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Oh boy, where to start?

Last week I got blood work done and also a 24 hour urine sample because my midwife was concerned about my high, unstable blood pressure and protein in my urine. I wasn't going into panic mode about it, seeing as every so often my blood pressure is just high and I figured that might be normal for me. The weekend came and went. I traveled to Maine on Friday night and had a baby shower the next afternoon. We made a quick trip back home and then made it to church on Sunday. That was definitely tiring, but I tried my best to follow "doctor's orders" and take it easy.

Today I called into the OB office to have someone explain my blood and urine results. After being informed by a nurse that a few things were a little "off", she told me that she would send it along to my midwife, Maribeth, to see what she wanted me to do.

Long story short, I was told I needed to come in as soon as possible to meet with a doctor that I didn't know. A little while later, I was called to come in even sooner than my 3pm appointment so they could monitor the baby for a while. I was beginning to feel pretty overwhelmed at that point, not knowing what exactly the doctor was going to tell me and if the baby was okay.

Needless to say, I went in determined to be calm. They took me in and hooked me up to two belts with monitors - one for contractions, and one for the baby's heartbeat. I was given some juice and a button to press whenever the baby moved. I was hooked up to it for about 20 minutes. It was pretty amazing to hear my baby's heart beating for such a long amount of time. I could have fallen asleep to that. :) By the way, the baby is just as healthy as can be and all seemed normal with her. Such good news!

Then I saw the doctor. She works with Maribeth in case any problems arise in a pregnancy. Midwives typically work with low-risk pregnancies, so I knew that when Maribeth requested for me to meet with this doctor it must have meant business. I was told I have pregnancy-induced hypertension and that I needed to be watched very closely for the weeks leading to the birth of our baby. Now I am supposed to go in two times a week and they will monitor the baby each time. On top of that, they want to do an ultrasound every week to make sure everything is going well inside. I was also told that if I did not get any better within the next few weeks, that by 37 weeks I would most likely be induced.

By the time she was done explaining things, I was just kind of too overwhelmed to have any questions. My mind wasn't cooperating. All I could think of was... I could have this baby in three weeks. THREE weeks. 

She reassured me that I could still have a completely natural pregnancy even with the induction and high blood pressure. I also might be able to push the ultrasounds out to every two weeks. And... she is still going to let me see Maribeth and some other midwives, but they will work very closely with the doctor to keep her informed.

I was told that sometimes it doesn't matter how much we try to prevent these things, they can still happen. And a lot of times in pregnancy, women just develop high blood pressure just because that is what it does to them. And after birth, it normally goes away just like that. It made me feel a little bit better to know that it is probably not something I did to cause it. But I do need to take it more easy and stop overexerting myself.

Now I feel like taking a deep breath. I took the maternity tour tonight as well, so that is good to have out of the way now. Still a few things to wrap up here before this baby comes. It will be smart to get it all out of the way soon just in case things do not go well. I would appreciate prayers with this, as it does make me a little more nervous about this process. But I know my life is in God's hands and He has the perfect plan for bringing this baby into the world.

I will make sure to report after my visit and ultrasound on Friday.