update

well yesterday i had another OB appointment. from here on out i'll be seeing the OB every week now because of the NST that i have to do every week (and actual appointments every other week...plus the NST). i asked my OB what he thought about inducing me since the cardiologist and my GP both think it would be a good idea to induce me as soon as they can. well my doc said they don't normally induce for "comfort sake". in my mind i didn't think that it would be for comfort sake...i mean my doctors just want me to get my body back to normal ASAP. well he then went on to say that they'll offer to do an amnio at 36 or 37 weeks and then if the baby's lungs are mature they'd go ahead and induce me. if not they'll probably give me a steroid shot to help that along. also if they forgo the amnio and i don't go into labor by 38 weeks they'll induce me at 39 weeks (due to the cholistasis). and obviously if the NST at some point indicates a problem (or if my liver is showing signs of stress) they'll take the baby ASAP regardless of age. so i guess now we just wait and see.

FINALLY!

well it's been over a year and we FINALLY have a working door buzzer!!! this makes me super happy b/c recently there have been several break-ins in the area and we're fairly certain a package that was delivered to us was taken off of our doorstep. and it looks like it got fixed at the perfect time b/c we've received 2 packages since then and i'd hate to think someone would steal items for our little one.

anyway, i have my first weekly OB appointment tomorrow. i'm hoping to convince my OB to induce me as soon as it can be done safely (37 weeks is considered full term) per the advise of my cardiologist and my GP. the sooner we can get my body back to normal the better. i'm curious as to how my iron count is now. i'm still feeling crummy and SUPER tired so i'm guessing it's still low, but what do i know. i've upped the dosage per my GP to two pills a day and i haven't had any GI issues like she thought i would (knock on wood) but i don't notice a change in how i feel either.

well i should know more tomorrow. i'm keeping my fingers crossed that the OB will ok the induction!

well as some of you know i spent tuesday-thursday in or at the hospital...

i’m fine, baby is fine i’m just super glad to be home.

it started on tuesday morning at my OB appointment. i was slightly lightheaded and my vision was a bit blurry and i had my normal increased heart rate. my OB wanted me to go and see my GP that day b/c he was already treating me for the palpitations and he had all of my history. before i left she told me that if i start having pain in my upper right abdomen to go to labor and delivery. i already had some of that pain so she sent me to L&D right from there. they just ran a non-stress test on me to see if everything was ok and it was so after that my OB just wanted me to make an outpatient appointment for an ultrasound on my liver and gal bladder. so i had one scheduled for wednesday.

matt and i came home and i made an urgent appointment with my GP for that day. i didn’t see my regular GP b/c he was out that day, but i saw someone else in the group. he looked over my history and he saw that dr. hrad had already done all the basic testing on me for the high heartrate/palpitations so he wanted to send me in for other testing that hadn’t been done yet. so he sent me to the ER and he called them to let them know why i was coming in.

so we get to the ER and EVERYONE was telling me “are you SURE he didn’t want you to go to labor and delivery?!” by the time the 3^rd person asked me i wanted to scream OF COURSE I’M SURE!! but i didn’t. so when the ER doc saw me he had already talked to my GP so he knew why i was there. i had a chest x-ray (baby protected by the lead vest), some weird test to check for a blood clot in my lungs, and lots of bloodwork. everything came back normal except that i have a UTI and that i’m anemic. so i spent 5 hours in the ER and i think i’m going home when the ER doc comes in and tells me that my GP wants to admit me for 24 hour observation in the heart hospital! fun.

so by now it’s midnight and i get settled in to bed and matt leaves for the night thinking that i’ll get discharged tomorrow (i was told that i probably wasn’t even going to be kept for the full 24 hours). i had several tests run on wednesday including a repeat echo (this time it didn’t hurt at all!), ekg, the abdominal u/s for my OB, and u/s on my legs to check for blood clots. by mid afternoon i was still expecting to get released that day, however a nurse informed me that they will be keeping me overnight again for more observation.

thursday comes and i’m counting on getting released sometime late morning, especially since there were no more tests to be run. my OB stopped by and said from their standpoint i can be released....my GP stopped by and said i could be released so we were just waiting for the cardiologist to release me. i was informed that he was out making his rounds and should be in soon so if i wanted to call matt b/c i’d probably be released w/in the hour. so matt comes in and we wait...and wait....and wait. i didn’t order lunch b/c i thought i’d be out of there in time to get some lunch out or at home. when 2pm came i was told that for sure he’d be there soon and they gave me some graham crackers and milk to tide me over. and we still had to wait...and then wait some more. by 4pm the nurse came in and said they don’t know where the doctor is, but they guessed that he was in surgery (you’re telling me they can’t find that out??). so by 5pm i was just about to break down and order dinner when the doctor showed up. turns out he was in surgery. his visit lasted only a minute or two and he ended up releasing me too! thank God it was over! there is nothing worse than being in the hospital when you feel just fine. so i took a shower and we were out of there by 5.30pm.

the only test i don’t know about yet is the preeclampsia test. they collected my urine for 24 hours to check for protein which could indicate that i have the condition, but my OB is pretty sure that that will come out just fine.

so basically everything turned out just fine, and even though i was miserable in the hospital, i’m glad that i have doctors who are proactive and truly wanted to find out what was going on with me. so now i have to follow up soon w/ my OB and GP. i think i may talk to my OB about induction for sometime after 37 weeks (37 weeks is considered full term) b/c for everything that has been going on, the sooner the baby is delivered the better. so we’ll see what my OB has to say about that!

HOT HOT HOT!

well i thought that i had escaped it. you always hear about pregnant women complaining that they are hot even when it's beautiful outside. of course i've been hot, but it's only been on days when it really was freaking hot outside and never on days like today and yesterday when it's 80*F out and the night time low is the low 60s. yet last night i slept without a sheet...and today i'm so hot i feel sick. i honestly thought that i'd lucked out.

guess i thought wrong. oh well.

really starting to freak out...

so there is less than 80 days until my EDD and we still have next to nothing done. i'm especially freaked out b/c there is a good chance i won't make it to the 40 week mark so that means even less time to prepare. on top of it all my shower isn't until september 17th (which is at 34 weeks) so other than the clothes shopping we've already done we won't be able to do much shopping until after that is over (something i didn't think about when we put off the shower until september). AND if you take a look at our "nursery" it is far from being done. we're hoping to paint next weekend (well, prime) and then paint when we have another free weekend and then i'll be able to get things in their proper places. it's just so hard when you live in a condo that doesn't have room for all of our crap. *sigh* oh well. i guess it'll get done sooner or later.

at least we have the crib...and we know how to put it together.

well my OB called me today...

apparently i DO have cholestasis of pregnancy.

Cholestasis of pregnancy is a condition in which the normal flow of bile in the gallbladder is affected by the high amounts of pregnancy hormones. Pregnancy hormones affect gallbladder function, resulting in slowing or stopping of the flow of bile. The gallbladder holds bile that is produced in the liver, which is necessary in the breakdown of fats in digestion. When the bile flow is stopped or slowed down, this causes a build up of bile acids in the liver which can spill into the bloodstream.

my only symptom has been an all over itchy feeling that started maybe 5 weeks ago. i've had several other tests run and they all came back negative so my OB wanted me to have a test run for this and it came back +.

so basically i have to go on medication that will help my body eliminate the bile and starting at 32 weeks i'll have to go in weekly for non stress tests, and depending on how those go they may induce me early (b/c in rare cases this condition can cause problems for the baby) and they certainly won't let me go past my due date.

i know everything will be ok but i'm a little freaked out.

DOH!

i just realized i had my blog set to only blogger members could comment. it's changed now so maybe now i'll get a comment or two!!

WOW!

i thought it was time for a new belly shot and man i didn't realize how big i've gotten! take a look!