Friday July 20th, 2018
30 weeks & 4 days Pregnant
I decided to start my urinalysis Friday night. (No way the pee jug was going to work with me) I had to collect for a full 24 hours and as soon as the 24 hours was finished, I was responsible for going back to OB Triage to have it analyzed.
**Full disclosure to any expecting moms - None of the mommy blogs or the What to Expect articles mentioned anything about this! Apparently collecting pee for 24 hours in a milk carton IS a thing! But don’t be alarmed if you ever experience this! The DR does provide a bowl that sits in the toilet that you pee into. Then use that to pour it into the jug**
Sams mom called to remind us about his sisters birthday that same weekend and the family was planning a day trip out to Seward, AK. That sounded great! Just the thing I needed to distract myself from the urin.... nope... If we went with them, it only meant I would have to bring my jug along. It was inescapable.
How could I stand to do that? It was too much. It as all that I could do to handle this process already. However it was family and I knew a decision had to be made...
Saturday July 21st, 2018
30 weeks & 5 days Pregnant
I barely slept. Like many nights as the pregnancy progressed. My belly was in the way, the only relief I had was this enormous pillow that surrounded my body as I slept. It took a while to get use to it, but after I started to show, it was like sleeping on a cloud.
I got ready to begin the day. I packed everything I would need for our day trip. Sunglasses, sanitizer, pee jug, sanitizer, camera, sanitizer, and more sanitizer. All in my weekender bag so no one would see. It was embarrassing enough that the family already knew (remember last post I mentioned we have medical personnel in the family? Yea, they know things)
Everything was actually going smoother than I thought it would. We made a stop in Girdwood for snacks and it was my first time using the jug in public. I asked Sam to help me; he was so supportive with the process, no matter how embarrassed I was.
Seward was a fun and quick trip since it’s only a 2 hour trip from Anchorage. We did quite a bit of sightseeing. The sea otters were out playing in the bay and the sun felt amazing! It was a great way to take my mind off of everything. At least, for the moment...
We started to head back into Anchorage and the closer we got, the more anxious I became. What if my urinalysis shows something is off? The pregnancy had been a breeze up until this point so why now?
I thought it would be a quick in and out type of trip - drop off the container and wait for a call. Obviously, I was wrong.
Once again I found myself being hooked up to a blood pressure machine and fetal monitor. (fetal monitor tracks baby's heartbeat) The nurse said she needed a full 20 minute reading of the baby's heartbeat. Well apparently that wasn't ok for my daughter. Every time the nurse located her heartbeat and left the room, she would flip or move, causing the nurse to come back in and reposition the monitor. As amusing as it was to see my daughter rebel so early in life, I was ready to get the monitoring complete and go home. Eventually the nurse just gave in and stayed in the room until they had their full 20 minute strip.
After waiting for the results, the doctor finally came in to deliver the news. She spouted off some info about my lab results but all I could think was 'Ok what does that all mean?' and finally she said the words "Mild Preeclampsia." What does that even mean?
The doctor went on to further explain (in simplified term) - Since this is my first pregnancy, my body doesn't know how to react so it's natural instinct is to fight off the foreign body.
So basically the one thing women are capable of naturally doing, my body was rejecting? Why? How? None of it made any sense to me.
We left 2 hours later and all I knew was the pregnancy wouldn't go to full term. But how far would they allow me to go...?
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