Its funny, I hate third trimester in case you've not figured this out yet. But right now I'm sitting here thinking that I'd rather have my old third trimester complaints back after what this past week has given us.
About 10 days ago I commented to my husband that I needed to go to the eye doctor as soon as Isaiah is born because my vision in my right eye was blurring up on and off all day and that eye would twitch too. I also started to have an increase in frequency and length of dizzy spells, and an on and off headache. Now, if you know me then you know I am prone to migraines, which are coupled with a visual effect where one eye droops in the socket and twitches, and I run with low blood pressure, low sugar, and am mildly anemic so I also have dizzy spells for a few seconds when I get up or move too quickly. So I don't typically notice stuff like this unless it is a big change from my normal pattern, and I never think to mention it to medical staff outside of initial medical history because it really ISN'T a symptom for me 99% of the time.
Well, Sunday was that 1% that my normal became my symptom.
I woke up feeling kind of off on Saturday, so I chose to rest and lay around the weekend as much as possible (including during a visit to take the kids to visit Scott's mom Saturday afternoon for a few hours, we were going to go to church afterward but opted not to as I wasn't feeling good). Sunday brought a headache that would NOT go away without Tylenol (took the edge off it) and I fell asleep for a good 4 hours or so and my family had trouble waking me up. I took a bath that evening, as I was feeling dizzy to the point that I worried I may fall in a shower, and ended up vomiting in the tub just as I was finishing up my bath because of the dizziness, light reflecting off the water, and the water made the dizziness visually harder to process. So I did what any responsible pregnant woman would do. I made a call to the after hours line to talk to the on-call OB in my midwife's practice. He was a wonderful man by the way, and listened carefully to my description of symptoms and normal and my concerns. He pretty much agreed that I needed to go up to the hospital to get checked out, which I was getting dressed and planning to go in even without his order. I didn't feel right, something was wrong.
My blood pressure was high, and labs showed low potassium and a few other things that aren't too great. However, urine test showed no protein, and my blood pressure wasn't *too* far above the normal range so they let me go home with a couple prescriptions for my reflux (to try and control it better because I'm still throwing up pretty much nonstop) and a potassium supplement.
Fast forward to this morning at 9am when I saw the midwife. I peed in a cup and while washing my hands got hit with another dizzy spell. Get back to the exam room and the nurse said I looked paler than when I went in, so she rechecked my blood pressure. Sure enough, it was 149/91 which isn't *too* terribly high but still high enough for concern in third trimester. Erica, my midwife, looked over my labs from the hospital and the urine test they did in office, and came in not looking happy at ALL. I had to do a third blood pressure check, which came in at 125/79, and was told lay down, rest, do as little as possible, take my medication that I was given at the hospital, and if I'm not feeling any better in 2-3 days I am to call her and then go in to labor and delivery for more testing. *sigh* And yes, my office pee test showed that I am indeed spilling protein into my urine, which is a BAD sign.
She's trying to AVOID diagnosing me with high blood pressure at this point, in case you can't tell. And as for me, well I'm just trying to keep my blood pressure down in the normal range for most people (we won't aim for MY normal, my normal is in the 90/60 range). I know all the risks and what we're looking at here as possible problems, and am doing everything I can to avoid that now.
I've already decided that if I end up in the hospital with this pregnancy for blood pressure issues, we're getting my tubes tied. I'm NOT doing this again, I have now 5 beautiful children to think of first and to have a complicated pregnancy with a 6th child is not something that I feel is worth the risks to my family. We may have some difficult decisions to make this next few days and weeks, depending on my blood pressure, and I do have to put my children first here. I would love more children, but honestly if we have to stop then that is fine because if we are meant to have more God will either resolve these issues I'm having now or He will provide us with the means to adopt later.
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