Saturday, January 30, 2010

Update and GIVEAWAY winner.

And the winner is (drumroll, please)....

Mrs. Spit. YAY! Bees. I love doing bees. But then, I got kind of, you know, bummed by the whole one winner thing, so I decided to pick another winner (drumroll)
YAY, Erika P! Hooray for both of you. Email me your snail mail addresses and I will start felting. And you never know which needle felted items may end up at your home, so stay tuned. I almost just went with making all fourteen of them, because apparently I am crazy. But you never know, if my nervous energy gets the best of me, I might just email you for your address.

As for the first meeting with the new doctor, all in all, it was fine. My midwife emailed her with all the details of me and my case. I have no idea if it was one of those emails with a huge red exclamation mark next to it, or just a normal newsy one, but she was kind and responsive. Turns out she also lives in my little town as well. That was a nice surprise, and also she looked vaguely familiar, so that was comforting.

Yesterday, I woke up unable to calm myself. My heart was beating wildly, so I knew it would be a shitty blood pressure day. I meditated. I painted. I sat and watched some crappy television at my sister's house while the kids played in a far away room. I drank chamomile tea. I even headed downtown two hours earlier, got myself an incredible lunch salad at one of those chichi places that charges too much for meatloaf and the servers wear t-shirts and jeans. (IT IS MEATLOAF, people.) I finished my book, and drank more calming herbal tea in the bitter cold.

130/90. 

High for me, but not too high. Not pre-eclampsia high. But again this nurse will not put me in the bigger cuff. She argued with me. "You are just not that big, honey." Perhaps she is right, it is her job to measure these things after all, but I come from a long line of people with low blood pressure and big arms. When the doctor came in, she sat with me and talked. It was nice. We went through my recent records. She thought the protein was too low to affect me in a concrete way, so she said, "We are kind of ignoring that because it is on the cut-off." She called  me a gestational hypertensive, since pre-eclampsia in later pregnancies where there was never pre-eclampsia is incredibly rare. I did not want to remind her of Michele Duggar's 19th baby, but that was sort of there in the back of my mind. I have to monitor my blood pressure every day at home, eat low sodium (my vice is salt, I admit. OH, and coffee) and kick count. All of that is just fine with me, to be honest. No more Amy's Lentil Soup for lunch, but that is fine. All the joy has left my eating habits a while ago.

She kept asking me about my schedule and who can watch Bea. She told me I need lots of rest, yet I should still workout. But she didn't say bed rest. With no guidelines or specific parameters, I really don't know what that means. I stay home painting with my daughter most days. We take a nap. It isn't like we are constructing a large gnome village in the backyard most days. She is a toddler and it is winter. Our time involves lots of alphabet projects, crafts and reading. Still, rest. Check. One (or two) more baths a day falls under the umbrella of rest, right? All in all, it was fine. I have to go back Wednesday for another BP check. She did say that if I show any signs of pre-eclampsia, meaning my blood pressure goes up, protein shows up in the urine dip at the office, the baby is out. Scary, but  hopefully, as unlikely as she says. No glucose results, which is weird as that was a week ago. So, that is that.

I was comforted by not having to go to the hospital. Thor's heartbeat was fine. That is all I can hope for these days. Maybe next time my blood pressure will be lower. She thought that I might have a very real case of white coat hypertension. So, I am sort of interested in having my blood pressure tested at home everyday.

Thank you, all, for your love and support this week. Sometimes they just hit you upside the head, as my grandmother would say, and you holler for days. XO

And JUST because this picture makes me indescribably happy, I am posting a recent stand off picture of my almost three year old and me. Beatrice refusing to get dressed in 20 degree weather. Enjoy.


13 comments:

  1. God, isn't she cute? It's like she's saying: "I stay nekkid. Whatcha gonna do about it?" So sweet...

    xo

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  2. So, I'll give you a tentative 'glad to hear the news is decent.' If I didn't have to schlep into work most days I'd offer to make the trip to NJ to help with Bea. Millie is usually 'nakey'...if she can manage to get her clothes off...so she and Bea would likely hit it off. Do you think they can't feel the cold? Maybe they just don't care.

    Anyway, much good energy to you and your family. Go, Thor, go!

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  3. Yes, take your BP at home, and keep a log. Bring it with you, that way if it is white coat, they'll see :)

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  4. Angie way back in '99 I had a shitty shitty job and I went for my annual and my blood pressure -- which had always been somewhere hovering just above death -- was high. Crazy high. And then I developed white coat syndrome because I dreaded going in to get it checked. Just driving over in the car sent it up. So they taught me how to take it at home the old timey way, and sure enough --- eventually fine. I did a lot of yoga in there, but the bp went down and now I'm a nice normal. Relax at home, take it before your day really gets going, and see what it says. The more confident you are that it's ok at home, the more it goes down in the office. In fact, if you're like me, sometimes when it was high in the office right when I got there, I asked them to take it again before I left and it was significantly lower.

    The lower cuff thing bugs. I don't get people.

    Glad you're in good hands and feel as much! And DAYUM, what a cutie.

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  5. My immediate thought was "I can watch Bea!" but then I realized, no, I live rather far away for that. But you know, if you want to mail her down here...

    I love that picture. She's adorable.

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  6. HO! I love the photo of Bea! That is awesome! I am so glad that you will be able to take bp at home. How wonderful that you heard Thor's heartbeat. I am sending you calm, loving, good vibes from below the Mason Dixon line. Hope your weekend is warm, toasty and relaxing.
    peace,
    slee

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  7. Good news! I'm so relieved and glad, hon x

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  8. Great pic of Beatrice. She's a cutie pie.

    I hate those places that overcharge for meatloaf. Yeah, I know: free-range organic grassfed meatloaf, right? With a price like that, it better be.

    Hang in there with the racing-heart-blood-pressure moments. I'm wondering if that's a pregnancy thing, and not just a blood pressure thing? I totally get these spells of racing heart and breathless, but as far as I know my blood pressure's fine. Hmm.

    Finally, those lucky gift-getting winners! Suh-weet.

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  9. She is just too cute! Sassy little thing :)

    thinking of you... I hope you feel they are taking good care of you. sounds scary, but I'm glad you're making it through by doing your projects.

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  10. Hey Angie. Believe it or not, I went through the same thing. They thought it could be white coat syndrome too. I had the SAME problem with the cuff and my arms are huge... The cuff was so tight it used to give me a bruise after a reading! Anyway the dr. switched to a bigger one. He also asked me to lay on my left side and try to relax for a few minutes. Then they came back and took it again with me laying down and it was back to normal. But in the end I ended up taking a blood pressure med just to be sure and I was fine from then on. Good luck...

    -Mim

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  11. The first thing I saw was the picture. I am still grinning from ear to ear. So cute.

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  12. Wow! Thanks, Angie.

    Glad the appointment went well and all seems okay for now. Bea is adorable - my three year old son is a nudist too. Thinking of you and sending calming vibes...

    xox

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  13. Hey Angie, I'm glad to hear that Thor's heartbeat is strong and that it doesn't look like preeclampsia.

    Bea is too adorable for words! I love her haircut and that standoff pose is so cute.

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What do you think?