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What is my blood pressure on Wednesday May 23.

So, I'm on maternity leave now. At my doctor's appointment last Wednesday, Dr. Steed decided that to be on the safe side, he would like me to stop working and put me on bedrest. Let me tell you Wednesday was a difficult day. I cried, alot. Steven was scheduled to work that night but called in and stayed with me, probably a good thing because it wouldn't have been great for me to be alone that night.

Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH)

Okay, what is it? PIH is high blood pressure during pregnancy. When PIH happens it is usually during the last 3 months of pregnancy. The symptoms usually go away following the birth. PIH happens more often in first pregnancies. Why is not known; even the cause of PIH is not known. PIH may be mild or quite severe. Most women do not feel ill with mild PIH; this is one of the reasons that regular prenatal checkups are essential. The only cure for PIH is delivering your baby. If your baby is not due yet, your doctor may choose to treat you with bedrest, a healthy diet, and medications to lower your blood pressure. If your PIH continues to worsen despite treatment your baby may need to be delivered before your due date.

Why do I need to be on bed rest? Many women with PIH feel quite well so it can be hard to accept the need for bedrest. When your blood pressure is increased, it causes less blood to circulate throughout your body including the uterus and placenta. When you are in a standing position the heavy uterus puts pressure on veins in your groin causing blood to pool in your legs. This decreases the blood supply to the uterus ad kidneys. Bedrest, especially lying on your left side increases blood supply to the uterus and kidneys.

How will PIH affect my baby? The amount of blood supply to the placenta is reduced with PIH and as a result, your baby may be smaller than what would have been normal for you. If the PIH is not controlled it can be harmful to the baby.

Thursday was a much better day. A little sad knowing that it was my last day of work, also a little stressful knowing that it was my last day of work. It's difficult to try and train a temp in 1 1/2 days to cover your position! But people at work took me out to lunch, that was nice. Heather & Crystal got me the cutest little clothes. The best one is a blue onesie that says "I AM NOT A GIRL" Kelly and Liz are planning to come up and visit. Tom says he'll come up after his vacation, I'm trying to convince him to visit me before baby to break up the monotony, we'll see. Al has been great (as always), his main concern was never The Job but making sure that me & the baby were okay. I'm seriously going to miss working.

You know, our original plan was that when I finished work on June 20th and started mat leave, Steven & I would celebrate by going for a fancy schmancy dinner at Catch...instead, Thursday night, he went to work and I ate the Coco Brooks pizza that he made for me. But it's all in perspective now and I do realize the severity of this situation. Don't think for one minute that I don't. I do, trust me.

I know, this is a long entry... bear with me.

So, I'm on the Antenatal Community Care Program. You know how I thought that they would call and go over what I can & can't do? Yup, so wrong. This is much more in depth. Jamie came by on Friday after lunch and went over the program. It's awesome. At the beginning of the program they visit every day for the first three days. Yesterday she went over the program, what can & can't be done (will fill you in later), showed me how to check my blood pressure, checked The Piglet's heartbeat and other stuff like, what to look out for and when to call my doctor or when to go to the hospital or when to call 911. Today she's coming and we'll be doing a non-stress test, which is "Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring". During this test, two belts will be put around my abdomen. Each belt will hold a disc, called a tranducer. One tranducer will record the baby's heart beat and the other records any tightenings or contractions I may have. It is about 20-30 minutes. I'll need to press a button on the monitor every time I feel the baby move. I don't know what else she'll do today or tomorrow.

On my own: I have to check my blood pressure 4x during the day. I have to record the fetal movements 3x during the day. I have to record any signs or symptons. And I have to record my rest hours during 3 different periods thru the day. I also have to see the doctor once per week. I have to have an ultrasound once per week. AND I have to get blood work done and a urine test once per week. (I'm going to be gettting out of the house more now than before!) And one of the nurses from the program visits me once per week but they call every morning, except days that I have a doctor's appointment.

Here's what I can do. It's called Activity Level 3:

In addition to minimum 8 hours rest at night, I need to have 3 x 3hour periods of either lying flat on my side or sitting at a reclined level. I can only walk for short periods at a time less than 10 minutes. I may walk stairs occasionally but not alot of stairs. I can't work outside the home. I can do light housework only. (like doing the laundry but not carrying it up and down. I can fold the laundry and iron but I can't vaccum etc..) I can do limited meal preparation (ie. on my feet for 20 min or less) (Steven's quite happy about that, he envisioned alot of pizza and pb&j sandwiches in his future). I can shower and bath (and we're ALL happy about that!) I can't drive anymore, I can only be a passenger.

That driving one really surprised me. I guess I just never gave it much thought at all. I have an ultrasound appointment and a doctor's appointment on Monday morning, which I will be driving myself to. Don't worry, Jamie gave me the okay and said to talk to Dr. S about it then. I also have my last Childbirth class on Tuesday night which I'd really like to attend, again, it's up to the doctor.

So, there it is in a nutshell. Talk amongst yourselves.