We met with Lori, the other midwife in the practice, today since either Cassie or Lori could be there for labor and delivery depending on who is on call. We've been seeing Cassie for the last few months so thought it would be a good idea to see Lori again. She had a student shadowing her, which was fine with us. Turns out I am still 2 cm dilated and approximately 70% effaced. They were guessing that she is around 7 lbs at this point. They waited until I had been sitting there for a while to take my blood pressure (since the last few weeks it has been high at the beginning of the visit and lower at the end), but unfortunately it was fairly high at 148/98. We waited a bit and tried it again and it was still 145/90. She had me go across the hall to do some blood work, then come back and get hooked up to the fetal monitor for a non stress test while we waited for the lab results. I reclined in a super comfy black leather lazy boy (Neil joked that we should have gotten that chair for the nursery!) and they strapped a couple monitors to my belly. We could hear the heartbeat loud and clear and I just had to push a button every time I felt her move. Neil was rocking out to the beat of her heart and we started to be able to predict when she was going to have a burst of movement based on her heartbeat speeding up. They came and checked on us a couple times and after almost an hour said things looked great and we could get unhooked. The last blood pressure reading I had was 128/80 and when the blood work came back okay as well, they said we could go home (after almost 3 hours!).
However, Lori said she wants me back in on Monday to get checked out again and that they would like to schedule induction for 39 weeks (next Thursday!) if I don't go into labor on my own before then. They are thinking that they would rather have the baby come at 39 weeks than risk my blood pressure getting higher and causing further complications. Currently they are saying that I have gestational hypertension and are ready for that baby to come out any day now!
Besides the reality of it being a little shocking, I'm really okay with meeting this little girl in a week or less! If that's what they think is the best course of action and safest for me and the baby, then I'm okay with it. She described the process of what they would do and that we probably would come in on Wednesday evening to get started. We made the appointment for Monday with Cassie and after we left the office I left Cassie a voice message to chat with her about the whole situation as well. Neil and I would really prefer Cassie to be there for delivery and she is on call from today through Wednesday, then Lori is on Thursday for the following week. Cassie said they would probably "strip my membranes" on Monday to see if that helps labor start on its own. We also talked about using a prostoglandin drug that gets the cervix ready and can start labor before going to pitocin on Wednesday evening/Thursday. We'll just have to see what happens in these next few days!
Neil and I are feeling as ready as we can and have things all set at home, but it's still crazy to think that we will be meeting this little baby in a few days! I admit that I do kind of like the idea of knowing when to go to the hospital and that things will start happening versus being at home not sure what is going to happen when. The only thing I'm feeling nervous about now is the actual labor and delivery part, which will be painful and probably a little scary, but at least it won't last forever. And then she will be here!
The last two weeks have been pretty relaxed and unexciting. I'm still waking up two to three times a night, but otherwise sleeping pretty well and a lot. This week I've been sneezing a lot, having a stuffed nose at night and what seems like a really minor cold, so hopefully it doesn't turn into anything worse. It seems that the whole town of Big Sky is sick with a nasty cold these days, so I'm hoping I avoid the worst of it. I still am having Braxton Hicks contractions all the time, usually every 10 minutes or so when I'm paying close attention. They are not painful, just slightly annoying. Getting around is tough with stiff hips and ligament pain and I'm really looking forward to that getting better eventually (hopefully!) after having the baby.
For some reason, I'm not able to upload the photos for this week, but I was able to add this video from the other night of my belly while I was watching tv. Pretty funny!
Oh my gosh Anna - that is SOOO cool!! What a great video to capture baby girl Johnson!!
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