So Why Is PW At My House Again?

It's been a while since I've talked about The Pregnancy, so let's get on with it. First off, let me get something out of the way. All of the dear people who have actual contact with me and know of the looming medical problems I have hanging over my head always ask me how I'm feeling. This is terribly kind and thoughtful of them, particularly when accompanied by that worried furrowed brow-thing they do at the same time. Allow me to answer you here with the same answer I've been giving all along: I feel fantastic, thanks for asking! And this is where those of you who have been kind enough to entertain certain peawhistles in your homes give me a look that says, "Then why the hell am I babysitting your kid for you every week??" Because I asked and you're nice, that's why. You're an angel for this, trust me.

Allow me to explain the situation further, won't you? I have two issues the OBs are constantly hounding me with, or rather one big issue with two defining initial symptoms. The two symptoms are extreme protein loss and high blood pressure. OK, prepare yourselves for talk about my urination. Peeing protein doesn't hurt one bit. Losing protein doesn't hurt one bit. You'd never know you were doing it without a test telling you so. So there's that. High blood pressure doesn't hurt. It hurts your heart, sure, but you can't feel that. Occasionally I can feel my heart practically beating out of my chest, but that's usually when Peawhistle is bugging the crap out of me, hence why she's now at your house instead of mine. Otherwise, I would never have guessed my BPs are higher than normal without doctors telling me so. I feel fine pretty much all the time, aside from occasional pregnancy annoyances that most pregnant mothers deal with. I have more energy than ever and I find it difficult to sit still sometimes because my body is telling me I'm just fine. I have to force myself to sit down at the very least, let alone lie down when I can. Without OBs thrown in the mix I would think this was a perfectly normal and healthy pregnancy. However, it is the tests contradicting my opinion of my overall health. And it is the OBs conducting these tests telling me that if things get worse I'll be put on bed rest, and if they get worse than that I'll be hospitalized until the birth. I really, really, really don't want that, and neither does anyone else related to me in any way, hence why I took the bull by the horns once I discovered a problem rearing its annoying head. That's why you're watching Peawhistle and why also, so far, I'm doing great. And you have my undying devotion for it, too, believe me. You'll all be getting cakes after this affair is over with.

As for my tests of late, they're looking good, although I admit that hinging on the cusp of a potentially life-threatening disease that has no personally perceivable symptoms is not encouraging and isn't doing my peace of mind any good at all (otherwise I'm terrific!). They did baseline tests for everything to make sure they have something to compare it to if things start to go south. I still have protein in my urine, but not huge amounts yet so they say I'm still within normal ranges. Also, my BPs have been down these last two times. I got very hopeful by this news and hoped the OB would be as well until she informed me that they expected them to drop in the second trimester anyway as all women's do during this time, but they were up initially in the second trimester too, so I don't know what they're going on about. But at least they're down for now. She did hint that third trimester is when they start to go up again so that's when they would think a problem would come up if at all, but at least I've got 4-5 more weeks until then, and she said if I do wind up with pre-eclempsia again they could induce as early as 37 weeks if all is still going relatively well. So that's not tooooo long, but long enough to be worrisome.

Also, I've found that yet another switch in OBs has helped tremendously. The second-to-last one went into labor so I switched to the one I wanted all along for the last two visits (the ones with lower BPs I might remind you). I love this woman because she is very, very, very calm. There are no emergencies with this woman, no life-or-death consequences, no "YOU BETTER LOWER YOUR BLOOD PRESSURES OR YOU'LL KILL YOUR BABY." Just an all-around optimistic and happy, easy-going attitude. The woman is so calm I wouldn't be surprised at all if a waft of weed followed her into every appointment; in fact, if it helps me to be calm too, I'd highly encourage it from her. So thank you, pot-smoking OB! Your attitude keeps me calm. Let's hope it carries over into the next trimester. Otherwise you'll be seeing a lot more of my dear mother, and that's not good for anyone's blood pressure, trust me.