31 weeks:
I'm actually 32.3 weeks along now but I didn't take a 32 week picture. Here at 32 weeks along I'm once again on"modified bedrest". Everything was going pretty well and I felt pretty good, besides the horrendous sciatic pain, until around 28-29 weeks. My blood pressure at my monthly check up at 29 weeks was a little elevated and instead of being seen again in 4 weeks Dr Cueto wanted to see me in 2. He wasn't totally worried but told me to call him if anything felt off. Week went by ok, but the following week I really started to feel crappy. I was getting daily headaches and my BP at work was up to 148/80's-90's everyday, but no protein in my urine yet. I let the Dr know and he told me to just keep my appointment that was coming up the next Monday at 31 weeks. At my appointment at 31.2 weeks my BP was 152/86 and trace protein in my urine so Dr Cueto walks in the room and announces "Who's stopping work today??", he put me on modified bedrest, told me no long walks araound Costco or long shopping trips. He wants me to relax with my feet up for most of the day but if I feel like going for a walk then I should go, so I'm not at risk for going into preterm labor. However, I am at risk for completely developing preeclampsia and being put into preterm labor by Dr Cueto if my BP stays up or I get more protein in my urine. He wants to get baby to 36 or 37 weeks and he thinks me taking it easy should accomplish that, but I'm really hoping to make it 40 weeks. Not only do I not want Jacob born early but we'd also like to avoid being in the hospital over Christmas or New Year's. :) This last week being off work has definitely brought my BP down, I can feel it, I still get slight headaches but they aren't as pounding as they were when I was working. But the newest symptom I've seemed to develop is floaters in my vision, they aren't there all the time and it's not in my central vision so I'm not totally worried but I will be mentioning it to Dr Cueto on Monday. We are really hoping it's not a sign that I have higher protein in my urine and that baby will have to be born early. Needless to say this pregnancy has been quite the roller coaster, but I do feel so good that we made it this far and (god forbid) if Jacob were born today he would probably be just fine. It's a lot different than the risks we were facing with the hemorrhage at 7-14 weeks when he was almost not even given the chance to make it this far. I didn't have any issues with Hannah's pregnancy so it's very weird for us to be dealing with this. It's also strange to develop preeclampsia in your 2nd pregnancy when you didn't have it the first go round but from reading about it, it says it can happen if the placenta didn't attach correctly early in pregnancy (ie: the hemorrhage) which results in the constriction of blood vessels, thus causing a rise in BP, and so on. So here we are now, relaxing and keeping baby inside for as long as possible. Nick has been the BEST husband I could ever have asked for, he absolutely won't let me do anything (which tends to get on my nerves at times) but I know it's for the best for the health of Jacob and right now that's most important! I'll try and update after our next appointment this next Monday, let's hope nothing has progressed!
