And Everything has been Going so Well...

So guess where I spent Friday night? Anybody? I will give you some hints...

They give you breakfast in bed...And they let your husband sleep over...but in a very uncomfortable chair

So once your husband gets into your bed with you, he will decide THAT is where he is sleeping next time! Also, they don't let you wash your hair...They can be cruel at this mystery location.

So...did you guess it? Right. I was IN THE HOSPITAL! I KNOW. The easiest pregnancy ever hit a small bump in the road. It all started Friday while I was working. My feet were AMAZINGLY swollen. Like, they have been getting big, but by noon they were painful to walk on. I was also feeling dizzy every time I stood up, so I figured I needed my blood pressure checked. The thing was, my BP is ALWAYS super low like 110/50, and I didn't want to call the doctor and drive ALL THE WAY (maybe three miles) to the office just to hear, "Looks perfect!" So I came up with a plan to run to the grocery store where they have a machine you can use. I plop down and hit start. 145/85...hmmm...Is that high? I am really not sure. It's high for ME, but it is something to call the doc about?? I decide I need more data (bio girl remember...HUGE nerd) I elevate my feet for five minutes, then take it again. 134/80. Hmmm...five more minutes, 134/81. I head back to work.

I give the doc a call and sound like a complete idiot as I attempt to give the receptionist my data collection information. She seems totally confused. I am worried about my BP, but I already TOOK my BP...three times. And want to tell the nurse the data I collected...and...yeah. She thought I was crazy (it still doesn't seem that crazy to ME, but it blew her mind...). The nurse called me back at four and said those grocery store meters read a little high, but to come on in and get it checked. At this point I am pretty sure we are about to have a "I think I have a UTI, no, it's just a baby" / "baby isn't MOVING...no wait...baby is sleeping" sorta visits. I told Nick he DID NOT need to come. I told my mom she DID NOT need to come. Nick listened. Mom met me in the waiting room. They took me back and my BP was 150/92. I learned that anything over 140 in the top number is a red flag, anything over 80 in the bottom is a red flag. They put me on the monitor and had me lay down for 25 minutes. Baby sounded great but BP was 144/88. So...We were ADMITTED to the hospital.

We get there and they have no beds. My family is all there (half of them work at this hospital so it is easy) and they bring us some dinner. They get get us a room and start the 24 hour urine screening. Basically they want to see if it is just high BP or if it is preeclampsia. We learn that really, the pee is the ONLY reason I am there. I have no IV, no meds, only monitored every eight hours...we are basically having a little weekend get away to the hospital! Actually, they did leave me on the monitor overnight because I was sorta having a lot of contractions. Like at one point every three minutes. Crazy talk if you ask me, but that is what the monitor told them, and they believe it more than they believe me.

Saturday there is more laying around. Nick read me and the baby over 100 pages of the Hobbit, which was great! (Remember...we are HUGE nerds. We do not hide it) We have tons of family come visit, which was awesome! We got flowers and doughnuts, chocolate covered strawberries and double doozy cookies. It was pretty enjoyable in that gotta-be-in-the-hospital sort of way. Nick at some point commented on how funny this must be to the nurses. They see family pouring into the room...tons of gifts. They think, "man, she must be bad off!" they look at the door, and a sign that says "URINE COLLECTION". Serious stuff!

We did get an ultrasound on Saturday! (Fun things happen in the hospital). We didn't get any great pictures, but we got two sorta bad ones I will post this week. The doc totally freaked us (okay just me) out but searching and searching for something...having me flip sides, flip again, flip again...looking looking looking . Finally the nurse asked what he was looking for. He hesitates (my heart beat picks up) and says " I..am...... just ...................... looking ....................... for....................................." Right. That is how he drug it out, then he STOPPED TALKING. A minute later he said, "Oh there it is. I was looking for the right arm." THE RIGHT ARM!! I could have told him the kid had one of those! We found out the baby looks great and that he or she is measuring TWO WEEKS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE. Right. I am measuring at 34 weeks. This baby is going to be HUGE.

All day Saturday my BP was good. It was 110/50 when I was laying down, and 130/75 when I was sitting up on the edge of the bed. There was only trace proteins in my urine, so they decided we could come home last night! We had a wonderful nurse who helped make that happen and we are SO GLAD to have had her! They basically want me to check my BP three times a day, and go see my real doctor on Monday. For now we are basically on "keep an eye on it" mode. Let's hope we stay there!

And that is the very long and detailed story of our 24 hour urine collection. Anyway, happy Easter everyone! I have some Easter pictures which I was going to post today, but looks like they were trumped by the hospital stay. I will get that post up later in the week!