July 13, 2009

There are going to be a lot of posts reminiscing about last year - I love to look back and remember the excitement of having Brooke, and since I just started this blog in Feb. 2010, my pregnancy and Brooke's birth are not documented, which I want them to be (this blog really is about our lives with her, after all).

This time last year, my dr was debating about when to induce me. She had even offered to induce me around the 11th (my dad's birthday) as soon as the baby was full-term - I was due on July 31. Even though I wanted to meet my little one SO BADLY, the dr, Jim, and I all agreed it was best to give her a little longer.

During my pregnancy, my dr had been watching my blood pressure closely. It was always 138-ish/90-ish, but, like I said, my dr was watching closely and tested me to make sure I wasn't developing pre-eclampsia (I'm pretty sure I spelled that wrong). About a month or 6 weeks before this day last year, I was told I had to leave work early and lay on my left side for 3 hours before dinner.

But on Sunday, July 12, 2009, my blood pressure jumped up, and it was consistently 145/90. I called my dr, and the on-call dr called me back. I wasn't having any other symptoms - lighteheadedness, dizziness, excessive swelling, etc - so he told me to come to the dr office the next morning. Plus, I was getting ultrasounds every other week to keep an eye on my fluid levels and the baby's growth, as high blood pressure can interfere with that.

On July 13, 2009, when I saw Dr. Miranda, she talked about moving my induction (I was scheduled to start Cervidil the following Sunday, July 19). She could have done it the next day - but ultimately, she felt the baby and I were both doing well enough to wait for the weekend and that the baby would benefit from that extra week in utero. She pulled me out of work and put me on modified bed rest - I could be up to get something to eat, go to the bathroom, etc., but that was it. The rest of the time, I needed to be laying down with my feet up - on my left side as much as possible.

And so, that's how my pregnancy neared its end.