In a way that has been a blessing because my mom has known what to look for and when things are a little more serious and needing some attention, since we are totally clueless as to what is and isn’t normal. Ha!

It also means that I know how important it is to have a good doctor who is proactive and on top of watching things to make sure nothing gets too dangerous. And the doctor we have been seeing has been wonderful. He told us he would like to see us weekly or possibly twice a week until Evie's arrival date. He also told us it is highly unlikely at this point that we will carry to full term before they will need to induce us, but for now I can continue going into work and keeping with our normal schedule.

If we are looking at preeclampsia or this becomes preeclampsia they will most likely induce us sometime shorty after week 37. And if it is just gestational hypertension then they will try and wait till we get to week 39 before they induce depending on the levels of amniotic fluid, my BP, and Evie’s heart rate and growth.

But so far we are all safe. We have been blessed to have transferred to a terrific doctor who is on top of our treatment and care. My mom didn't always have good doctors and she learned the hard way what happens if your doctor isn't being proactive, and that it can get super scary and dangerous very, very quickly. Plus I have an amazing employer who is being incredibly flexible and understanding. 

So like I said, we are blessed! God is watching over and protecting us. For now everything is okay, for now we wait for the results and will build a game plan after we hear back from the doctor!

On a happier, more exciting note here are some pictures! 

Because of our growth ultrasound we have a recent picture of our little lady. The technician even told us that our Evie has a few little chub rolls starting to grow. She pointed some of them out to us … so, so, so cute! I love chunky babies! 

 

And here is the most recent baby bump shot. It's from last week but it gives you an idea of where we are at! 

Week 31

Life has been insanely busy the last few weeks. Hence why I haven't gotten around to updating the blog sooner. Sorry to all of you who have been looking for updates! But here you go. Also check out our medical update post going up after this one later tonight!

How far along: 31 weeks

Due date: January 7th, 2015

Maternity clothes: I've had to pick up a few new tops as I continue to grow. My pre-pregnancy tops just weren't cutting it. And I've realized something that I think someone needs to monopolize on … Maternity shoes. I seriously have one pair that I can comfortably wear at this point … and on a really good day I can usually squeeze into a second pair. 

Sleep: This has become a fun challenge. There is no more tossing and turning at night. I wake up in the same position I fell asleep in but I think this is because I can unconsciously roll over anymore. It's quite an effort if I want to switch sides ha. 

Best moment of this week: It has been fun to notice how excited our sweet little girl gets when she realizes that her daddy is nearby. When I get home from work and the minute Sam touches my belly or gets close enough for her to hear she goes crazy. Melts my heart every single time!

Miss anything: Wearing more than one pair of shoes ...

Movement: Things are definitely getting tight in there. It's funny to see her trying to stretch things out at night when we are sitting in bed. 

Food cravings: Homemade bread or rolls. I have always, always been a carb-aholic but that seemed to be put at bay a little with this pregnancy.  But I'd venture to say it's back in full force now… but in a different way. The only stuff I really crave is homemade breads, store bought just doesn't cut it. I don't even have an interest in it. Which I suppose is a good thing right? Okay, so maybe I'm not back up to carb-aholic status … maybe I'm just a homemade-carb-aholic, which is definitely safer as I don't really have the time or energy to be baking any bread right now. Ha!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Last week we went to Red Lobster for our anniversary and lets just say we will not be having seafood in this house for a while. 

Gender: We are so, so, so excited to be welcoming a little girl into this world. Our sweet little Evangeline. 

Pregnancy signs: I've started to experience Braxton Hicks. They aren't painful or anything like that, but it is kind of exciting that we are getting to the point where my body is preparing and practicing for Evie's and my big day!

Belly button in or out: Inny but we are so, so, so close to being an outty.

Wedding ring on or off: Unfortunately this week the ring had to come off.  

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy? But in the last week there were definitely more tears than there has been in a good while. And over silly things mostly… like I was watching this week's episode of Biggest Loser and someone gave their phone call home to someone on another team who didn't get to call home. Or last week when things got stressful at work and someone else from a different department came over and yelled at one of my co-workers and was blaming our team for something. Or tears of frustration at myself for not being able to do something I use to be able to. Lets just say this is not my favorite change ha.