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. 

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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.)