Adventures in Pregnancy, week 36

A lot has gone on in the last week, and I need to get it down to remember, to share with others who are going/have gone down a similar road, and to heal.

My pregnancy had been pretty uneventful, even easy up until about week 36.

Tues. June 11th

I had a prenatal appointment at my house, where I met Susan's (my midwife) assistant. It was pretty routine: weight, urine ph test, check baby's heart rate and position, blood draw to check iron, and gbs swab. All went smoothly until Susan checked my blood pressure. It was a little high, which was cause for concern because it had been a smidge high at the previous appointment on May 31st. She checked it again a little later, and no change.

So I was left with a list of things to try to bring it down--Hydration, Milk Thistle, Sassy Water, Calcium-Magnesium, Salt food to taste, Rest, Epsom Salt Soak for my little bit of swelling, and instructions to stop by Walgreens in the next few days to check my blood pressure.

Wed. June 12th

I stayed well-hydrated, added the Cal-Mag into my daily routine, and tried to keep my feet up as much as possible, in the midst of playing with some sweet kiddos and a baby shower at Evan's work. That night I noticed my right foot and ankle were more swollen than my left, so I sent Susan an update email.

Thurs. June 13th

I went to Walgreens for a bp check, and it was 134/82 p 90...high. I sent that to Susan, and she decided to come by to check my swelling and bp. My swelling wasn't very bad, but when she took my blood pressure, the the top number was quite high and the bottom number was quite low. She said my options were to wait a few days and see if it leveled out, do a 24-hr urine sample, or do a blood draw for a metabolic panel. I chose the blood draw because I knew these symptoms are indicators of pre-eclampsia, and that was starting to worry me.

Susan attempted to draw blood twice from my right arm, once from my left, and once from my left hand, but none of my veins were cooperating even with a lot of water, hot washcloth on my arm, and squeezing the stress ball (she didn't miss the vein, there just wasn't enough blood for a sample). So, we decided to try it again Friday morning, with instructions to hydrate like crazy before I went to her house. Even after being poked 4 or so times, I was feeling fine. I've only ever given blood 3, maybe 4 times before, and the way I see it...a couple of fruitless pokes probably just brings me to the average. It's good to know that giving blood, or attempting to, doesn't make me dizzy or nauseated.