'tis near!

Baby Jackson may decide to grace us with his presence sooner rather than later...what a treat :) After work yesterday, I went to my regular weekly OB check-up...37 weeks. As soon as the nurse took my blood pressure, she said "WHOA!....your blood pressure is extremely high". She then took it again to make sure she was correct, which she was. Right away she went to get the doctor to let him know. He came in, reviewing my charts from when I was pregnant with Max, and told me it looked like my body was doing the same thing it did with my first son. All of my blood pressure readings would read fine, then all of the sudden it skyrocketed up. The only issue was when it did it with Max, I was already 40 weeks pregnant, so it was a no brainer to just induce me. This time, it's a tad bit sooner, and they really would have preferred for me to be at least 38 weeks. They kept me in the office for a little bit to observe my blood pressure, which did not go down. The doctor then checked me and said I was 1 1/2 cm dialated, 50% effaced and the baby was very low...at about -1 station for you moms who know what that means :) That would explain all the bruising-like sensation I've felt the past few days! These numbers didn't excite me too much....I walked around almost 3 cm dialated with Max for almost 3 weeks, so I'm not convinced it means all that much just yet. Finally, the doctor told me they were sending me over to the hospital for them to run tests and observe my blood pressure. Uggggh....now I was missing a Christmas party I was suppose to be at AND I hadn't seen Max since 7am :( I called Mark and let him know to meet me at the hospital.

Once we got there and were checked into triage, my blood pressure was still really high. At this point, I also starting contracting about 4-5 minutes apart on a consistent basis....not all that painful of contraction, but kind of annoying-catch-your-breath type. The nurse there thought maybe there would be no need for an induction if that's the route they were going to go since my body just might be going into labor on its own anyway. We were stuck in triage for FOREVER waiting for the test results, which all came back okay. The only problem was that my blood pressure was still very high, which made them admit me into the high-risk OB patient wing on the maternity ward. The doctor was in an emergency c-section at the time, so we had no idea what he had planned for us. As soon as I got settled into my room there and Mark went to grab us some food (I hadn't eaten since lunch....STARVING!!!), my blood pressure went down to normal. I asked the nurse if I could just go home then if everything was fine....which she needed us to talk to the doctor first. Until the doctor came in, my blood pressure would fluctuate between normal and high on almost every other reading. When the doctor was finally able to come in, he told me he wanted me to stay overnight for observation to be sure I was okay to go home. He said he had no problem inducing me at this point if my blood pressure continued to be so high and erratic. He also informed me that if I was discharged that I would be on bedrest until delivery. UGH....I only had one more week of work until Christmas Break!

So, we were discharged this morning when my blood pressure read fine, but I have to go back to the office first thing Monday morning to have my blood pressure checked. If it continues to do what it's been doing, they will more than likely induce sooner rather than later. Looks like we may have a Christmas baby after all...guess we'll have to wait and see :) As for me, the orders of "bedrest" aren't easy. I have a lot of things to accomplish now that Jackson could truly be here any day, plus I'm not fully prepared for Christmas! I wish I could just kick my feet up, relax and watch some Christmas movies, but unfortunately I have a million things to accomplish and a crazy two year old son to still raise! I guess we'll see what Monday brings....