Get This Baby Outta Me!

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10/2/22

What an experience. As I write this, I am on day 3 of a hospital stay. Little dude is taking his sweet time getting here. Lincoln and Abbie came at 36 weeks and Elijah at 37. I am 37 weeks tomorrow, October 3rd.

I went in for my routine appointment on Friday. My blood pressure was a little high and I'd been having contractions for weeks at this point. Constant but not consistent. I hadn't slept well in 10 days so I was a sobbing mess when the doctor came in. She checked dilation and I was only at 3cm. She also wanted to monitor the baby's heart. After half an hour she told me to head to L&D to get more rigorous monitoring. I wasn't a fan of the idea, but she insisted.



I was really hoping we'd be leaving with a baby that night. My blood pressure seemed stable enough and the baby checked out, so they sent me home. Thankfully the doctor gave me some meds to help me sleep. They only sort of helped, but at least it was more sleep than I'd had in awhile. So home we went for the night.



Little Elijah was with us that whole day and did so well. Eventually he passed out on us. It was so cute. He even had a really fun diaper for Grandma Suzie while I was hooked up to the monitors.

They recommended I pick up a blood pressure cuff on the way home. I took my BP regularly and they seemed fine. 

By noon on Saturday I was feeling pretty awful. I took my BP and it was high. We called in and they told me to come in ASAP. I was upset because I knew they were just going to send me home after a very long day of monitoring. I knew it would be helpful, but it also felt so pointless to me. I did not want another long, uncomfortable, disappointing day. 




At 4pm they told me they were probably sending me home. So I got dressed and we waited. For hours. The entire day was so frustrating because they couldn't tell me anything. We'd ask and get nothing but non-answers. But even they didn't know. I was having high BP readings and a persistent headache, so they were a bit spooked.

By 8pm they made the final call to keep me. I was miserable. A part of me was relieved to stay but also frustrated because that meant a restless hospital overnight stay. I was a wreck. They had a plan in place, but it still seemed so far away.


There are special protocols when you're 36 weeks and not quite 37, so the induction had to be delayed until midnight Sunday evening and into Monday. This was promising news, but still hard to hear.

They gave me something to help me sleep but it didn't work very well. Hospitals are very loud, they're constantly checking on you, and my blood pressure cuff was going off every hour. It seemed like every time I was about to doze off, something woke me.

My blood pressure overnight seemed okay, but by this morning I had a few high readings. Borderline scary, but nothing crazy. They seemed to calm a bit, but by this afternoon they were suddenly very high. My labs came back that I had elevated levels of protein as well, so that was also an indication of complications.


Playing card games to help pass the time.


I was diagnosed with Gestational Hypertension and borderline Pre-eclampsia. I had a touch of this at the tail end of my pregnancy with Elijah almost 3 years ago, so this isn't a huge surprise. With him, though, it was discovered after I was already in labor. This situation is so much more drawn out and very hard. But all that matters is baby is safe.


Tonight, around midnight, we will hopefully start the induction with Cervidil and/or Pitocin.

So here we are. It's about 7 we're just waiting for the shift change. We're hoping to know more soon and we're hopeful little man will make his appearance very soon tomorrow!

Abbie's birthday is on Monday. A few weeks ago Thomas joked that they would share a birthday. I told him that was way too long and I didn't want them to share a birthday. But here we are! It'll be the best birthday present of all for her. They're all so excited about the baby, but she is especially obsessed with having her very own babydoll to hold and love. What a fun time to be 5!

I've had so many friends reach out to check on me, so this seemed like the easiest way to keep everyone updated. Thank you for all the well wishes and prayers. We definitely feel the love.




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