Tag Archives: Pre-Eclampsia

Third baby, third hospital

This is a blog post I’ve been meaning to write for a good month now. I feel like I can write from a more solid point-of-view now that Elliott is officially a month old this week, and will be five weeks old on Monday. He just had his month-old visit, and the pediatrician said he’s doing great — Elliott is on the cusp of 6 pounds, gaining at a rate of more than an ounce a day. Plus, he’s already turning his head and raising it, so he’s got that neck strength going on. As for sleeping, he’s doing better than I would have predicted — he goes down without too much protest at about 11 p.m. or midnight, and I generally have to wake up to feed him at 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. Speaking as a third-time mom, that’s pretty damn good four weeks in, y’all.

elliott sleeping

What I am writing about specifically is how my birthing and hospital experience went this third go-round. And it’s definitely a mixed review.

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34 weeks and getting close to the end

I had another ultrasound this morning, and it was a good news/bad news kind of appointment.

First, let me preface the news with some truth. Being at home, I’ve probably been doing more than I should — for example, I vacuumed the rug yesterday, and the other night I helped finish cleaning up the kitchen (in spite of the excruciating back pain signaling to me that I should sit the hell down), all of which I am definitely am not supposed to do.

Considering all that, the bad news first is that my fluid is low again. First, the perinatologist measured me at 4, then later amended it to 6.5, but either way wanted to re-admit me to the hospital.

Good news? Baby is growing well and is at Chris’ birth weight two weeks earlier. I’m not having stubborn headaches, major swelling or high blood pressure readings and I’m apparently not spilling more urine — which would all be signs that the pre-eclampsia is getting worse.

I know, from researching during my previous hospital stay, the dangers of having low amniotic fluid — the chief being that the baby won’t be able to move as much and could wrap the cord around its neck. However, the baby has been moving well — in fact, I’ve been joking that he’s already rough housing with his brothers, he punches and kicks me so much — so with everything in consideration, I decided to go against the perinatologist’s recommendation and stay home.

It goes against my instincts to not go with an authority figure’s recommendation. But I feel strongly that my mental well being contributes a whole heckuva lot to my physical health, and staying in the hospital as a precaution not only feels like overkill, it will stress me out more because it’s not as comfortable as being at home and I would have to be away from my family — again. I already hate that I can’t do what I normally would do for my family but not being able to be home to greet them, but instead having to wait on them to come out to the hospital, where — let’s be honest — they don’t quite know how to act also stresses me out.

Besides, I have another non-stress test Friday — a test where they
monitor the baby’s heartbeat for at least 20 minutes, check my fluid and my blood pressure — and the perinatologist, upon hearing my intention to not be admitted into the hospital, upped my scheduled NSTs to three times a week. Plus I have another ultrasound on Tuesday. If things continue to appear to deteriorate at that point, then I will acquiesce to the hospital stay.

In the meantime, no one has to worry that I will continue to bed rest badly — I’m typing this out on my iPhone (I’m about two hours in, haha), I’m making sure to drink plenty of water, I’m taking long naps, and staying off my feet as much as possible. I’m doing my best to stay out of the hospital until it comes time to have the baby, and with next week being 35 weeks, if hospitalization has to happen next week, both the baby and I will be more ready.

Perfect score on pre-eclampsia, plus a bonus complication

I haven’t blogged a whole lot on this pregnancy for many good reasons, the main reason being I’ve been trying to take it easy when it comes to stress and I already have a full-time job and two very active boys to care for. But, apparently, I am very consistent so I’m now 3-3 when it comes to getting pre-eclampsia — I began displaying high-blood pressure readings last week, along with some protein in my urine, as I was finishing up my 32nd week of pregnancy. And what was the bonus complication, you ask? Low amniotic fluid, also known as oligohydramnios. The perinatologist who has been watching vigilantly over this baby’s growth immediately admitted me to the hospital as a result.

So, I spent a very boring weekend at the hospital — especially seeing as I no longer have a laptop. Oh, Lord, what did I do, you ask? I ended up spending a lot of time on my phone. I occasionally also found movies or TV shows (hello, “Friends” reruns!) to watch on the hospital’s sad choice of cable channels. I considered trying to blog on my phone — I do have the WordPress app — but I’m not a big fan of typing a whole lot on my phone’s tiny little keyboard.

What I hated most about being admitted to the hospital earlier than expected (other than paying an unexpected hospital stay co-pay) was being away from my boys. I’ve been working on gradually introducing them to the idea that I would have to go away soon and come back with the new baby, but this was of course sooner than we all planned, with no baby coming home.

But now that I’m back home, I’m thinking that everyone has adjusted relatively well.

Apparently, yesterday, as Trinity brought the boys home from daycare, the boys went through a list of things they wanted — they wanted fruit snacks, they wanted to watch TV, they wanted to see mommy. Heheh. So glad I’m actually on their list.

For right now, I’m trying to figure out how to preoccupy myself. Trinity does not actually want me to sit at the computer too long every day — I’m supposed to be either lying down or keeping my feet up, which is not possible with our current computer set up — so I’ve been limiting my computer time to about an hour at a time, just a couple of times a day. The state of our home is also a….cause for concern for me. There’s all manner of clean, unfolded clothes upstairs that Trinity won’t let me fold yet (I’m working on it), plus all the baby clothes that we hadn’t yet gone through and cleaned to prepare for his arrival. Then there’s the rearranging of the house, so we can make room for, at the very least, a bassinet upstairs and a playpen downstairs.

Yeah, all this bed rest stuff totally doesn’t take into consideration the preparations needed for a new baby.

Bed rest, the sequel

As much as I tried to do things differently this pregnancy, I still got the same result — a sudden onset of high blood pressure, protein in my urine, indicating pre-eclampsia, and a bed rest order. Sigh. But there are some differences this time around, especially since I know what to expect.

First off, at my last ultrasound (I’ve had a bunch this pregnancy, partly because of doctor changes, but also to closely monitor the baby’s growth), the doctor calculated that the baby is weighing in at 4 pounds, 4 ounces. That was just last week, 34 weeks. The baby’s a little smaller than usual, but he’s bigger than Michael was at this point, so to me, that’s good news.

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Giving birth gets complicated

First off, let me say right off the top that the pictures that I’m going to post here will not be posted on Facebook. I love all the notes and words of encouragement, but I’m still a little leery of posting these pictures on someone else’s website. Maybe when he’s older, I’ll post more pictures of him on Facebook, but until then — this will be the spot to get Michael news.

With that out of the way, I’m finally on the eve of being discharged from the hospital. I had to spend 4 days here, which were not boring at all — in fact, I think Trinity wishes they had been more boring. It’s been an eventful New Year’s holiday for us.

So, without further adieu, Michael Christian Powells was born at 9:37 p.m. on Jan. 1, 2010, at 3 pounds, 7 ounces and 16 inches long, with his eyes wide open. You may be wondering why he was born so small, but the fact that his eyes were wide open surprised me the most, really. But I will explain everything, if you have the patience to actually read through it all.

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