Bed Rest Chronicles Day 1

So when discharged yesterday, I read the instructions for "modified bed rest". Things I CAN do:

- Light House work (is there any way I can take this off the list? lol)
- shower, bathroom, daily grooming/dressing activities. Yay for being clean and dressed;-)
- Short errands (i.e. short trips to the grocery) So I figure I can put trips to the studio in this for minor errands.
- Short walks 2-3 blocks. TWO TO THREE BLOCKS. LOL Now, is this a NYC block? a country block? If it was my block, I might as well not leave the house, it isn't worth it.
- Easy outings like out to dinner or a movie that takes little to know effort.

OK. So my biggest challenge is going to be seeing how much I can do without my blood pressure raising. I am hanging around the 130/80-140/90 resting. I want to keep it as close to that as possible.

So I woke up this morning feeling like this is my first official day as a "stay at home wife". But the problem with stay at home wife/mom is that I would want to be the BEST one I could be.: food made, house clean, etc. At this point it would take 3 days straight of cleaning to make my house the standard I would expect from myself if I was a SAHM/W so I know it may take all 3 weeks to get to the standard if I do "light house work" every day.

 Ava went to school, Dave woke her up, got her dressed and took her in. While getting her ready, I noticed there were 2 baskets of her laundry that needed put away. And about 3 baskets of laundry of ours that needed to be done. Laundry I would consider "light housework" (minus the carrying of heavy baskets). So Dave took the baskets downstairs so I could work on laundry.

Morale: High
Pippa: Active
Naps: 1
TV watched: probably around 3 hrs

645 AM: BP 137/78
- Put Ava's laundry away.
-Go downstairs have breakfast
-Watch a little news.
-Start getting antsy
-Put first load in laundry

1030AM:
-switch laundry, fold first load
-put dinner in the crockpot
-clean a little of the kitchen

BP: 148/89 OK I get it, I did a little too much "Light housework"

Sit down for 15 mins and retake:  138/78 great!! back down!

Rest, watch TV, fold more laundry.....come on, admit you are jealous;-)

3pm:
Time to test "short errand trip"
Went to studio to meet client to drop off products.
Headed to Ava's school for parent teacher conference.
Office max for electric converter for a nightlight I bought for Ava that has a European plug.

5:30 BP: 146/89 OK.....so maybe they truly meant ONE short errand. But retested and it came back down:-)

6:45: Dinner with family, hang out on porch while Dave mows and Ava plays with Dinos. Now writing blog. BP: 136/80

So what did I learn today?
Spread the house chores out a little more, and ONE short errand at a time. Mom would be mad at me for testing the limits today, but I had to check what would bring up my BP vs what wouldn't, and my doc said as long as it came back DOWN after resting, which in all cases it did, that I could do SOME things. Just no crazy photo shoots, or moving furniture, etc.

I didn't go TOO crazy today, but then again it is only day one, and when you are as busy as me on a regular basis it is nice to have a light day from time to time. We will see how morale is next week.

I do have this great photo to keep me motivated on "taking it easy":



On the list for tomorrow: Boss Dave around for things I wanted done before Pippa got here but won't get to do myself now.
Family Date to dinner and MAYBE a movie if my BP is behaving:-)
Editing on the couch!! :-)

Don't worry, I won't bore you EVERY day with the happenings of the Bed Rest Chronicles....maybe just every other day;-)

Pre-Eclampsia and "Modified Bed Rest"

Ok, So we have a plan, and HOPEFULLY this plan will keep little missy in for another 3 weeks 6 days. BUT there has been some talk of as early as 34 week delivery.

According to my 24 hour urine collection, I do indeed have pre-eclampsia. Mild, but there. My BPs have been "behaving" around 140s/80s with rest. But they have definitely creeped up over the course of the 3rd trimester. Pippa is passing her non stress tests, and we are getting a growth scan to make sure these BPs are not effecting her growth, and will be getting our second round of steroid shots JUST TO BE SAFE. But she is behaving and seems content.

So what now? They want to send me home. They feel like as long as I rest and relax, I can hopefully keep the BP levels down and keep other symptoms at bay. For now I am ok with this. I have an amazing support system of family, neighbors and friends who will be helping with Ava, and I SHOULD be able to keep my feet up and rest for a little over 3 weeks. I have a REALLY bad issue with sitting still, but at least I will be sitting still in the comfort of my own home. I will have time to get caught up on all client sessions, album designs, and maybe even catch up on some online workshops and such that I have purchased but been unable to watch due to being so busy. Pippa is MAKING mommy slow down and breath for a few weeks. So far I have had some AMAZINGLY understanding clients (helps a lot of them are doctors and nurses). I think that was one of my biggest stressors I was dealing with when trying to get my head wrapped around any form of "rest".

As far as treatment and care plan:

2 day a week non stress tests with Dr. P with 1 day  week lab draw to watch my liver enzymes, creatinine,  and platelet levels. If these go up they are indicative of liver problems, and reasons to deliver earlier. As of right now they are all within normal range. My only abnormal levels are my BP and my proteinuria (Protein in my urine) which these two alone are enough for a Pre Eclampsia diagnosis. So no need to retest my urine, BUT I will be doing BPs frequently through the day at home. Any indication of increased readings, symptoms getting worse (swelling, vomiting, right upper quadrant pain, headaches that don't go away with tylenol, vision changes, etc) I am to call the doc or go directly to L&D triage.

Goal is still May 25th delivery, but we are preparing for anything at this point. We obviously don't want any NICU stay, and especially don't want an extended NICU stay, but the girls over there are already calling dibs on who gets to admit and take care of Phillippa, so I know regardless she will be well taken care of if she does get a short stint with them.

I have gotten asked NUMEROUS times in the past 24 hrs if there is anything anyone can do for me. So....what can you do to help? Well, I HATE asking for help, so even this is hard for me. If I had any requests, it would be food. Foster and I both cook, but I typically do the majority of the meals in our home. SOOOO it is going to be really hard for me to NOT want to cook for my family every day especially since the kitchen is RIGHT THERE. So anything would help, premade meals I can pop in the oven easily, freezer style or crockpot style meals that can be made easy, gift cards for food, etc. I HATE feeling useless, and one of my biggest ways of feeling like a true mom and wife is by feeding my family. So this will be my hardest challenge to the "resting" issue.....because lets face it, no one REALLY likes cleaning;-) lol. If you are interested text, private message, etc and I will give you more details. We have no allergies, and the only food Foster won't eat are mushrooms.

Now, I am also up for company. Because we are going to be TRYING to maintain some normalcy in Ava's life so she will still be going to school so I will be home twiddling my thumbs Mon, Weds, Fri. So company is always welcome:-) I can't promise I will be showered or the house will be clean LOL, but I am still good company.

And of course last but most importantly, PRAYERS. If you are too far to visit, don't consider yourself a chef and afraid you would poison my family, above all else we need prayers! Prayers my BP behaves, prayers my labs remain normal, prayers Pippa behaves, prayers for my sanity as I take this much needed rest, and prayers my hubby and daughter survive this "Jabba the Hut" mommy LOL. Because if I don't shoot myself from boredom, My hubby may kill me out of annoyance;-) (JUST KIDDING, I am having NO thoughts of harming myself and Foster would never hurt me...don't call the police;-)

Problem Child: 31 Weeks and In the Hospital

SO it looks like Miss Phillippa is going to be my problem child. She has been lovingly dubbed "little stinker" by me:-)

Yesterday I was watching my niece and Ava but felt "off". I decided to nap while the girls did, and still didn't feel very good. So before leaving Bug's house for the day, I had her take my BP. I purchased a manual BP cuff because I don't completely trust digital cuffs, and my years of taking BPs I figured I would trust my own ears better than the digital readings. Well, my sister, the NICU nurse got the following readings:

160/90 Left arm
155/95  Left arm 10 mins after "resting" on the couch
150/95 Right arm after resting.

Yeah......not good.

So I called my doc. I just wanted to go to their office and have my BP checked and maybe a urine dip to check things out, but instead she sent me straight to L&D.

First few readings at L&D showed high (140s/90s) but with resting they quickly started going into normal range (120s/70s). Of course they would. All I was doing was laying around. They drew blood, monitored Pippa for 2 hrs, and she behaved this time, gave me a 24 hr urine to go home with and instructions to return today around 5pm to turn in urine, monitor Pippa again, and recheck BPs.

I had originally had a regular prenatal appointment set up for this morning at 8:30 with Dr. P. I was getting Ava ready for school, getting myself ready for my day, and started feeling "off" again. Nauseated, dizzy, head ache. So I sat down and took my BP digitally. It came to 170/95. Then I threw up. Waited a few mins and then took it again but manually this time: 170/100.

GREAT. So off to my appointment I went.

My doctor came in VERY quickly. Checked my BP, rechecked my BP and both times were high. So we started talking.

OBVIOUSLY when in the hospital and doing NOTHING my #s start looking great! But how is that going to work outside of the hospital? How am I to keep my BP in check when just doing normal activity gets it to skyrocket?

Dr. P wanted to send me to the hospital for 24 hr observation again. First starting in triage. If my BP didn't want to come down while being monitored there, then we would be talking delivery sooner than later. If it DID come down, then we would be monitoring me on antepartum floor with frequent checks on Pippa, frequent BP checks and more blood work to find out if this is pregnancy induced hypertension or the dreaded Pre-Eclampsia.

So here I sit. My BPs were not critical like some of the readings we were getting earlier today, but they are still higher than normal. So no delivery today THANK GOD!! But we are monitoring and waiting for labs and my 24 hour urine to be done tonight to determine if A) this is Pre-E or B) if this is pregnancy induced hypertension.

What happens if Pre-E? Most likely admittance till delivery (hopefully still 4 weeks from today instead of sooner) but they will need to keep close eyes on my BP and blood work and if either becomes critical, it will be a quick delivery via c-section.

If Hypertension? HOPEFULLY it is something that can be treated with some BP meds and "taking it easy" for the rest of the pregnancy with the hopes of making it till May 25th.

I am praying for the hypertension, but JUST IN CASE, they have administered my first steroid shot for Miss Pippa's lungs, which would hopefully equal a shorter NICU stay. But I am also praying for it for my own sanity. Although I will do ANYTHING to get this child here safe and sound, and I know some people, like my mom would rather me be admitted till delivery, I would go INSANE. Any of you who know me in real life know I am busy all the time. Have a zillion things going on, and i THRIVE on that. So sitting still for 4 weeks would be killer. BUT I will do ANYTHING for Pippa, just like I would do ANYTHING for Ava:-) But man oh man will I miss home.

So if you are the praying type, I have always been told by my mom that pray specific and you have a better chance at getting those answered:-)

Pray for NO pre-E
Pray for med controlled hypertension
pray for sending home and resting
pray for delivery at 8am on may 25th like planned:-)

I will keep updating as I can.

First AND Second Trip to the Hospital

Well I was all ready to post an entry about the fun trip to Cincinati that Foster and I had for our baby moon, but then 2 times in 4 days I have ended up at the hospital, so I thought it may be a bit more important to update everyone on Phillippa and I.

Thursday evening I was finishing up dinner with the family, when I had the worst tightening, take my breath away, pain in my abdomen. I was nauseated, felt like I was going to pass out, poop, and throw up all at the same time. I looked at Foster and said "I have never had a contraction in my life, but if I had to guess what one felt like, I think that was it. With 2 csections, and only being 28 weeks, I knew it was dangerous for me to be going into labor at this point. I called my doc.

The "contraction lasted about 3-5 mins, and according to my doc sounded more like a braxton hicks since they weren't coming multiple at a time, it was only one, and it was a little abnormal in terms of length. She wanted me to rest and hydrate and see if it helped and if I had more than 4 in an an hour, call her back. Well, we spoke too soon. I started having similar feelings every 8-10 mins, then 6-8 mins, then 3-4 mins apart. Dr. T decided I needed to head in to make sure I wasn't in full blown labor, dilating, or risking my c-section scar.

While waiting for my sister to pick me up to take me into L&D while Foster stayed home with Ava, I was packing a bag and taking a shower JUST IN CASE, and the contractions were coming every 1.5 mins. I was starting to get a bit anxious.

LUCKILY, they were able to make them stop after a few hours. After testing everything they could to make sure I wasn't in active labor, they administered a bolus of fluid, and some magic pill by 5am I was released with the instructions to take it easy, keep hydrated, and i may experience more contractions, but at least I know what they feel like, and know when they get fast and furious to call or go in.

Fast forward to yesterday. I was at the office editing, and left to head to a routine doc appt. Well, if there is anything we have learned from my pregnancies, is they are NEVER "routine". OF COURSE this time I didn't pack a bag, I didn't even lock up the studio before I left because I was headed back after the appointment.....or so I thought.

When they took my BP it was a bit elevated. They wanted to send me over to L&D to monitor my BP and test for Pre-eclampsia. If you remember I mentioned that with Ava my protein count in my urine was only 3 points short of being positive for Pre-E at 34 weeks. I never had to address it, because we ended up delivering before any issues came up. So to be on the safe side they sent me into the hospital. I figured, no big deal, they will hook me up, monitor for an hour, and send me home by dinner time.

Best way to make God laugh? Make plans;-)

I had about 15 mins left before the labs came back to let me know how things were when the doc walked in with an u/s machine. MOST people would be ecstatic to see their baby. Well I knew it was not a good sign. LOL. Sure enough, little stinker had a decent drop in her heart rate while I was having a bit of a contraction. (These are known as decelerations, aka decels). It automatically got me 2 more hours of monitoring. They did the u/s to make sure the amniotic fluid was still up to par, because one reason for decels is low fluid.

Fluid looked great, so I just figured, no problem, she accidentally sat on her cord, and will be fine in the 2 hrs. The first 1.5 hrs she did GREAT!! The last THIRTY MINS of the monitoring she dropped 3 times. Great!! That got me 24 hrs of monitoring in the wonderful ante-partum unit.

I am officially  1hr from busting out of here now. We are finishing up my 24 hr urine to make sure my protein levels are ok and I am not pre-eclamptic, Phillippa behaved over night, and they were able to take me off the monitors aroun 11 this morning which was nice because I got NO SLEEP thanks to the belts and beeps and every time Pippa moved the nurse had to come and find her on the monitor again. LOL.

I was on a clear liquid diet last night "Just in case" they had to take me back for a c-section last night. I was opening my apple juice and looked down at the container:

Yes Stinker!!! May 25th is your scheduled c-section date. That is the day you are best by!! Don't even think about coming early!! 

Here is to praying that this was the most excitement we have between now and May 25th. I am willing to do whatever it take to get her here safe and sound, but after 24 hrs in the hospital, I have NO CLUE how women do bed rest for MONTHS. I am ready to bust out of here. 

Look forward to posting about the baby moon soon:-)