My pre-e scare (16 week appt)

Let me preface this by saying last night we watched the TV show House, and a girl died of eclampsia on the show. Also, I'm probably the world's biggest hypochondriac... Okay, maybe 2nd biggest. My good friend and co-worker, Elyse, might take the cake on that one, but I do give her a run for her money sometimes... And this was one of those times.

We had our 16 week appointment today. First thing they normally do is take your blood pressure. Mine is usually pretty high because I get all wound up for my OB appointments. Until I see the baby moving and hear the heartbeat, I pretty much hold my breath the whole time. So anyway, she takes my bp and it's 148/88. That's way high. So immediately she takes it on my other arm and it's 131/74 - not bad, but she wants to check it on my way out just to make sure. We have our normal talk with the dr. He asks if we want to do the down's syndrome screen bc now is the optimal time. We decide we don't since it won't really matter either way, besides saving us the shock at birth. But we decide to take our chances with not knowing. The dr asks about my headaches, which are getting a little better it seems, and if I take the 2 midrin as soon as I feel one coming on, it usually takes care of it. Then we have our ultrasound and we get to see the blueberry for like the 5th time I think. It's getting so big. He tried to see what he/she was, and got a few good "shots" but it wasn't all that conclusive. He said if he had to guess he would guess it's a girl, but not to go around telling everyone he said that... like I just did. =) We got 5 new ultrasound pictures to add to our collection. After the ultrasound she took my bp again and this time it was 158/88... They wanted to do a urine sample, but I had just peed, so they said we'll look at it next time if it's still up.

So my heart had been racing all night after that appointment. I felt like my chest was tight and like I couldn't breathe. It was all in my head and I knew it was in my head, but I still freaked out. We went to my company christmas party and had a good time, and then headed to Walmart to use their blood pressure machine. I could feel my heart rate speed up just walking to the machine because I was getting nervous. Sure enough, when I sat down, the first time my bp was 151/88 and my heart rate was 101. Nice. (Yes, I know I need to calm down... no need to remind me.) After walking around the store for 15 mins and breathing deeply and taking my bp about 6 more times, I finally got it down to 127/77 and my heartrate down to 92. (For comparison, Mark's bp was 123/74 and his heart rate was 55 at the lowest. He tested multiple times too.) And sure enough, as soon as I saw the "normal" range, I could feel my heart rate lower and my chest felt much less tight. We seriously contemplated getting a blood pressure machine for home, but they were $40 and we didn't want to spend that much. We decided we'll wait until my next appt (Jan 7th) and see what my bp is then.

Overall though, things have been great. I still get some migraines, but they seem to be letting up some. I've been really hyper lately too. I've been in a great mood and I truly am loving being pregnant. Today at the grocery store we saw a friend we hadn't seen for a few months and she right away said "I didn't know you were pregnant!". That made me feel great - like I actually look pregnant instead of just fat. It was a real "upper", even though I probably didn't need that since I was already way wound up. =)

We're SUPER excited about going home next week. They're calling for bad weather though on Monday and Tuesday all the way from OK to IL. That makes me nervous. I get nervous driving 13 hours away anyway, but adding snow/ice/rain to the drive makes me even more nervous. We've decided we're going to leave Monday afternoon as soon as we can, and drive to Springfield, MO - about 6 hrs from here. We'll be within the 350 mile radius Mark has to stay in since he leave doesn't start until 12:01am on Tuesday. Then we'll drive the rest of the way on Monday. That way we have more time with his family and if we run into bad weather, our drive will be more bareable. I don't want our 13hr drive turning into an 18hr drive due to weather if we're trying to do it all in one day. Hopefully the roads will be much better than I'm imagining! =)