And the countdown begins!

I had my 36 week apt this Tuesday (along with the oh so lovely Group B Strep test). The dr was talking inducing! He got out the calendar and started counting backward from my due date and he determined that the big day will either be Friday Oct 5 or Monday Oct 8! Two weeks and counting!!!!!!!!!!!!!! His reasons are -- I'll be 38 weeks by then (totally full term) and he doesn't see any reason I should go beyond 38 weeks given my trouble with high blood pressure and gestational diabetes. I'm freaking out a little!

Then last night we (finally) began our childbirth classes. This should have been done a month ago but the stupid health system cancelled the last set because there was only one other couple registered. Well --- Now I'm only going to make 3 classes TOPS. That's with us going to the class on 10/4 (which could potentially be the day before she arrives!)

I think the whole stress of everything has caught up with me. During class last night (while watching the childbirth video) I started crying and could not stop! I have no idea why. It's not like I haven't seen or heard of this stuff before! Wayne thought I was losing my mind and the instructor thought I might have been having contractions or something! I'm going to be a total nut job in another two weeks, aren't I?

Days off

I haven't decided exactly what I think about these forced days off. I'm only working MWF right now due to the blood pressure issues. Even though the new med seems to have them back under control, they don't want me working too much and getting them up again. So -- Tuesday and Thursday are now days off for me. It's pretty wierd getting used to a schedule like that since I'm used to teaching every day. There's part of me that would rather be at school where I can keep busy but then when I get home from school (like yesterday) I'm exhausted! I guess what's really bugging me is that I'm not allowed to do much. Emily's room and the rest of the house is still a disaster area and there isn't much I can do about that. Wayne's been working like a maniac lately trying to get ahead of the game so he's prepared to be off a few days when the time comes so he can't do much around the house either. I'm trying not to let it bother me but being forced to lay around and do nothing is very frustrating. It was different this summer when I CHOSE to lay around all day and do nothing!

The bp saga continues...

I went in for another apt and NST yesterday. My bp had been running on the high side all day and by the time they hooked me up with the nst, it really started going up. I'm sure I do it to my self with worrying about it. I ended up in L&D until almost 9pm. They ran some bloodwork - no signs of pre-e (good thing). Just high bp's (not such a good thing) They switched my bp med to Labetalol and that really helped to bring things down last night. I haven't checked it yet today. I figure I shouldn't stress about it since I know that stress does terrible things to it.

I'm at home today collecting all my pee for a 24 hr urine test (LOVELY!) and spending all my time on the couch. I'm up on the recliner right now for a while (oh my crazy life!) I have to stay home tomorrow yet and then I'll start working MWF only next week. Hopefully the few days of relaxation plus starting to work part time next week help things out.

I'm going crazy with this forced laying around already though. When I could do it on my own when I wanted to this summer -- it was awesome! Now that they said I HAD to do it --- not so much fun:-( Hopefully I don't go completely crazy by the weekend!

The drama continues.....

I went in for another NST yesterday. Emily (thank GOD) is perfect and is doing exactly what she needs to be doing. From what they can tell, she's perfect and is in great health. Now for the bad news.... I'm the one causing all the isssues:-( My blood pressure was a little better yesterday but they're still higher than they want to see. I have now been told by 2 different midwives that bedrest is most definitely in my future. I'm hoping to make it to 35 weeks before I have to start missing school but we'll see. I'm going to talk to admin. tomorrow about trying to work MWF and stay home on Tues-Thurs. That way I can still get necessary things done and not lose a huge amount of pay. Hopefully that will keep us going for a while. I've also learned that our new goal for having this baby is to make it to 36-37 weeks (possibly 2-3 more weeks!) It all depends on how my blood pressures behave. We've now upped my meds to 3x a day and then next step is to change to a different med (I can't remember which one). Hopefully one of those switches will help things out.

high blood pressure

I thought things were going well. School started. I was tired but things were good. I went in for another non stress test this morning. Emily was doing exactly what she was supposed to be doing - moving around -- maybe a bit too much but things were good there. My blood pressure was 143/93 when I first went in. I figured OK -- it usually goes down. Not this time:-( The longer I'm there - the higher it goes. It ended up at 143/109. The midwife mentioned the possibility of bedrest at some point during this pregnancy. Not what I wanted to hear! They raised my bp meds to 3x a day and unless I'm at work, I'm to be a couch potato. Even at work, they want me taking it easy. I go back tomorrow for another test and we'll go from there. Hopefully I can at least get a couple more weeks in at work. She even suggested the possibility of working a couple of days a week and staying home on bedrest the others. I'm going to have to bring that possibility up to admin. on Tuesday. At least my sub will be happy -- she'll probably end up with extra days. It also means that I'll definitely be going back after Thanksgiving.

Why is it that I'm having such a rough time with everything? I'm really starting to think Emily might be an only child if this doesn't go any better:-(