Thirty-six week visit

My blood pressure is down a bit more -- 112/74, which is good news. I have high hopes that they won't feel the need to induce me. I have no desire for an induction b/c you can't walk the halls or use the jacuzzi. Based on the ultrasound, Kidney Bean is roughly 5 lbs., 10 oz. Imagine that! At that weight, K.B. remains right there in the 50th percentile, which is a great sign, I imagine.

In other news, they're concerned about the swelling in my hands, face, feet and legs. I'm skeptical that I have any swelling in my face, even though both the doctor and the midwife have mentioned it. I mean, come on -- I've always had a big round face! I will certainly admit to obvious puffiness in my hands, feet, and legs, but I don't see it in my face. The midwife has encouraged me to remove my wedding band, but I hate the thought. I already bought a new one that was 2 1/2 sizes bigger than my regular one, but I obviously underestimated just how much I would swell. Plus, they didn't have any bigger sizes in stock. :) Oh, well. They can cut it off me if necessary. That's why I bought this cheap one. Who cares if they have to cut off a thirty-dollar ring?

Not feeling well

I just looked at my countdown from the tickerfactory. I think I'm going to have to get rid of that thing. Twenty-nine days? I'm so not ready.

Five days of full bed rest

I've been out of commission for five days b/c Dr. Wilcox (not my regular OB) recommended full bed rest. When I saw my regular OB today, Dr. Rider, she was in shock. When I told her that Dr. Wilcox ordered full bed rest, she literally said, "No! He didn't!" Yup, he did.

Yes, my blood pressure was five points higher than the week before, but she didn't think that seemed like cause for full bed rest. "Oh, but it wasn't the blood pressure," I said. "He didn't recommend the bed rest until he saw the protein in my urine."

But it turns out that the amount of protein in my urine falls into the totally normal range! Someone nonpregnant is likely to have the same amount of urine in her protein. She finally concluded that Dr. Wilcox "must've had a brain freeze." She could account for it no other way.

So good news all around: My protein levels are fine, I don't have preeclampsia (not yet, anyhow), and my blood pressure has gone down slightly, although it's still elevated. (Last Friday it was 124/90, which is officially high. Today it was 118/80, which is merely elevated again.)

I still can't believe I did five days of total bed rest for no reason...

In other news, Dr. Rider seems to think I won't be going much past 38 weeks. I'm not sure why she thinks this, but she seems to think it'll be necessary to induce me around that time. I wish I'd questioned her more on this. I won't be able to ask at my next two visits b/c they're both with someone else. And my next visit after that is my 38 week visit, which could be D-Day.

Partial bed rest!

Last Friday my doctor placed me on work restriction (four hours a day) and partial bed rest (two hours down, two hours up) due to elevated blood pressure. I didn't see it coming. If this is supposed to relieve stress, I don't know how. Having to worry about work and having to lie down for two hours straight to do nothing -- well, it's much more stressful than what I was dealing with before.

Main symptom? Fetus growing in uterus

At my company, maternity benefits are handled as short-term disability. Therefore, to receive maternity benefits, I have to complete a short-term disability form. Diagnosis? Pregnancy. Symptoms? Well, I'm leaving that part blank, but I desperately want to write down, "Morning sicknes, cessation of menstrual period, fatigue, breast tenderness, emotional distress (e.g., mood swings, weepiness), heartburn, frequent urination, rhinitus, insomnia, swelling of hands and legs/feet, tingling and numbness in hands, nerve pain (e.g., sciatic), stretch marks, elevated blood pressure, reduced immune response, and fetus growing within uterus."

Thirty-two week visit

Good news. As you probably know, I've been measuring large, so I was scheduled for an ultrasound today to see what's up. The ultrasound is much more exact than the crude uterine measurements they've been doing thus far.

According to the ultrasound, I'm right on track. Kidney Bean is right there in the 50th percentile for weight. No due-date revisions for me! K.B. weighs in at a healthy 4 lbs., 5.5 oz.

In other good news, K.B. is now presenting normally, which means s/he's transitioned to the head-down position and is no longer breech. I reported at twenty-eight weeks that K.B. was still breech, which was no cause for concern. I've since found out that 25% of babies are still breech at twenty-eight weeks, which is less than I thought. Oh, well. Doesn't matter now, because K.B. is no longer breech.

Remaining news from the visit: I've gained another five pounds, for a total of twenty-five pounds so far. Also, today was the first time ever that the nurse didn't say "Excellent" after taking my blood pressure. Yes, my pressure is elevated. It's not high, but it is considered high for me. Previously, my dialstolic pressure (the bottom number) has been in the sixties. Suddenly, it's jumped to 82. I'm scheduled to go back in a week (instead of the usual two weeks) to have it checked again.

Go forth

I'm sure you've heard or read this passage before:

On the sixth day, God created man and said, "Go forth, be fruitful and mutiply. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the fowl of the air, and everything that creepeth over the earth."

I'm about to share with you a much less famous passage:

And in the seventh month, God said to Eve, "Go forth, be miserable and fat. Have insomnia during the night, eateth Tums like candy, and I dare you to try to take a full breath."

Weepiness and other weirdness

It's like I'm back in the first trimester. Just about anything can make me tear up. Yup, I'm back to crying when the puppies on the news are rescued. I don't know what my problem is. I've never read that this is a common third trimester occurrence, so perhaps I'm just weird.

Speaking of weird, on Sunday night I was suddenly struck with the chills. Even though it was 71 degrees in the house (a temperature I would normally describe as "sweltering"), my teeth were actually chattering. I took a shower to warm up, and soon after I realized that I had a fever, too. No other cold symptoms. Just fever and chills. A couple of hours later, I called the midwife on call, who suggested I take Tylenol. Now here's the weird part. Within a half hour, fever and chills were gone, and they never came back. What the heck? Who gets a fever and chills for only three-and-a-half hours?