Hospital / Baby Update

Everything ended up being a false alarm and I am ever so grateful. I never did feel like anything was wrong with me and I am pleased to know that my gut feeling was right. But, here's low-down of how things went, anyway.

They stuck me 4 different places until they found a vein to put the IV into. I have teeny tiny veins and that had to be the most awful part of the hospital visit. Since my platelet count is low to begin with, I have HUGE bruises all up and down my arms and hands. They popped 2 blood vessels on top of it all and it looks like I was beaten to a pulp. Hopefully the bruises will heal quickly.

I checked in on Wednesday around 1:30 pm. I was released on Thursday at 10:00 pm. I could only eat ice chips and popsicles the first 20 hours. They took my blood pressure every 20 minutes and it never elevated at the hospital. It was only at the Hemotologist's office that it was high. Was it their machine? Was I especially anxious? Who knows. They took a lot of blood for tests. All tests came back negative. They took my platelet count. It seems to be stabilized around 81,000. They put the baby on steroids. 4 shots in 24 hours. I'm done with that. This will help his lungs and other organs to develop faster in case they have to induce me earlier than 37 weeks. Other than that, I had to stay because they took my urine for 24 hours. They had to check it for protein. That came back negative as well.

The best part was that I got to have another sono of the baby. And he is doing so well! He continues to stay at the curve he was before (72%). They believe he weighs around 5 pounds, which is already 1/2 pound bigger than Joshy was. I may just get an 8-pounder after all! They also checked the blood flow through the placenta and it is looking excellent. The only thing was that his bladder was full and it looked like he may have had some urine in his kidneys. They will check back with this at my regular clinic this week, but they really think that everything is fine. And I think everything is well, too. I will also get a platelet count every week for the remainder of my pregnancy. Hopefully it will stay around 80,000.

I do not have to be on bed rest. I can go about my regular life. I am going to take it easy, though. I will continue to be lazy...for the sake of the baby, of course. :) Man, it's going to be tough to get back into shape!

Last things last, my doctor talked to the Anethesiologists. It looks like because I am a "peep" of sorts to the OB clinic, they are going to let me have an epideral. That is, if everything else continues to look good. The doctor said that there have been so few cases of anything happening to low platelet count pregnancy patients with epiderals, I should be able to get one. I have to say that I'm pretty relieved. I know that there is still a chance that I may not be able to get one, but as the looks of things right now, it shouldn't be a problem. Hooray, hooray, hooray! I love modern medicine. I will continue to let you know how things progress, IF there are any changes. But hopefully the next time I blog about the pregnancy, there will be pictures of a cute, little, healthy infant boy to go with it. 6 1/2 weeks to go!