Uncomfortable Update

Well, I had my final doctor's visit on Thursday. Before I get to the details of that appointment, though, I need to give you some additional background information about my week. On Monday we had our second and final work day. I spent much of this day getting things together and discussing plans with my team. Late Monday afternoon we (my principal and I) interviewed yet another person for my position while I'm on maternity leave. Unfortunately, there was a miscommunication about his certification and he's not actually yet certified in SpEd. He's going back to school to get certified, but he hasn't even started those classes yet. Because he is not certified, this means he could only work in my room for 4 days and then the 5th day would have to be covered by someone who is certified. So, needless to say this seemed to be more wasted time. On Tuesday we actually started school. Things went shockingly well. They weren't perfect, but I had had some serious worries about the behaviors to expect from my students and I think by explaining my policies to them and the rewards they could reap by doing the right thing, they realized that the year might just go ok. Wednesday went equally well and I was impressed that the students still seemed respectful and were getting work completed. This trend continued on Thursday, but I was feeling a little more stressed out. On Tuesday night my principal and SpEd coordinator interviewed another candidate. This person was certified, but my principal had some concerns. But, at least he was certified and available. On Wednesday night, my principal and SpEd coordinator inteviewed another candidate. They liked him better, but he couldn't seem to locate his license. They offerred him the job anyways and said to come to school on Thursday with his license. When my principal arrived at school on Thursday morning she had a message from this guy saying that on his way home the battery in his car died. He no longer had reliable transportation because he couldn't afford to fix the battery right now AND his wife said that this wasn't a good enough job for him. (Now, I would think this would have been something they would have discussed before he ever interviewed, but clearly my expectations of people seem to be WAY too high). So, my day on Thursday had already been a bit stressful. My doctor's appointment was at 2:45 pm. This meant that I had to have plans prepared for Friday and potentially for next week BEFORE I left for the appointment. I had to leave before school was actually finished for the day, so I spent most of 9th period scrambling to get the final things together to leave as plans. This meant I was pretty much neglecting my job, but what was I going to do?

Ok, now that you know some background leading in to my doctor's appointment, things might be a bit easier for you to understand what happened next. My doctor actually has 2 offices - one at the hospital and one in Dublin. My appointment in December to discuss getting pregnant was at the Dublin office. Since then, every other appointment has been at the hospital office. Strangely, I was put into the same room that I had been in in December. So, my first and last appointments were in the same place. Anyways, the nurse took my blood pressure and - surprise, surprise - it was something like 138/92. The doctor doesn't like it to get higher than 140/90 with either number being higher than that. When the doctor came in I wasn't overly worried because I really felt like my pressure was up because of my stressful situation at school. Also, I told her that I was pretty certain Sadie has descended at least a little bit and that I was feeling some pretty extensive pressure in my lower uterus. She agreed that she was at least a little lower because she had to move down further on my belly to get a good read on her heart rate. Then she completed the internal exam. I am still only 1.5 cm dilated and 60% effaced. This is because, while Sadie is putting EXTREME pressure on my pelvic bone, she has yet to actually go underneath my pelvic bone. Until she makes that deeper descent, there won't be any change. So, this was obviously disappointing and then she wanted to talk again about induction. Then, she wanted to take my blood pressure again to see if it had gone down. Now, let's think - I hadn't had a great day to begin with, then I find out my blood pressure is high, next I learn that I still haven't dilated or effaced anymore, and then she wants to talk about induction, something I really wanted to avoid. So, when she takes my pressure again, there's been no change. Now she tells me that she wants me to lay down on my left side for 10 minutes and she'll take my pressure again. If my pressure's still not down then I will need to have a blood draw. Ok - let's be real. If you know me at all, you know I HATE having blood drawn because this almost always leads to me feeling faint. You already know about all of the other stressors on my mind, too, so this is clearly not looking good for me. And with no surprise to me, my blood pressure was actually up at the end of 10 minutes - 130/102. So, the doctor comes back and tells me that I have two choices. I can either go next door and have the blood drawn or I can go to Labor and Delivery and have the blood drawn there. If they draw the blood next door, she won't be able to learn the results until Friday morning. If I go to Labor and Delivery, they can get the results much quicker AND if it's determined that I do have pre-eclamsia, she will induce me on Thursday night. Now, it seems to me to be rather stupid to not just go to Labor and Delivery, even though I'm still pretty darn certain that my pressure being up is solely related to my stress caused by work. She tells me to go home and get my things and have something to eat (since I won't be able to eat anything at the hospital if she does end up inducing me). So, I leave the doctor's office not feeling too well.

Now the real fun starts - I try to call Adam. He had told me pre-appointment that he had a meeting, but to call if I really needed to talk. Since I knew we'd have to head to the hospital and he would need to leave ASAP, I called him. He wouldn't answer his phone. He wouldn't answer his personal cell, his work phone, or his work cell. This worried me a bit. Then I tried calling my mom. She had actually called and left me a message while I was at my appointment. I called her several times, and she wouldn't answer her phone either (supposedly her phone never rang and she had no indication that she had missed a call). By this point, I was in tears. I couldn't get a hold of either of the people who are supposed to be accompanying me into the labor and delivery room. So, I call my dad. He can't understand me because I'm crying. I finally calm down enough to convey what's happening and he says he'll get in touch with my mom and to try and calm down. I keep driving towards home and eventually Adam calls me back. He had turned his phone on vibrate and didn't feel it. Grrrrrrr!!!! But, he drops everything that he's doing and gets in his car to head home. Then my mom calls me. I explain everything to her and this is when she tells me that her phone has never rung. She had been at the salon to get her hair cut and colored. We both go to the same place to get our hair done, so they had no problem letting her get up and leave and they, thankfully, hadn't started cutting or coloring yet. This is also when I learn that my dad has no car. My parents decided that now that they were back in school they would take their cars to get detailed. Goodness only knows why this seemed like a good idea to them when they had all summer to do this and have it not be an inconvenience to either of them, but that's neither here nor there at this point. So, my mom headed over to pick up my Dad and then they headed to dinner. I, in the meantime, had arrived home and was waiting for Adam to get here. He began gathering up all of our stuff to take to the hospital while I continued to clean and tidy up so that if we didn't end up coming home Thursday night we would NOT come home to a messy house. Eventually we headed to Wendy's. This is the Wendy's where Adam and I went on our first date (to get some water) and where my mom's water had broken when she was pregnant with me. We thought this would be a good omen.

We all (Mom, Dad, Adam and I) arrived at the hosptial and headed up to Labor and Delivery. Since I wasn't actually heading all the way back into the real delivery room, though, I was only allowed to have one "guest" accompany me. My parents then had to go and sit in the waiting room. After not too long of a wait, a nurse came back and started asking me a million questions. She then took my blood pressure (128/80) and said she would be back soon to do the blood draw. She held true to her word. I had to give three vials. But, she listened to me and took the blood from my surface vein. This ALWAYS hurts less and usually leaves much less of a bruise. And, since I had just eaten and my blood sugar was up, it really wasn't too awful to have the blood drawn. She then brought me some water and Adam and I basically sat around and played the waiting game. I was all hooked up to monitors. I had a fetal monitor so we could hear Sadie's heart beat and then I had a blood pressure cuff that automatically took my pressure every 15 minutes. Adam took a couple of goofy pictures of me to send to my parents and we kept conversing with them through text messages. After nearly two hours of sitting around, the results of my blood work came back. Everything was normal and my blood pressure was now way down (112/74). They called my doctor. She said that I was not to go back to work since it was obviously causing my pressure to increase and that her office would be contacting me about when to come in for an induction. Then we got to go home. I had already contacted my principal earlier and she assured me that she would have the permanent sub cover for me on Friday and then let me know the plan for next week.

As luck would have it, my mom didn't have school on Friday. No reason, that was just their agreed upon schedule. So, she came over and we ran a few errands on Friday. I got an e-mail from my principal telling me that they ended up hiring the "concerning" guy, since he was seemingly the ONLY person in the Central Ohio area to not already have a SpEd job. I also did some more cleaning and laundry. Adam then stopped at Yanni's, our FAVORITE Greek restaurant, on his way home and got us some delicious food for dinner. We then watched "Dan in Real Life", one of our options available on On-Demand, and Adam removed my toe nail polish and gave me an extensive foot rub. Isn't he a NICE husband?

This morning, it looks like it's going to be a beautiful day! It's the first Ohio State game of the year, a game Adam and I attended a year ago. I think we'll continue to do some last minute tidying up and a lot of trying to relax. Maybe that will convince Sadie to make her deeper descent. If nothing else, we are scheduled for an induction to begin at 7:00 am on Wednesday September 3, so we should, hopefully, have a baby on Wednesday. We have learned that the hospital does have free WiFi, so Adam will have his computer with him and we will hopefully be able to give some updates from the hospital. In the meantime, I would greatly appreciate all of your positive thoughts being sent my way. I can certainly use them! Hope everyone has a GREAT Labor Day weekend!