Lately

It's been an interesting couple of weeks. Almost two weeks ago I went to the midwives for a regular appointment and I was told that my blood pressure was dangerously high and that I "might make it" to 37 weeks if I was lucky, and they ran some tests and put me on meds and bed rest. They also said that I would be induced and blah blah blah. Naturally, I was terrified. I cried while I was there and then a lot more when I drove home.

I've had two appointments since then, and at both of them my blood pressure has gone back down, but they are still pushing for an eventual induction--yesterday the midwife said 39 weeks would be as late as they would "let" me go. And yes, 39 weeks is December 25th.

I find it ironic that with all my hard work to educate myself about birth and with my commitment to natural childbirth that I am facing the prospect of labor induction. I firmly believe that healthy pregnancies should be left alone, and I have tried really hard to be low risk. I even did the Brewer Egg Booster diet--ask me about that sometime. I think the egg diet combined with removing some of my stress has made the difference, but I'm not "allowed" to get off the meds--I asked. I'm just frustrated that this is happening to me. I guess I'm supposed to learn different things from this experience than I thought I would. All my research says that  high blood pressure is truly a "high risk" condition, and labor induction is indicated because high blood pressure ages the placenta too quickly. I want to do what is best for Charlie Man, but after all the reading I've done about inductions, I am scared to be possibly facing one. Hopefully he'll decide to come on his own before that, or hopefully all those natural induction methods really do work. The only things I can do now are stay healthy and hope for the best.

It kinda feels like everything is happening at once. I am finishing my classes from home (thanks, teachers!), trying to prep for finals and get all the last-minute things ready before Charlie comes. I've been getting used to the idea of having a Charlie for the last few months, and it has been gradual, and now that I'm almost 36 weeks it's starting to feel even more real and kind of urgent. In a sense, this "bed rest" policy has been nice because it means that Greg and I spend more time together at home (I sure like hanging out with him...) and I don't feel guilty about my daily nap anymore, because hey, doctor's orders!

In other news, our Thanksgiving was great! Greg's whole family came up from Texas to hang out with us, and we had a killer time! I wish that we could have spent more time together, but that's better than wishing you could have spent less time together, right? We took some family pics with the new addition (me) and hopefully Greg and I can take some preggo pics before Charlie comes.