Monday, March 26, 2012

Another Trip to Labor & Delivery

So I've been having this pressure in my chest and back very sporadically the past couple of weeks. It seemed to coincide with a particular move my dear son makes where he presses one foot into my right rib, one into my right hip bone, and pushes his head out on my left side. I just chalked it up to pressure from that fancy stretching move of my breech boy. Last night the pressure came but did not coincide with this move and would not go away. I took a Zantac hoping it was heartburn...nothing, so I googled. I know, I know, I shouldn't have, it just freaked me out that I was having a massive heart attack. Nervous, I took my blood pressure - I'm usually in the 110/65 range and I was 128/85 - ack! So I wait 5 minutes, freaking out and take it again 143/91, now I'm really worried (in hindsight, the anxiety is likely what caused the spike). I called the on call doctor and he didn't seem too terribly concerned. He told me it was likely nothing but to go to labor and delivery to be checked out. So, 11:00 at night we drag a groggy 3 year old out of bed and head downtown from our lazy, quiet suburb. They take my vitals, have me pee in a cup, and hook me up to a contraction and fetal monitor. Absolutely everything comes back normal and good. They leave me hooked up for quite a while and check my vitals a couple different times and both the baby and myself continue to look fine and healthy, although I am still feeling the pressure in my chest and back. My 3 year old is wide awake and completely content playing preschool games on Daddy's IPad. Daddy and I are uncomfortable and exhausted, but relieved all is looking good so far. When I see the doctor, she examines me and says that it is likely just "abnormally presenting asthma," she said if it were a heart attack or a clot that the baby would most likely be showing some signs of distress and he looked absolutely wonderful, and I was sent home. We finally crawled in the door at 3:00 AM. I'm still having the pressure and just started up my asthma meds again (I haven't needed any for several months). I'm hoping in a couple of days I'll start feeling better. My stupid anxiety has me a bit concerned that it is still something worse, but I guess the good news is I start going in for different things a lot this week and I would hope somebody would catch something if it were serious. Tomorrow is my first NST and the following day another appointment with my OB.

Our daughter loved her "Big Sister" class at the hospital! She got to learn how to hold a baby doll the correct way, diaper, swaddle, and feed a bottle. She got a cute little certificate and shirt, and they got to tour the maternity wing and see newborns in the nursery. She is still talking about her teacher and what she learned in class. It was a fun and special day for her.

2 comments:

LisaB/lisabttc said...

Oh my gosh, how scary!! I'm so glad everything is ok! That would have freaked me out to though. It's always better to be safe than sorry. <3
I love the pics of DD at big sister class!!!

Good Timing said...

Yikes! I'm glad that all was well in the end. It is always freaky when you don't know what's going on in there and you just want to know that everything's okay. Love the big sister picture, she's going to be so great! :)