Ups and Downs

Things are going pretty well over here in SB Land. I had my weekly doctor's appointment (went from twice a week to once a week). My blood pressure was 118/62 and there was trace levels of protein in my urine. No swelling, no weird vision. I fully understand that this can take a turn at any time, but I am hoping with two good doctor's appointments under my belt, this is more of an indication that I can make it to 37 weeks. Dr. B even suggested that I can take my appointments to twice a month now. I declined simply because of the fact that I am a spaz.

Speaking of being a spaz......

I had my second growth ultrasound two Saturdays ago. Since the diagnosis, they want to make sure the baby is still growing and getting everything he needs. So I go about once every 4 weeks to go and get him checked out now. Dude, our baby is getting what he needs and plenty more of it where that came from. HE IS BIG! In the 81st percentile for his growth and at 31 weeks he was weighing in at about 4.5 lbs. No surprise really. Mr. SB was an 8 pounder and I was a 9 pounder so to think our baby was going to small was pretty much a figment of our imaginations.

Well, during this appointment, I noticed the tech taking extra pictures of the baby's head (which by the way is measuring 4 weeks ahead!!!!) and measuring it. This let me into hysterics because I was convinced she was doing all of these measurements because the baby is brain damaged. Rational and logic aside (umm, her job is to measure - that's pretty much what we went in for), I was prepared to take in the bad news at my doctor's appointment. Needless to say, everything was fine and I will just add that instance to the list of why I will be the craziest mother on earth (If you are a hypochondriac, just wait until you get knocked up - then you have two people to obsess about).

However, pre e has not come without a few bumps in the road. I was in the ER twice in past week.

The first time was for high blood pressure that would not go down. Mr. SB and I went out for lunch and I don't know how to explain it but I just felt...off. We were going to go and finish up some baby shopping after, but I asked him to take me home - I didn't feel well. Once I got home, I took my blood pressure. It was sky effin' high. So I put my feet up, drank some water, and tested again - still high. Repeated this one more time and then called my doctor's office. They told me to come in.

Once in triage, my blood pressure went down to safe levels and all of my blood work came back normal. I was sent home with another 24 hour urine test to do (I'm such a pro at this now). My levels came back slightly elevated from last time, but nothing to be concerned about.

The second trip was because I am a little crazy and thought my water broke. I'm going to go all TMI on you guys here and tell you that holy mother of cats do I have a ton of discharge in my third trimester. Needless to say, my water is still in tact, but that didn't stop them from keeping me in triage for FOUR HOURS because my blood pressure was high (umm no shit - I thought my water broke). But I guess it is best to be monitored, and after a few blood tests and other blood pressure readings, I was sent home again.

Tomorrow I will officially be 33 weeks (which marks 6 weeks since my diagnosis of pre e). One week away from our first goal of 34 weeks and I must admit, it feels pretty good to have made it this far. Let's just hope that my body can endure this for 4 more weeks. Every day I am considering a blessing.

I'm going to leave this post on a positive note and say that I also had my baby shower this month. It was so cute! My cousin did a baby bird theme for me. Here are some pics:

MIA - 9 weeks

I know, I know, I’ve been MIA.  But I have good excuses, really.  Five+ Doctor appointments, end of the quarter at school, and a trip to the ER have meant not a lot of time for blogging.  (And I’ll get there, but yes, everything is fine.)


Since I last posted, we had our ultrasound and were able to find Baby Teacher Bud’s heartbeat.  I was so relieved, and yes, I cried.  That weekend we went down to where our parents live (about an hour away), and told all 3 sets.  The reactions were about how we expected.  Everyone was shocked, but excited.


Since then, life has been a whirlwind.  I’ve had bad “morning” sickness.  Which is really “all day, worst in the evenings, can’t keep anything down” sickness.  I haven’t wanted to spend a whole lot of time on the computer, opting instead for the couch.


The few times I was on my computer, I’ve been actually working.  As I mentioned earlier, our quarter ended at school last week.  This meant a flood of missing work for me to grade, having to post grades and comments to report cards, and making my classroom presentable for parent teacher conferences.


There was some fun in there as well.  I used one of our days without students to announce to the teachers at my school.  I know it’s still early, but our school is so small (about 10 teachers) that we are a really, really close bunch.  Honestly, with most of us meeting this year, it’s been like magic, we just clicked and I consider all of them really good friends, not just coworkers.  Everyone knew about our struggles to conceive, and had been very supportive.  With all the time off I had to take for appointments, I was very lucky to have their support.  Everyone was really excited, and they even bought a “welcome baby” cake, and a stuffed duck that has been keeping me company on the couch.


After parent/teacher conferences, I was at week 8, and that was when the morning sickness became really bad.  We’re talking, lay on the couch, send Mr. Teacher Bud out for popsicles and slimfast because they are all I can keep down, and still throw up 5-6 times a day bad.  I really wanted to avoid drug though.  I can’t even really explain why, but through a week of that (thank goodness for spring break,) I was sure, that if I just rested, and ate my popsicles and slimfast, I could make it through.  I tried B6 after my rheumatologist threatened me with IV fluids, but even that only helped so much.  It got to the point where I was throwing up so much that my stomach and back muscles ached constantly.  Eating just made that pain worse.


Finally, last night, the pain was so bad, that I was afraid to try to eat anything.  At the same time, I stopped being able to keep down my meager, liquid diet.  I broke down and called the on-call doc at my OB’s office, but all they would tell me was to go to the ER.  So that’s where I was until 5am this morning.


They gave me 2 bags of IV fluids, and 2 rounds of IV zofran, but I was so dehydrated that even with that I still felt sick.  They gave me benedryl and raglan which finally gave me enough relief to be able to sleep and keep down fluids.  So now, I am home, and Mr. TB is on his wa back from the pharmacy with a prescription for Zofran.  I’ll call my OB on Monday, but for now, I’ll take the drugs.


I’m at 9 weeks right now, so hopefully it won’t be too long before we can enter the 2nd tri, and put all of this behind us.  Unfortunately, I’m not so sure.  One of the benefits of telling our parents is that I can ask my mom all sorts of questions about her pregnancy.  Unfortunately, it was not all good news – she dealt with morning sickness for the first 5 months!  Oh please let that not be me…


Until next time,

Teacher Bud

EDIT:  I feel like I was whining, which may have also been part of why I hadn't posted.  I am thrilled to be pregnant, m/s an all.  I know how hard it can be to want so much to be pregnant, and to see other people complain about the symptoms you would give anything for, and I never wanted to be that whining person.  My thoughts go out to all of the buds still trying.  I know there's no good thing to say, but there it is.