Back story--after 3 years of mostly blissful marriage, we finally decided to get serious about trying for a baby. We tried shortly after our wedding but that didn't work out, probably for the best. We've decided to try again on several occasions over the years (usually after a healthy night of boozing when our thoughts weren't so clear) but we managed to put it off for so many reasons--money, impending deployments, new jobs, our other kids already wipe their own asses so why should we ruin a good thing, etc. When he came home in July telling me that a deployment was getting postponed, I immediately jumped on the opportunity--let's have a baby! Before we could talk ourselves out of it, I was pregnant. We had no idea that it would happen so fast. We were told it would take a year, but it took less than 2 weeks. John had talked about all the schools he had planned for this winter, and I immediately panicked. I didn't want to be alone during my 3rd trimester. He rescheduled most but just had one simple two-week school in Virginia this January.
In my first pregnancy I gained 80 pounds. Seriously. Most of it was water so I thought nothing of it in the past few weeks as I started swelling out of control. Tests came up normal at my checkups and my bp was staying low so I was just looking forward to being big and bloated for a few months, and even bought the cutest maternity swimsuit (that I just realized I'm not going to be able to wear now...balls!) since swimming helps with swelling. Frustrating, but doable. The day I dropped John at the airport for school, my face was so puffy I couldn't recognize myself. By the next morning, I had chest pains and a heart rate in the 40s. I'm no athlete, my heart rate should be closer to 80. I was terrified (which is funny cause I have a panic disorder, and even this did not raise my heart rate) and ended up at the hospital at my Dr.'s request. I had a high BP of 140/90+ , when I'm more of a 110/60 kind of girl, but they couldn't find anything wrong. Blood and urine were fine, baby was fine, my heart and lungs sounded fine. They thought I might be having some anxiety or was developing an infection in my chest--they gave me a shot of morphine and an anti-anxiety and made me sleep. Since my BP lowered while I slept, they wanted to shrug it off and send me home with bed rest in hopes that I would be better in a few days. I insisted that something was wrong because my swelling was so painful and severe so the doc gave me a 24 hour urine collection kit to pacify me.
When I got home, I considered not taking it. Who wants to collect and store their pee for 24 hours? I didn't want to go through the hassle, and for sure didn't want to drive the specimen back to the hospital, but I did it anyway. A few days later, I was feeling like I was getting better and felt like I would be off bed rest the next day at my follow-up appointment, but alas! The 24 hour sample came back abnormal and bam! I was diagnosed with preeclampsia this morning.
It's not super common, and it's fairly dangerous for me and the baby. The only cure is to deliver him, but he is way too small to deliver right now. Since we caught it so early, there is hope. With strict Dr.'s orders of bed rest we can hopefully keep the symptoms at bay long enough for him to develop enough to survive delivery. As of this coming Friday he has about a 90% chance of survival. They're giving me steroid shots to make his lungs develop quickly, and all of my blood tests show that I have no kidney or liver damage or abnormal platelets counts so far. I'm shooting to make it 10 weeks, which would put him full term at 37 weeks. It's an ambitious goal, and probably not attainable, but I like a challenge!
So what to do during 10 weeks of bed rest? Right now I'm on full bed rest, meaning I'm only allowed to get up to go to the bathroom. On Friday after we have some additional tests run on little JW, I will get further instructions. Either way, it's looking like a form of bed rest either way. To keep my sanity I've developed a list of things to do during to keep me sane for the next 10 weeks (fingers crossed!) of sitting--or rather lying--around the house:
Work -- Hopefully I can work from home at some capacity as this will make me feel most normal and will keep me from freaking out as much about money
Crochet -- I'm finishing up some baby blankets. Awww, they're so soft and cute!
Cross stitch -- Finally finish those personalized xmas stockings I've been working on FOREVER!
Pay bills -- I'm a little more than obsessed with numbers, especially in monetary form. This will help me keep a handle on things and keep me from freaking out about lost wages, at least
Slay my insane Netflix queue -- We all have one, and I bet you're jealous a little bit
Plan meals -- I can't cook them, but I can help come up with ideas on what everyone else can make me :-)
Learn a new computer skill -- I know there's an inner Photoshop whiz somewhere inside me, probably snuggling up next to little John Wayne, maybe?
Catch up with family/friends -- I'm horrible at staying in touch. This is the one I'm least likely to do, but it's the thought that counts, right?
Learn a new language (German) -- You never know when it will come in handy ;-)
Shop for baby stuff online -- Amazon Prime is one of my dearest friends (the one I'm best at keeping in touch with)
Meditate -- I can will my bp to get lower, just watch me.
Write my novel -- I have a concept, a really great one. I just haven't ever had the time...boy do I feel stupid for wishing for more time!
Start a blog -- I'm not all for starting the traditional "mommy" blog, but when I LITERALLY have nothing else to do, I'm at a loss for what to do with my thoughts. Plus, I want to keep everyone updated, and again I must stress that I'm terrible at keeping in touch. If you text or call me, don't be offended if I say "Read my Blog". If I have to direct you here more than once, I will mentally punch you in the face since physically doing it my raise my BP, which is not the goal here.
So whew! After a marathon opener, I'm ready to draw it to a close. Future posts will be shorter (we all hope). Please keep me and my baby in your thoughts and prayers, as well as my long-suffering kids and husband. I'm sure this is going to be harder on them than it's going to be on me for they are now officially my slaves--doctor's orders!
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