Pre Baby Drama

January 14, 2010
Yesterday we had Michelle's first doctor's appointment of the year. It has been three weeks since the last one. She was 32 weeks along and other than the weight and the edema, she was feeling great. Since her last check-up, she had continued to get more edematous (something she thought was just a Martin trait), but like I said before she felt fine. When we got to the appointment, Michelle's blood pressure was slightly elevated from the last appointment, about 130/84, and she had some protein in her urine. This was enough for the doctor to suggest running a few liver and kidney function tests including a 24 hour urine protein (you collect all of your urine for a 24 hour period) to see if she might be developing preeclampsia. Michelle got the labs drawn and was instructed to rest and return the next day to turn in her 24 hour urine sample and have her blood pressure taken again. This morning all of her labs looked normal, her 24 hour protein was slightly above the normal range, but her blood pressure was 150/98. She called me balling, at first I wasn't sure if she was crying, but then I could hear it in her voice. I got scared and thought that something was wrong with the baby or we had lost him or something, but when I asked her what was wrong she said they had put her on bed rest. Not an easy thing for my wife. When the doctor originally told her she was on bed rest Michelle got emotional and the doctor told her not to cry because that would just increase her blood pressure. She was told she couldn't go to work any more and she would have to have non stress tests performed twice a week along with a normal OB/GYN appointment each week. They also set up an appointment for a growth ultrasound for next Friday to check the size of the baby. My coworkers were nice enough to let me go home for a longer break to console Michelle. When I arrived home she was putting away dishes and doing a few other things. I had to ask her what the doctor meant by bed rest because she wasn't doing much resting. Dy came by to be with Michelle and I had one of our home teachers come over to give her a blessing. I returned to work while Michelle and Dy visited their mother in Orem. When she got home we had a discussion to clarify what bed rest meant. The doctor said she couldn't go to work; she needed to be lying down or in a reclined position all the time, unless she was getting food or going to the bathroom. They wouldn't even let her go to church because they don’t want her putting pressure on her cervix for long periods of time. The goal was to keep her blood pressure down and to get her to at least 37 weeks and then they would induce her. Although Michelle seemed like she was OK, she had her moments of tears. When most people would love to be able to sit around doing nothing and not have to go to work, Michelle would be miserable because she isn't one to just rest and relax. She likes to do things. We will see how it turns out. The only good thing we could think of that came of this was knowing she wouldn't have to go past 37 weeks. She could handle that.

January 18, 2010
This is Michelle….. Well, it has been almost a week since I was put on bed rest and I am surviving thanks to the love and support of my family and friends. I am so grateful for Andrew. He is such an amazing person. He does not complain about anything and has been such an amazing help. I am also grateful for my family. They have been calling and visiting with me frequently to help the time pass. My mom came and cleaned my house from top to bottom and my dad brought 2 delicious meals. I am also grateful for my friends. The phone calls and visits mean so much to me. I really appreciate everyone’s love and support.

January 19, 2010
Michelle had her OB/GYN appointment this morning. I have enjoyed being able to be at all of her appointments except for the bed rest one. I guess it helps to work at the same hospital as her doctor. Her blood pressure was 148/82 and she still had protein in her urine. The doctor thought that the baby might be measuring smaller than he should, but we have the ultrasound on Friday to tell us his actual size. The good news was that Michelle lost 8lbs. It was all water, but she enjoyed seeing the numbers get lower each time she stepped on the scale. Michelle had another NST after her appointment and the baby wasn't very active. We figure this is either an indication of how he will be, calm and very easy going, or he is just going to wreak havoc when he gets out. I would prefer the first option, but will love him either way. He has never been an active baby and I have only felt him once, but her placenta is attached anteriorly and the doctor said that creates a large cushion. Michelle is doing better with her bed rest, but it is still hard for her if she thinks about it too much. I told her she can't look at the clock every five minutes. We are both anxious about the ultrasound on Friday and hope everything is OK.

January 22, 2010
Michelle and I went to her NST this morning and Drew didn’t pass even though he did much better than the previous two times.

After the NST we had a normal ultrasound to check the growth of the baby. They found that his head and femur measured at 33 weeks, but that his stomach was about 3 weeks behind. When they measured the blood flow through the placenta and umbilical cord they also found that the pressure was high meaning it was struggling to do its job. After having the doctor come in and doing her own evaluation it was decided to admit Michelle to the hospital for further evaluation and continuous monitoring. Michelle was devastated, but admitted that she had a feeling this morning that something would be wrong.

After about five hours of monitoring the doctor didn’t feel there was an immediate concern for having to deliver so we were sent up to the Maternity floor. I took a quick trip home to gather some things for Michelle and promptly returned. The rest of the evening we just sat in her room and watched TV, a movie, and watched as nurses and CNAs came in to take her vital signs every two hours or so. Her blood pressure was still elevated, but not too bad. At about 11pm I ended up going home to sleep.

January 23, 2010

When I arrived this morning Michelle was just finishing an NST. Teri, her nurse, had worked in Labor and Delivery and knew how it all worked. Again he didn’t do as well as they liked so the doctor decided to order another NST for the evening. Michelle and I just sat around all day trying to pass the time. Michelle wanted to crochet some hats for the baby so she attempted to teach me how. We both were making the same hat and were at the same point in making the hat, but neither of the hats looked right. Mine looked like it was for a cone head baby and it had tight stitching, while Michelle's looked like it was for a toddler. Her stitching was too loose. If we did something in between the two of ours it would look great. Later in the evening we had the second NST. Once again he didn't pass so the resident performed a biophysical profile. The profile is scored on a 10 point scale, 2 points for each of five categories. The first category is the NST. Since he didn’t' pass he lost 2 points. The second was the amount of amniotic fluid. He only measured at a 6, the normal range is 10-25, and so he lost another 2 points. The last three categories are based on the baby's body movements. 2 points for whole body movement, 2 for small body movements like hands and feet, and then 2 points for chest movements (like he's practicing breathing). He had 30 minutes to perform these movements and he only got 2 points. We still aren't sure where the two points came from, but are sure the resident thought two sounded better than zero. The resident suggested Michelle be induced and would discuss it with the attending and unless the attending had a good argument against inducing, it would start that night.

Within a half an hour Michelle was moved to labor and delivery. After hooking her up to the fetal heart monitor and contraction monitor they started her on a cervix softener around 10 PM. They would leave it in for 12 hours before starting her on Pitocin. They also told Michelle to get as much sleep as possible tonight before the real fun begins. The baby's heart rate looked great and Michelle wondered if we were doing the right thing, but I assured her that the doctors probably knew what they were talking about. The baby wouldn't be able to stay inside her till 37 weeks and although 34 weeks was just a few days away at this point it didn't look like it would do any good. He might be ready to come out.