Here is a link the Preeclampsia Foundation website if you want to read more about what I have been diagnosed with. http://www.preeclampsia.org/
Right now all I want to do is take a shower- I feel so gross but they won't let me just yet. Peanut's heartbeat dropped a couple times during the night so they want to keep me on the monitor for a while longer. They didn't seem too concerned about it, just want to keep monitoring closely before they take me off of it. Hopefully this afternoon they will let me come off to just wash up at least. And other good news is my IV spot isn't bothering near as bad today as previous days. I haven't even had to ice it yet today :)
I'm in good spirits; just trying not to get too bored in here. I have lots of books and not to mention they have cable (I don't have it at home so it's nice to be able to catch up TV shows that I haven't seen in a while).
I will keep posting updates as they come and thank you for all the support back home!
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Finally some good news today :)
It's now a little after 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday January 30th. My mom and dad came down late this afternoon and my mom is in fully mommy mode. She's running about organizing and cleaning my room and making sure I don't need anything. Dad is going to head back home tonight but mom is going to stay with me.
Dr. Easterling came in around 2:30-3:00ish today and was very pleased with how everything was going. My blood pressure is way down compared to when I saw him in the clinic just 24 hours earlier. He liked what he saw on the ultrasound as well and on all of baby's monitor reports. He said compared to yesterday that I couldn't be doing any better so my job is to just hang out and keep cooking baby :) It was nice to finally get news that things were going well and not in the other direction. They took me off the magnesium and IV fluids but were leaving my IV port, I guess you would call it, in which I'm not too happy about but I'll live.
A little while after mom and dad arrived they gave me my second round of steroid shots to help baby boy's lungs. She put an ice pack on the injection site this time and dad was there to squeeze my hand when she did it and it was no big deal. Last night I was squeezing Darren's hand so tight and he was squeezing my hand back it felt like he was going to break it and it STILL hurt like crazy. Tonight's was no big deal so that made me happy! Plus I like having mom and dad here- makes me feel more at ease :)
So now we wait and see how things go and hope that I'm in here for a long time! The longer I'm in here the longer baby cooks and the healthier he is. As much as I would like to be at home I know I'm where the experts are and they are going to take good care of me and good care of my little peanut.
The start of this whirlwind pregnancy...
Well I thought I would start a blog during my visit at the University of Washington Medical Center since I don't have anything better to do! I'll start at the beginning of my pregnancy and go from there.
We found out I was pregnant at the end of August/beginning of September 2012. From the very get go I was SICK. And when I say sick I mean absolutely miserable, like head in the toilet 24/7 for the first 4 months. All my appointments in the beginning went really well- no problems at all, everything totally normal except for the all day sickness. They eventually put me on Zofran and Ranitidine for the nausea and heart burn. It helped but I never felt back to normal.
We made it through the Holidays with no major issues- just getting the flu and being down with that but everything was going as planned. Darren & I had planned for quite a while that we would travel to Puerto Rico January 28- February 9th with his whole family; mom & dad, brothers & sisters, grandparents and uncles and we were very excited about it. Well Darren was really excited; I was a little nervous traveling that far away and nervous about being uncomfortable in the hot weather there.
Well we never got that far... I had a doctor appointment Friday January 25th to get a shot because I have the RH factor and for a normal checkup- or so I thought. Well 2 days earlier my Grandma passed away suddenly and that was really hard. Then Darren and I signed papers on a house Friday morning as well so I was pretty stressed. Anyway, I get to BOGA for my appointment, do the urine dip, and get brought back to the exam room. There was protein in my urine which was not normal for me. And then she took my blood pressure... it was HIGH, like scary high. She gave me the shot and went and talked to Dr. Mora (who is awesome by the way) and he came in and was very concerned. He was explaining the dangers of my blood pressure being so high and then told me he wanted me over at St. Joseph hospital right away... he leaves, the nurse comes back in and I just start bawling! They finally got me calmed down and told me exactly what to do- go home, calm down, get a bag together and have someone take me into the hospital. So that's what I did. My mom, Darren and Jana met me at the apartment and off Darren & I went to the hospital. We got checked in and they started doing blood pressure checks every 15 minutes as well as a 24 urine collection to test the amount of protein my kidney's were releasing.
I slept great in the hospital bed, no troubles there. All the troubles were with them trying to get an IV in and drawing blood- I'm a really hard draw, always have been and they can never seem to get my veins right. So Friday night Dr. Mora came in and spoke Darren, Nicki, and I and explained the test results and severity of my situation. I was diagnosed with Preeclampsia which is a pretty dangerous disease for both me and baby. In order to get preeclampsia you have to be pregnant, high blood pressure, and have protein in our urine. And the only cure for preeclampsia is delivery of the baby. Problem is it's too early for that. Dr. Mora was ready to put me on the helicopter and send me down to UW Friday morning because of how things were looking but he held off to see what my tests results were. They ended up sending me home Saturday night on strict bed rest and instructions that I need to see him Monday for an exam. I went in Monday afternoon and saw Dr. Mora and he ended up referring me down to the UW clinic for a consultation and see what they think. So Tuesday, the 29th, Darren and I headed down to UW and went through a bunch of tests and basically what seemed like waiting, waiting and more waiting. Dr. Easterling at UW admitted me because he did not feel comfortable sending me home and wanted to get me on some drugs right away to lower my blood pressure so we can keep little baby boy Groen in there as long as possible.
I was admitted and got into a room around 5p.m. Tuesday. Right away they gave me an extremely painful shot to help baby's lungs develop faster so that if we did have to deliver within the next week he would have a better shot in not having major complications. It took them 3 different people to get my IV in and they ended up having to put it right in the bend of my right arm so it's painful any time I move my arm. All night Tuesday they were in and out checking my blood pressure, hooking baby up to the monitor, and poking me for blood tests. My veins are SHOT from being poked so much at St. Joseph so every time they come in to take my blood it ends up being about a 45 minute process to find a usable vein and then to get a good draw.
Wednesday morning they ordered a ultrasound to check on baby and how he is doing. They didn't really tell me much except that he is weighing about 2 pounds 6 ounces at the moment and is taking after Darren with extremely long legs. His abdomen is on the small side for what most babies this far along are. SO here I sit waiting to talk to the doctor about what he finds with my ultrasound and to cook baby a little longer.
Dr. Easterling said that with Preeclampsia it can take a turn for the worst in no time. Seizures are major complication that can happen if the drugs that they give me are not administered correctly so they have me on magnesium with my IV drip. And man is that painful and messed up stuff! They said the first 30 minutes to an hour are the worst and they definitely were. My arm was BURNING but we're over that now, just really sore in my IV site and have to keep an ice pack on my IV at all times. So that's pretty much it for right now... I will continue with updates as they come and would like to thank everyone for all their thoughts and prayers! Right now our goal is to make it to 30 weeks, I'm 27.5 now and hoping for the best! I know we are in good hands down here and this is where I need to be but man is it hard being so far away from family.
We found out I was pregnant at the end of August/beginning of September 2012. From the very get go I was SICK. And when I say sick I mean absolutely miserable, like head in the toilet 24/7 for the first 4 months. All my appointments in the beginning went really well- no problems at all, everything totally normal except for the all day sickness. They eventually put me on Zofran and Ranitidine for the nausea and heart burn. It helped but I never felt back to normal.
We made it through the Holidays with no major issues- just getting the flu and being down with that but everything was going as planned. Darren & I had planned for quite a while that we would travel to Puerto Rico January 28- February 9th with his whole family; mom & dad, brothers & sisters, grandparents and uncles and we were very excited about it. Well Darren was really excited; I was a little nervous traveling that far away and nervous about being uncomfortable in the hot weather there.
Well we never got that far... I had a doctor appointment Friday January 25th to get a shot because I have the RH factor and for a normal checkup- or so I thought. Well 2 days earlier my Grandma passed away suddenly and that was really hard. Then Darren and I signed papers on a house Friday morning as well so I was pretty stressed. Anyway, I get to BOGA for my appointment, do the urine dip, and get brought back to the exam room. There was protein in my urine which was not normal for me. And then she took my blood pressure... it was HIGH, like scary high. She gave me the shot and went and talked to Dr. Mora (who is awesome by the way) and he came in and was very concerned. He was explaining the dangers of my blood pressure being so high and then told me he wanted me over at St. Joseph hospital right away... he leaves, the nurse comes back in and I just start bawling! They finally got me calmed down and told me exactly what to do- go home, calm down, get a bag together and have someone take me into the hospital. So that's what I did. My mom, Darren and Jana met me at the apartment and off Darren & I went to the hospital. We got checked in and they started doing blood pressure checks every 15 minutes as well as a 24 urine collection to test the amount of protein my kidney's were releasing.
I slept great in the hospital bed, no troubles there. All the troubles were with them trying to get an IV in and drawing blood- I'm a really hard draw, always have been and they can never seem to get my veins right. So Friday night Dr. Mora came in and spoke Darren, Nicki, and I and explained the test results and severity of my situation. I was diagnosed with Preeclampsia which is a pretty dangerous disease for both me and baby. In order to get preeclampsia you have to be pregnant, high blood pressure, and have protein in our urine. And the only cure for preeclampsia is delivery of the baby. Problem is it's too early for that. Dr. Mora was ready to put me on the helicopter and send me down to UW Friday morning because of how things were looking but he held off to see what my tests results were. They ended up sending me home Saturday night on strict bed rest and instructions that I need to see him Monday for an exam. I went in Monday afternoon and saw Dr. Mora and he ended up referring me down to the UW clinic for a consultation and see what they think. So Tuesday, the 29th, Darren and I headed down to UW and went through a bunch of tests and basically what seemed like waiting, waiting and more waiting. Dr. Easterling at UW admitted me because he did not feel comfortable sending me home and wanted to get me on some drugs right away to lower my blood pressure so we can keep little baby boy Groen in there as long as possible.
I was admitted and got into a room around 5p.m. Tuesday. Right away they gave me an extremely painful shot to help baby's lungs develop faster so that if we did have to deliver within the next week he would have a better shot in not having major complications. It took them 3 different people to get my IV in and they ended up having to put it right in the bend of my right arm so it's painful any time I move my arm. All night Tuesday they were in and out checking my blood pressure, hooking baby up to the monitor, and poking me for blood tests. My veins are SHOT from being poked so much at St. Joseph so every time they come in to take my blood it ends up being about a 45 minute process to find a usable vein and then to get a good draw.
Wednesday morning they ordered a ultrasound to check on baby and how he is doing. They didn't really tell me much except that he is weighing about 2 pounds 6 ounces at the moment and is taking after Darren with extremely long legs. His abdomen is on the small side for what most babies this far along are. SO here I sit waiting to talk to the doctor about what he finds with my ultrasound and to cook baby a little longer.
Dr. Easterling said that with Preeclampsia it can take a turn for the worst in no time. Seizures are major complication that can happen if the drugs that they give me are not administered correctly so they have me on magnesium with my IV drip. And man is that painful and messed up stuff! They said the first 30 minutes to an hour are the worst and they definitely were. My arm was BURNING but we're over that now, just really sore in my IV site and have to keep an ice pack on my IV at all times. So that's pretty much it for right now... I will continue with updates as they come and would like to thank everyone for all their thoughts and prayers! Right now our goal is to make it to 30 weeks, I'm 27.5 now and hoping for the best! I know we are in good hands down here and this is where I need to be but man is it hard being so far away from family.
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