As you know if you've read some of my previous posts, I’ve been stressed and upset a lot over the past 3 weeks,
mostly thanks to nurses. But I got through court, I had a fun Halloween, and
other than the nurse-induced stress, I’ve started to feel pretty good. I
started taking walks when I had to load up on carbs for the 3-hour glucose test, and
I have continued with walking either at lunch or with Aaron after work several times a week. Since
walking doesn’t really have an immediate impact on my blood pressure, I decided to look into yoga. I
picked up a pregnancy yoga book at the library in order to try it out before
investing money and embarrassing myself in classes. I tried some sitting
stretches and breathing exercises from the book this past Friday and Saturday. Aaron
took my blood pressure right after, and I had readings of 118/83 and 113/79! That’s
actually really good for me. On Sunday, Aaron and I stopped at a sporting good
store and picked up two yoga mats. Mine came with a DVD. On Tuesday I had the
day off so in the morning I tried some yoga from the DVD, and finished with some
yoga from the book. I’m looking forward to trying some drop-in yoga classes on
Fridays at lunch and Monday evenings.
On Saturday Aaron and I went to the archery range. There was
another guy at the range who appears to be into serious competition archery. He had set up at the center target, and had
marked off at least three different shooting distances. When we arrived he was
shooting from the farthest distance. There was no way we could shoot from that
far back. So we picked the end target that was separated a little farther from
the rest of the targets by a paved path. Aaron and I both shot 6 arrows each
and went up to fetch our arrows. As we returned, the guy appeared to have stopped
shooting and waited for us to return from the target. I think he was glaring at
us. But what else are we supposed to do? We’re already far enough down range from him that we could be shot
anyway, and he hadn’t finished his set in the time that it took both of us to
set up and finish ours. He was hitting the target every time, and had a tight grouping
in the middle, so I wasn’t too worried about him accidentally shooting us. But
we decided to try to shoot slower, and waited for him to finish before
approaching the targets again. Unfortunately, we’re not very good, and Aaron’s
bow is strong enough to bury the arrow into the wood frame around the target.
We had to spend some extra time at the target trying to get with arrows out,
and eventually I gave up and snapped an arrow off, leaving the tip in the
frame. After a few sets, Aaron switched
from the recurve to compound. Of course he sailed a few arrows over the
target while I was taking pictures. So we had no idea where the arrows had
landed. I think the other guy got the hint at this point, and stopped waiting
for us while we search the field for Aaron’s arrows. While we were shooting, we
got to see two different bucks wander by in the woods beside us. I guess those “No
Hunting” signs made sense after all. Overall, it was a fun afternoon, and we
only lost one arrow and broke one or two others.
After work on Monday, I headed to Alexandria to meet up with
the beading ladies for beading therapy. I made good progress on a necklace I’ve
been working on for over a year, and had a great time chatting with the ladies.
They were really supportive, and one even had her own “bad nurse” story to commiserate
with me.
With walking, yoga, archery, and beading, I was feeling good on
Tuesday. It was my day off and I had a doctor’s appointment in the
afternoon. I already mentioned that I
spent part of the morning doing yoga. The other half I spent finally finishing my
beaded necklace - yay!
I was hoping my blood pressure would stay down for the
doctor’s appointment. I even did a couple minutes of yoga breathing in the
bathroom before getting my blood pressure taken at the doctors. Of course it was
still higher than the doctor would like. I met with the back-up doctor, Doctor
S. and she was great. She listened to all the troubles that I had with the
nurses, and she understood why I was so upset. But I finally said I’d be
willing to take blood pressure medicine so that it would be one less thing for
the nurses to freak out about and cause me more stress. So the doctor
prescribed a low dose of beta blocker. I didn’t care. She also wasn’t concerned
about my low placenta. She said it was low or partially covering, but nothing
to worry about yet because it could move up as my uterus expands. This was completely different than what the
nurse had told me over the phone - partially or completely blocking, and a
serious problem. Doc also said my ultrasound was incomplete because baby
wouldn’t cooperate. So because of the incomplete ultrasound and my low
placenta, I just have to get another ultrasound. No big deal. Doc was even persistent, and for the first time, found baby’s heartbeat with the Doppler. And when I asked not to
have any further contact with Nurse T., Doc told me that Nurse T. was
transferring to a different office. The only bad thing was that Doc told me not
to have sex until we get the results from the ultrasound, just as a precaution.
But this coming weekend is our wedding anniversary. Oops.
So even my doctor’s appointment went pretty well, and I
followed it up with a nice walk around the lake in my neighborhood. I am
nervous about taking the blood pressure medicine, but a lot of pregnant women
say they’ve been on it during pregnancy and while breast feeding. I took my
first dose yesterday morning and was a bit shaky in the morning then tired in
the afternoon. I avoided the nurses at work, and checked my blood pressure
using a self-serve machine. It was 130-something/69! Today I haven’t felt as
bad after taking the medicine, so I am hopeful that it will work out fine.
Looking forward to a long weekend of anniversary cuddles
with Aaron in the Poconos!
More pictures are posted at http://hooppics.shutterfly.com/12368.
I hope the meds work for you. I CAN tell you that you MUST MUST MUST be more careful to pay attention to the other signs and symptoms of Pre-E which is what they are really worried about.
ReplyDeleteYou will no longer have a spike in BP to warn you. This actually makes it MORE dangerous. PLEASE watch for the other signs: (1) Sudden and dramatic swelling of the face and/or legs, (2) extreme tiredness (far beyond anything normal), (3) blurred vision, (4) severe headaches, (5) dizziness, (6) nausea/vomiting, (7) pain in abdomen usually under the ribs on the right side, (8) decreased urine output. You can't watch for the protein in the urine, they will test that at the office when you go.
The severe headaches are usually CAUSED by the increase in BP, so you probably won't experience them.
You won't get all of the symptoms, you may only have one or two. If you get the nausea or vomiting and the abdominal pain on the right side just up under the ribs, call a squad or get thyself IMMEDIATELY to an ED or L&D and then call me. I'll try to fly out. That is HELLP Syndrome. Pre-E is a bit worrisome, but HELLP is *fucking scary*. I'll leave it at that, you already know at least in part what I went through with Adara.
I love you, and if the meds work for you I'm thrilled, but high BP doesn't ensure you will get pre-eclampsia, eclampsia, or HELLP...it is only one symptom and it could be a symptom of stress or any number of other things too. ::hugs::
I'm sure you guys have had sex at least once since you got pregnant and probably fairly recently - had any spotting or bleeding afterward? If so, I agree with doc, relax until the next ultrasound or stick with no penetration with anything that can touch the cervix. I've been in the pelvic rest camp before - eventually you'll be ready to tear your hair out and that's why I tell you these things ;-)
Love you, thinking of you lots.
Thanks Lady. I'm keeping an eye on my health, I promise. And while I won't go into the specific details of my sex life here, I'll just say that I don't have any reasons to worry, but we're being careful anyway.
ReplyDeleteLove you too.