Here we go again?

Yesterday started out like a normal day. I had a doctor's appointment scheduled for 2pm (a twice weekly occurence now) and I tried to plan the rest of my day around the appointment. Aaron was working out of town so I made arrangements for Tyler to ride home from school with a friend and for Grace to stay with my parents for an hour or so while I was at my appointment. Little did I know how the rest of the day would play out.

I got to my appointment and got all hooked up for the NST. On Mondays I see a doctor following the NST, but on Thursdays the nurse just get a doc to sign off on the printout and I go home. This NST did not seem any different than any other to me, but when the nure went to get the doctor to sign, I waited and waited and waited. The doc came in and took my blood pressure and said she wanted me to have an ultrasound. Apparently, there were a couple of decelerations during the test (in plain English, there were several instances where Noah's heartate slowed instead of increased when he moved). Sometimes this can be caused by lack of fluid when can cause the baby to press on the umbilical cord. So, she wanted me to have an ultrasound to check the fluid level. Now, considering I had A LOT of fluid less than two weeks ago, I thought this was a little unnecessary, but I do trust my docs, so waited around for 30 minutes to be able to have the ultrasound.

As I expected, my fluid was not low. In fact, it has increased to a level that is considered polyhydramnios (too much fluid). Still not to the level it was with Grace, but just over the line into that diagnosis. I waited for the doctor to look things over. In the meantime, the nurse came in and took my blood pressure again (this was actually the third time they took it but I lost track of the second time somewhere along the way). About 20 minues later the doc came back with an envelope labeled "4th Floor - L&D." Somehow I knew she wasn't going to ask me to drop something off at Labor and Delivery for her on my way home!

Sure enough, she told me my blood pressure was measuring around 150/100 (it had been 120/82 in their office on Monday) and that that combined with the high fluid levels and decelerations on the NST made her decide it was best to send me over to the hospital to be monitored for a while. At the hospital, my blood pressure remained high, but a blood test ruled out pre-eclampsia at this point and Noah looked just fine on the NST. After about 3 hours, the doctor on call came in and told me they were going to release me (yay!! I've never made it out before til after baby was born!), but that I need to be on bed rest through the weekend. I have an appointment Monday morning and they are going to repeat some of the tests then (and basically keep repeating them to monitor everything).

I asked the doctor at the hospital how good the chances were that I would make it to my scheduled c-section on April 5th. His response: "not very good." He said that basically once I hit 36 weeks (a week from this coming Monday), if I experience any complications, they will "bail out" and go ahead and deliver me. Given my history, I know this is the safest route and given the stellar care I received with Grace, I know they will take great care of us. Still, I hope we can hold off for a few more weeks to give Noah the best possible start!

So, here I am - confined to bed until Monday. I can get up to use the bathroom, take a shower, and eat, but otherwise am supposed to stay put. We are staying with my parents so they can watch Grace and Tyler while Aaron continues with our house preparations.

We'll keep ya posted!