Pre-Eclampsia

While at my "regular" ultrasound yesterday we were all shocked to see that my blood pressure was through the roof (as if we didn't have enough to worry about with Baby Girl's heart problems). The doc kept checking on it and after slowly dropping over a few hours it was still much higher than he liked, so he sent me up to Labor and Deliver for testing and more monitoring.

While in L&D my blood pressure did come back down within acceptable levels, though it was still pretty high for me. That, coupled with my recent symptoms (lightheaded, headaches, nausea, minor swelling, occasional contractions) and the tests that came back with elevated protein levels, led the doctors to believe I am developing Pre-Eclampsia. Again. Since I had it with Conner (HERE is that story, if you haven't read it yet) they weren't extremely surprised, but because we want Baby Girl's heart to grow as big and strong as possible before she's born they are taking this early stage seriously, before any major symptoms set in and they are forced to deliver early.

Unfortunately Pre-E isn't something that might get better over time. We are just hoping it will progress very slowly like it did with Conner, since the only "cure" is to deliver.

So now I'm on "modified bedrest." I will talk to the doc on Monday about what exactly that means, but from what the nurses explained it basically means do as little as possible. I'm allowed to occasionally be up and doing light things, like making quick meals, but I should be off my feet as much as possible and doing all I can to keep my blood pressure down.

My goal is to make it to 39 weeks (though 37 may be more realistic). I am at 35 weeks now so we are almost there!