Just Keep Swimming

So, yesterday’s “woe is me” post? We’re regaining our footing (not literally, because Mommy is still on bed rest, but we’re feeling much better about it).

One of the stipulations for Mommy’s continued outpatient status was that she purchase a blood pressure cuff and monitor herself a few times a day at home. She was to call if her systolic was over 140 and/or her diastolic topped 90. She acquired the cuff yesterday morning and her first reading was 145/90. Figuring that was obviously wrong, Mommy sat quietly for 5 minutes and tried again: 134/107. Well, that couldn’t possibly be right, could it? She went to lay down and about a half an hour later rechecked: 146/90.

*Obviously* her cuff must be defective! She spent the afternoon resting and then headed off to rehearsal, where she had the school nurse give it a go: 144/89. Sigh.

A note for everyone who jumped all over the slipped-in rehearsal reference in that last sentence; judge if you need to, but Mommy NEEDED to be at the rehearsal in order to make her feel okay about stepping back a little bit for the next few weeks. She lobbied hard to be “allowed” to go, and while her doctor was not ecstatic about it, she did not outright forbid it. Mommy’s priorities are, in order, Me, Squishy, her & Daddy, and her work. I honestly think that missing the rehearsal would have been detrimental to her blood pressure levels – in her head, she HAD to be there to get some ducks in a row.

Anyway, Mommy ran rehearsal and had discussions with the kids and parents and school admins about next steps; she made a plan that she feels comfortable with for the moment, and which allows her to follow her bed rest order with less argument.

Then she went home to check her pressure one more time before calling her doctor: 135/91. (See? How it went DOWN after rehearsal and getting a plan together?)

Dr. D was not spectacularly impressed with her “lower” reading, and sent her back to L&D for more monitoring/blood work.

A side note on what they are looking for: When Mommy was in labor with me, her doctors at the time discovered that she had developed HELLP syndrome, along with preeclampsia. HELLP is life threatening and kind of a big deal, so the big concern is that she will develop it again, and that is what they are watching for. For the moment, she does NOT have HELLP, or even preeclampsia. Lowered platelet levels *are* a part of HELLP, but they alone are not diagnostic, and she is not exhibiting the other indicators (red blood cell damage, elevated liver enzymes). Platelet levels can also be lower just as a part of pregnancy for no particular reason, or as part of an autoimmune condition – this is not considered HELLP yet. Additionally, just because she had it before does not necessarily mean she will develop it again, but no one wants it to get as far as it did before catching it this time around, thus the relentless monitoring. Also, while Mommy is showing *some* signs of preeclampsia, she doesn’t have all of them, so no diagnosis there yet either. For the moment, she has pregnancy induced hypertension and gestational thrombocytopenia and they are merely watching to make sure that she does not develop something more serious and have it go unnoticed.

ANYway.

She and Grammy Boo and Daddy headed off to the hospital again. Her blood pressure was still not great when they got there and so they hooked her and Squishy up for monitoring and stuck Mommy about 17 times before finding a vein that didn’t collapse or lock up before they could get a sample. Bloodwork came back okay, and she go to go home – this time with orders for bed rest for real (no more bargained for “light activity”).

So Coach is back hanging out with us today, and we will need help for the foreseeable future (Mommy is aiming to NOT have Squishy before the New Year). Mommy might not get to come with us to the circus on Saturday (although she is really going to try, and will be asking her doctor at her follow-up appointment tomorrow), and we are a bit more cooped up than usual, but we are all okay.

Don’t worry – we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled cute anecdotes, and pictures of my big boy room soon!