So the 38th week has turned out to be similar to the rest of this pregnancy, full of unnecessary worry, hospital trips, and lying down. At Centering on Wednesday night my blood pressure was significantly elevated. This was concerning because so far it's been remarkably steady and low. Also, I had been feeling nauseous and had a slight headache all day. All of those symptoms combined usually lead to something called Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH), which can develop into preeclampsia and eventually eclampsia. The midwives rechecked my BP at the end of the night to see if the first reading was just a fluke, but somehow it rose even further to 145/90. I didn't even know those numbers were possible. For comparison, I'm usually at 110/70-ish. That score earned me an immediate trip to the hospital for blood tests and fetal monitoring. My BP dropped back to normal pretty quickly, the baby is doing just fine, but of course one of the three blood tests came back borderline. That means I've been on modified bed rest since Wednesday. I'm allowed to sit up, do some yoga in the morning, and go for a walk in the evening, but that's about it. No packing or cleaning under any circumstances.
I had a check-up Friday morning to draw some more blood and my BP was well within the normal range again. The new blood tests came back clear too, but I'm still on bed rest until tomorrow's appointment. Hopefully they'll tell me I can go back to doing things, at least somewhat. I'm trying to keep myself occupied with knitting, reading, and getting caught up on some random paperwork stuff but it is driving me crazy to look at all the stuff I could be putting in boxes and not be able to do anything about it. Also, I feel absolutely disgusting. I was feeling humongous before, but I was able to workout everyday to at least feel like I was not turning into a giant walrus. Now it feels like my muscles are atrophying and I'm turning into Jabba the Hutt. I'm also not hungry at all because I'm doing anything. That in turn leads to me not eating enough, which makes me feel even more nauseous and less hungry. It is not fun.
On Thursday, Joe's work threw a goodbye party/baby shower for us. Because I had just been placed on bed rest, I was not able to go. Joe sent me lots of pictures, though. Here's one of the cake. He also brought home about a quarter of it. It is a delicious chocolate sheet cake with just a little bit of chocolate frosting so it's not too sweet. This is Joe's last week at work, so he's been training his replacement.
Since I've been mostly immobile during the day, Duncan has decided that I am the best new piece of furniture there ever could be. In particular, he feels the need to be on or near my belly at all times. At one point I was lying on my side with Duncan perched on top purring loudly. The baby kicked pretty hard in Duncan's direction, at which time Duncan decided to kick back. They went back and forth for a couple of rounds before I shoved Duncan off. I thought feeling a creature move around inside me was weird, but it's definitely weirder to have the creature interact with another creature on the outside. Here's a picture of him snuggled up in my lap one afternoon.
Finally, I have to talk about how grateful I am for Joe. While there are thousands of reasons I love Joe, at this moment, there are three main reasons:
1) Joe can, and is willing to, cook real food. I am usually the one to cook dinner, but now I can't given the whole bed rest thing. Joe and I cook together on the weekends, but over the last week he's prepared almost every meal as well as taking care of the shopping and working. I am so grateful that he can make real food and not just frozen pizza. Even though I'm not super hungry, I feel better eating fresh produce and healthy food.
2) After July 16 and until classes start September 20, Joe will be home full-time. The couples at Centering have been talking about maternity and paternity leave and when they have to go back to work. One woman has to return to her job part-time beginning at 2 weeks. I am extremely grateful that we will be able to be together so much for the first couple months of our new life as a family. Also, that we have the resources for me to be able to not have to go back to work right away. Between having a baby, moving, and Joe starting law school I don't think I would be able to handle trying to find a job without freaking out as well. It is extremely comforting to know that is one pressure that I can put off for several months until we're somewhat settled.
3) Joe is unflappable. While I'm panicking about whatever is happening around me, he manages to remain extremely calm and rational. Not only can he remain calm, but he is pretty good at helping me calm down too (not an easy task, I assure you). Most importantly, he manages to do so in a non-patronizing or annoying way. This makes me feel better about labor, delivery, and childrearing knowing that at least one of us will be sane.
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