September 3, 2009

Pre-Eclampsia: Here I Am Again On My Own

After 24 hours of collecting my urine in a gold jug, which requires refrigeration (pee next to the milk is disgusting just so you know), I returned to the lab to drop off the collection and have my blood re-drawn. The lab tech was quick and within ten minutes I was on my way back up to the OB/GYN department for my ultrasound.

I drank the required 24 ounces of water, and when I was called back for my appointment (after another ten minute wait in the lobby) the ultrasound tech asked if I would mind if a student observed my appointment. Not one to deny a learning experience I accepted and maneuvered myself on the exam table. After dropping the waist of my pants as low as possible without flashing the technicians, the gel was on my belly and Lori, the technician was ready to check out the baby’s activity.

Seeing my little one on the screen was wonderful, as always. He was curled up with hands and feet in front of his face, almost like a gigantic lima bean. I could sense that once he makes his way into this world, this baby will require constant soothing in the form of swaddling. Occasionally, he’d punch with his fists, like a tiny boxer, whenever the ultrasound wand was pressing in his territory.

His position was vertex (head down) with his back facing the left wall of my uterus. My placenta is posterior which means it’s attached to the back wall of my womb, and according to the tech’s measurements the baby weighs somewhere between 3 1/4 and 4 1/2 pounds already. I was measuring six days ahead of 32 weeks, but I was told they could be off by as much as 10 ounces either way. My amniotic fluid was sufficient and the baby’s movements where distinct.

At one point, I watch my baby completely shift positions so that he was “sunny side up” and that just blew my mind. Feeling it inside your stomach is one thing, but to see how agile these tiny humans are is fascinating. I winced because it just seems impossible for him to move in such a manner, but it was really cool.

Post ultrasound I waited in the lobby of the department, again, because the technician wanted to go over some things with her student, and she wanted to make sure the doctor didn’t need to see me before I left.

Twenty minutes later, still waiting, I went up to the reception desk to see what was going on, and was told I was dismissed. Thanks for wasting my time, I wanted to say.

Several hours after I got home, my doctor’s nurse called to say that my blood work was okay, but there were elevated levels of protein in my urine, and Dr. P wanted me to continue with the follow-up testing on Monday of the next week. This would require another bio-physical profile and a non-stress test, as well as blood and urine testing.

The nurse said that the pre-eclampsia would need to be monitored more carefully, and that if my protein levels continued to rise, they would induce labor anytime after 36 weeks.

I went into panic mode. The thought of having this baby within a month was scary. I remember the traumatic labor and delivery I had with Dawson. I remember feeling out of control, and in the hands of people that claimed to have my best interests in mind, yet I wasn’t confident about their motives.

While Dawson was born early, he was healthy and I’m grateful for that. But the statistics about the risks associated with labor induction were still on my mind (thanks to this book), and I was terrified.

My husband tried to keep me calm. He was reassuring and doing everything he could to help me. We made some changes to my diet, and I doubled my water intake (I went from 4-6 glasses of water each day to 8-12, and that was very difficult for me).

I had three days to prepare for Monday’s testing. Three long days…