At Home

At my regular check up this past Tuesday the doctor noted that my blood pressure was a little high and they were going to start monitoring it to watch for hypertension and/or preeclampsia. They told me to come back on Friday for a blood pressure check and told me what symptoms to watch for should things escalate.

On Wednesday afternoon my feet and hands puffed up tremendously. Even a coworker noted that my face looked puffy too which is not something a woman ever wants to hear but I had to take it as further validation that I really was not feeling well. I called the doctor's office and they said better to be safe than sorry - come on up and you can see the doctor that's in today. My blood pressure was higher than it had been the day before. They sent me to the lab to have blood drawn for a blood count and to give me a jug to collect ALL of my pee for 24 hours. Oh, and this jug has to be refrigerated. Yes, your vision is accurate: a jug of pee next to the gallon of milk and leftover lasagna. If this was Robbie's pee I would be totally grossed out and would insist that the garage was cool enough for him to keep it well out of my sight. I didn't really put it next to the milk or near any food but rather in the bottom door drawer which can be and has been removed and cleaned just in case. It was not in plain view. Hey, if Robbie can put dead ducks in the fridge, then what's a jug of pee? And may I add that returning the "specimen" to the lab is a bit humiliating. There's just something degrading to everyone involved when you set your giant jug of pee on the counter. You wonder what people are thinking watching you walk into the lab with a brown paper bag. It's not a bottle of beer, folks! But it's not a stool sample either. That might be the only thing worse.

I was also told to stay home from work Thursday until I talked to my doctor Thursday afternoon. Yesterday afternoon my blood pressure was still high and had been high all day, so the doctor told me I would not be returning to work. She also told me we would most likely have this baby around 38 weeks which is LESS THAN 2 WEEKS FROM NOW. We would have the baby next week if I have preeclampsia, but they called this morning to say I did not have enough protein in 24 hour's worth of urine to diagnose preE. That's good news.

The bad news is I am starting my maternity leave now instead of after baby arrives. The bad news - or good news, perhaps - is that I am limited on how much activity I can do. I may not: clean the garage, vacuum, do any housekeeping, cook, or go to the grocery store. I enjoy a leisure lifestyle without a doubt, but even I get anxious looking at all the things I could be doing with all this time I have now and can't. Whoever would have thought I would be dying to clean?? So please, anyone out there, send a message, send a text, send an email, comment on the blog, come over. Entertain me, please! Or come over and clean. You choose.

These pictures are just for fun. The first is Robbie putting together a storage thing for Katie Rose's closet. The second is proof that Robbie also lets Shuge get in the bed. It's not just me!