Counting Down

We are in the "30's".

And it's a good thing too.

Kelly was diagnosed with pregnancy induced hypertension on Friday. We went in for our regular doctor appointment and her blood pressure was 140/80. This is definately not good. She also had +2 edemia, which just means that she was very swollen in her legs and ankles (and fingers and wrists, actually). Combined with the the headaches that won't go away and the increased indigestion, they decided to send us to the hospital. They were telling us that they were going to keep her overnight and run a series of tests - blood, 24 hour urine collection and constant blood pressure, contraction and baby heart monitoring. Good times.

We got there and got Kelly all hooked up. Connor is just fine - good heart rate, good movement and most important, his heart rate increased as it is supposed to when he moves. That means that Kelly's placenta is not failing and that everything is good in her uterus. Her blood pressure was slightly lower when we got there - 137/83. Of course, her bottom number was a bit higher, but that was okay. They drew blood, testing for liver function. That came back normal. They began the 24 hour urine collection to do a more in-depth test for protien in her urine. Her dip-stick protien tests had come back negative (which is fantastic). Interestingly, Kelly was contracting every 5 minutes. Not real contactions - but Braxton Hicks. This has been going on for a long time and is quite normal for her, so that didn't worry anyone. But it was interesting to see it on the monitors.

All told, after about 4 hours, they decided that they did not need to keep her overnight and were going to send her home on bedrest. She had to continue collecting every drop of urine until we reached the 24 hour mark, and then we needed to drop the jug off at the hospital. LOL - Kelly was entirely grossed out by the jug of urine. I could care less. It was funny to me.

Anyway - now we are home. Kelly is on bedrest, but is really struggling with it. Bailey has been a nightmare the last couple of days. She is intensely needy and has been screaming for her pacifier for hours. I know that she is going through an appropriate developmental stage, but I could fucking scream it's been so difficult. Kelly is really struggling with the fact that she cannot help me - she has to stay relaxed and in bed. Whenever she is with Bailey, she gets stressed out immediately. I have a hell of a time keeping them both calm. It means that I can never be frustrated and have to keep myself calm at all times.

Bailey is just so intense. This would be a perfectly fine experience, if we didn't have the weight of this pregnancy on our shoulders. We are just both so tired and I'm worried as shit. I don't want anything to happen to Kelly or Connor and it's entirely out of my control. The only thing that I can do is carry everything and hope that is enough. It seems like Kelly is really struggling with the fact that I am having to do 100% of all the work. No amount of reassurance that I'm okay with it seems to be helping.

More than anything right now, I just wish we had some family around. I would love some help. Not necessarily with Bailey, but just with everything. I would love to feel like we were not completely alone in this. You know, even having people near helps. It's not that I need someone to watch Bailey or to do housework. Just some company, some reassurance that we are not alone in this big, bad world, would help. We live here for lots of reasons, but I think we both can see the downfall of being away from our families. It's hard to carry the world on your shoulders all alone, even when there are two of us carrying the load. There is a lot riding on our never breaking down.

Anyway. Two days off. We don't have plans (obviously), and other than going to look for a slow cooker cookbook, I plan to just sit around, drink coffee and enjoy the silence. Bailey is at childcare and I'm not working today. Tomorrow will be just like today, except that Kelly needs to spend some time at the hospital being monitored. We'll be doing this every four days until delivery.

2 weeks, 4 days until Connor is considered "term" at 37 weeks. 5 weeks, 4 days until we are 40 weeks pregnant. Let the countdown begin.