how to: freak out a pregnant woman REALLY bad

Place a fetal doppler monitor on her pregnant belly and proceed...for 5 minutes...to NOT find the baby's heartbeat.

Yeah. That will REALLY freak her out.

I'll explain...

As mentioned yesterday, the baby ended up moving just fine in the end and had a good, strong heartbeat as usual. So they ended up letting me go and just making sure I called back/came in again if I noticed anything crazy like bleeding, contractions, loss of fetal movement, sharp pains, water breaking, etc. etc. I haven't experienced any of that stuff, so it turns out our little guy is quite the trooper.

Phew!

Crisis averted.

This morning I had a checkup with my normal obstetrician's office (since my appointments are weekly now). Usually these appointments are super quick and consist of checking up on usually only 5 things:

1. My weight


2. My urine


3. My blood pressure


4. The baby's estimated growth via measuring the fundal height, and


5. The baby's heartbeat.

So at my appointment this morning:

1. My weight - My weight was down by 4 pounds. Not sure how I did that in 1 week. Maybe it's from trying to eat better and sweating a lot? Or maybe it's because my appointment was in the morning and not in the afternoon after I've already drinken over a gallon of water? Who knows?


2. My urine - My urine was plentiful. Actually, I never really get the results of the urine tests and usually attribute this to things being okay in the pee department.


3. My blood pressure - For the first time in this pregnancy, my blood pressure was actually high. I told them that my appointments are usually always in the afternoon after a day of working at a computer and that this morning I had been running around getting ready for the day and heading over to the appointment and not really having time to just chill out. The doctor said that blood pressure normally rises a little toward the end of pregnancy, but to be safe, they drew some blood to do some labwork and to see if there is any possibility that the blood pressure is related to preeclampsia. I am really hoping this is NOT the case...so keep your fingers and toes crossed.


4. The baby's estimated growth - The fundal height check was so uneventful that I don't even remember that part of the appointment because...


5. The baby's heartbeat - The doctor put the heartbeat doppler monitor over my belly and literally for about 5 minutes they could NOT find the baby's heartbeat. Can you imagine how scary that is? I was thinking in my head the whole time "Oh My Dear LORD what is going on now?" and "Why can't we hear the heartbeat?" and "Come on little baby, where are you?" So stressful not being able to hear it. Then little heartbeat ended up being found hiding and kind of quiet and the heartbeat counts were just fine. But, MAN! Talk about a stressful 5 minutes!!

I'm thinking, in hindsight, that little Baby McG was hiding from the monitor as a way of getting me back for falling the other day. Kind of like him saying "You want to fall on ME, mommy? Oh YEAH? Well I'll just hide my heartbeat from you to freak you out. How do you like them apples?"

Very funny, baby. Very funny.

Not laughing, though. We've grown kind of attached to you now so you better be okay in there!

Stay tuned...

how to: freak out your family REALLY bad

Just become 37 weeks pregnant and fall down some stairs.

Yeah.

That'll do it.

I'm actually being sarcastic and kidding. Don't do it. It is really scary.

Okay. Here's the explanation...

For the past (I don't even know how many) weeks, Joe has been refinishing our little baby's crib with the help of my parents and their garage. And since it was pretty much finished this past weekend, I was itching (BADLY!) to get the finished product back to our own home so that we could get it all set up and pretty.

Because I was so antsy about getting it all ready to go, Joe started to help me get the back of our truck ready for all the fun crib pieces. He went inside and grabbed the first (heaviest) piece of the crib and started to carry it outside to the truck. I was a little slower than him and was heading downstairs to where the crib pieces were lined up and ready to go and seriously just completely lost my balance, skipped over the last two steps on accident, and fell onto the tile at the bottom of the stairs.

The brunt of my weight actually fell on my knees when my knees hit the tile first...but with all of the momentum from my gargantuan body, I kept going forward and landed on my hands and belly.

I immediately took the weight off my hands and belly and just rolled over to my side. My mom came right away from the kitchen. Joe flew back in from where he was outside with the crib piece he was carrying. And my dad came in from grilling out back. They were on me so fast and I was actually kind of just in shock and started to sweat a lot and just kind of laid there.

I didn't really know what to do because the force really did primarily fall on my knees. So I figured we should just eat dinner and then keep an eye on the baby's movement. After dinner, though...to be safe...I called my OB's office and, since it was a Sunday, they said the doctor on-call would call me back. He called about 15 minutes later and basically said what I already knew: to keep an eye on the fetal movement and to call/come in if it significantly decreases or completely stops. He gave me the goal of 5 moves/kicks per hour and I ended up feeling 5 kicks within the first 45 minutes, so I figured everything was okay.

It was still wicked scary, though.

And as I said before, I was actually kind of kidding before about saying to "just become 37 weeks pregnant and fall down some stairs" to freak out your family really bad. Don't do it. It was really scary. Kind of embarrassing. But scary.

I have been really paying attention to any and all movements in my abdomen ever since then. I mean, even though babies are SOOOOO well protected in the womb, I have still been hypervigilant since last night. So much so, that this morning (after feeling only about 3 kicks in 2 hours) I decided to call the doctor's office again. I even had a good breakfast, lots of cold water, and even some apple juice...so I thought that only 3 kicks in 2 hours was way too low of activity.

They recommended that I go to the hospital where I was delivering just to get monitored and checked out.

They got me in RIGHT away and immediately hooked me up to a fetal heart monitor. And then the most beautiful sound in the world started being broadcast in the room - the little heartbeat. From then on I knew it was definitely going to be okay and after I had some ice water he actually moved probably about 10 times in 1 hour.

So annoying that he couldn't have done that this morning BEFORE I called.

Anyway...they kept me there for a few hours just to make sure it all stayed the same and then they let me go because there was no other trauma, bleeding, contractions, etc. It was almost a waste of a day, but I'm glad that it's all okay and hearing that heartbeat and feeling more regular movements again made me feel so much better.

To Joe, Mom, and Dad:
I am so sorry for freaking you guys out yesterday. But I'm really glad that you all were there and cared so much to help me. :-) I love you. And just know that Baby McG is a-okay and that I will try to remember to walk sideways from now on since I can't see my feet when I walk straight.

To all you pregnant ladies:
Please be careful on stairs. Actually...be careful everywhere. Your ligaments are loose and stretched out and you are predisposed to balance issues just because the state of being pregnant. So be careful where you step. Especially if you can't see your feet. Always look where you're going and go slowly. Who cares if it takes you an hour to walk 10 feet? Do what you gotta do.

To everyone else:
Be like Joe, my mom, and my dad and just be there for your pregnant wives/friends/family members. It's so nice knowing that, even when we are weak and spazzy and uncoordinated, you are there to help and support us.

:-)