today i had my first visit to the Labor & Delivery ward. i had a routine, scheduled appointment with a nurse practitioner at 10:30. during the appointment, they noticed my blood pressure was elevated and i had gained four pounds since my appointment last week. oof! my BP wasn't dangerously high, just barely above the threshold. the nurse checked to see if i was dialated at all, and i'm still shut up tight. so i went down to the lab to do a urine and blood sample, and then back up to L & D.
L & D was SO busy today! the nurses kept saying, "must have been a full moon." i guess there was a full moon on wednesday. anyway, there were a number of pregnant women being checked out for various reasons, and one woman actually giving birth! we were in L & D for about three hours, and listened to her labor and push for over an hour. i'm not going to lie, it was slightly terrifying! we saw her brand new baby girl being wheeled down the hall shortly after delivery. that part was exciting!
anyway, they hooked me up to the fetal monitor and something to monitor my heart beat and any contractions, as well as a BP cuff. i was hooked up for about a half an hour, and then they cleared me out of the exam/labor room because another woman needed to be monitored. mom and i waited in a room down the hall for the doctor, but the doc was pretty preoccupied with the birth going on, so it was a bit of a wait.
when we did get to see her, she said my blood and urine samples were good and did not indicate any signs of pre-eclampsia, which is great. since i've had no headaches or changes in vision or other symptoms to indicate pre-eclampsia, she didn't seem too worried. she also did an ultra sound to make sure there were no problems with the amniotic fluid, and she said that looked great.
i'm scheduled to return to L & D on monday morning to check that all still looks good. since my visit, my contractions have increased slightly, but i'm still up to no more than three an hour. however, at this point, i'm just happy to see SOME progress! hopefully soon we'll be done waiting.
after we finished up at the hospital, we did check out the Lakenheath bazaar, which was kind of disappointing. i didn't see anything i wanted (well, except for some belgain waffle cookies, but no good Christmas gifts, which was what i was looking for.)
it was a long day, and when i got home, i had a small situation with a neighbor which was all kinds of awkward and uncomfortable and pretty much left me feeling like a huge jerk. it's no big deal, to be honest, but given my over-emotional state of being right now, it's just no fun to have to look at yourself and wonder if you are the jerk you feel like. bugh.
anyway, i'm just really glad mom was here today. it would have been a bit more worrying to have to hang around L & D for four hours and wonder if everything's okay without someone to talk to. and i was so wiped by the end of the day, it was great to have someone here to drive home. i'm so grateful she's here. it really does cut some of the loneliness which would probably have made me an emotional wreck otherwise. hopefully my appointment on monday goes well, if we even make it till then! if we're lucky, maybe Caleb will show up sooner! :)
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