When you are in the hospital but you aren't sick... All the details

Well here I am at the hospital. Not in labor. Not sick. But here I am. It is kind of a strange thing. So I started my Fall Break on Wednesday and I was very set on getting things in order for the baby and for school since I had not made my sub plans yet and I only have about a month before my due date. I spent all day Wednesday going on errands, buying all those wonderful things that a woman preparing to give birth buys like giant pads, aloe vera, stool softeners, etc. I mailed out shower thank you notes, we cleaned the house, organized things, etc. I think it is a little too early for nesting technically, but I wanted to take advantage of my break. Unfortunately on Thursday I woke up in the night with a sick stomach. I had a stomach bug all day which kept me pretty house bound and unable to get what I wanted done. One thing I did do was go out to the hospital for a blood test. I have been getting itchy hands and feet which can be a sign of cholestasis in pregnancy and can be dangerous for the baby. So even though I felt sick I went off to the hospital and got my blood drawn.

The next day I woke up feeling just fine and was anxious about my lab results because if you do have cholestasis then you are likely to be induced early as to not endanger the baby. I spent all morning working on my long-term sub plans and instructions. I went out to lunch with my sister and on some errands when I got really blurry vision while we were at Costco. I had been having this happen for the last few weeks and thought it was just a migraine. For those who have never been blessed with migraines, you can get blurred vision with the onset of migraines, a symptom that I always get when I have them. So my sister took me home and I laid down in bed. This is when I started getting worried because I had really not felt much movement from the baby all day. I was worried about not feeling him move, about my lab results, and about having this crazy blurry vision. All of this kind of made me freak out and I ended up calling my doctor's nurse, which was when she told me that I should go into labor and delivery just to get checked out and get some peace of mind.

So the next thing I knew Sam and I are driving out to the hospital. It was then that I started to really feel the baby kick. I felt so stupid and that we didn't even need to go, but Sam said we should still try. Randomly on the way to the hospital we almost got majorly rear ended when everyone suddenly braked on the freeway. The car behind us swerved probably to not hit us and ended up spinning around behind us. It was terrifying. Amazingly I don't think anyone hit them. So after that my blood was really pumping and the baby really started moving. By the time we got checked into labor and delivery I felt really silly being there because I was obviously feeling the baby move. The hooked me up to some monitors and began asking me a million questions and then Sam and I waited. What we were told would be 25-30 minutes to get checked out started to get longer, and longer, and longer.

The baby turns out, was absolutely fine. Which is great. He is nice and healthy and healthy and moving around. It was the blood work I had done which was worrisome. A doctor came in and spoke to us about how I had elevated levels of liver enzymes which can be a sign of preeclampsia or a condition that is more severe but similar called hellps syndrome. I also had a few high readings of blood pressure which worried them. We started hearing things like "induction" and "delivering the baby." At this point we were kind of freaking out. I got a major headache and felt really overwhelmed. They talked to a high-risk doctor and she thought it would be best to wait the night and test my blood again in the morning, and we agreed. So our 20-30 minute check turned into an overnight stay.

I really thought they would send me home the next day because the baby was healthy and I was feeling fine, but my pesky lab work was still too high. My OB actually was on call on Saturday so she was able to come and see me, which was nice. She described for me why they were keeping me and the risk of going home and pretty much said I could not go home because if I did have one of these things then it could go from not so bad to really dangerous super fast. She wanted to keep doing lab work each day and see if I started getting any more obvious symptoms so they could diagnose what I have. If I showed any other symptoms then they would have reason to induce me immediately, but since I am only 35 weeks it is too early to justify an induction unless it was more serious, which I agreed with. So we spent all Saturday at the hospital and Saturday turned into Sunday. 

On Sunday I met with a high-risk doctor and she gave me hope that I would be able to go home. She was not super concerned about my enzyme levels because they were not extremely high and in fact they had even dropped a little that day. Her prediction was that they would keep going down and I might even be able to go home Monday afternoon. At that point Sam and I were just ready to go home. I thought they would do my early morning blood work, it would come back better, and we would go home and go back to normal life. It was kind of an emotional roller coaster. Friday and Saturday I was really trying to mentally prepare myself for an early baby and that I would not be going back to work. Then after hearing I would probably go home I had to mentally get back to normal life and going back to work and just waiting to go into labor on my own like planned.

Well this morning they came and took a bunch of blood samples. A little while later another high risk doctor came and met with me and told me that my levels did not get better but in fact got worse, so they would keep me another day. So then Monday is now going to turn into Tuesday. My OB came and met with me again and basically told me that they don't know what to do with me. This just makes me laugh. Of course I would have some mysterious ailment that they can't for sure diagnose. Her guess is that I have preeclampsia but I am just not manifesting all the normal symptoms. So she basically told me the plan is likely to keep me here until I deliver this baby boy. They probably won't let me go past 37 weeks. I will be 36 weeks tomorrow so potentially I could be here for a whole week just waiting to either get worse enough to justify early induction, miraculously get better, or be induced next Tuesday. But even with that, there is no certainty. 

Lets just say this is not how I imagined the end of my pregnancy going. Honestly I feel perfectly fine. In fact I feel almost no stress here. They bring me all my food. I don't have to do dishes or deal with teenagers, or go to work and be on my feet. I am not hooked up to any monitors or on bed rest so I can walk around as I please. I am definitely getting bored, but I even have my computer to get some work done. My work has been amazing and helped me get things sorted out as best as possible. I am just trying to mentally prepare for whatever is coming. I truly imagined myself going over my due date and beginning to get contractions on my own. I imagined timing my contractions and telling Sam when it was time to go to the hospital. It is hard being here not because I don't feel good or I am uncomfortable, but because I feel like I don't belong yet. Everyone here has already delivered their babies. I see them wearing robes and pushing them around the halls. I see tired Dads getting drinks for their wives. The nurses joke that I am the easiest patient they have. I have a little jealousy that they have their babies and mine is still waiting to come out, but at the same time I want him to stay in and keep growing and getting stronger. It is a lot of mixed emotions!

 I am so anxious and excited to meet out little boy but at the same time there is the worry that there will be complications from the induction or him coming early. What keeps me feeling at peace is how well he appears on every screening and test. I know everything will work out and that I am in the best possible place, but there is still so much uncertainty. So for now we are playing the waiting game. At least I feel good and the baby is healthy and I have Sam and family here helping me and supporting me. That is all I really need and can ask for. I am so blessed that I have been able to keep calm and feel peace in my heart while I have been here. I haven't even cried, which is amazing! I think this just goes to show that with parenting you have to learn patience and flexibility and I am beginning to learn those before our baby has even come. So there is the long detailed story of why I am in the hospital, but neither the baby or I are actually sick. For now, enjoy these amazing pictures of little baby boy's 34 week ultrasound and my big growing belly!

34 weeks

35 weeks

Adorable sliver of Baby Boy's face, I love the nose and cheeks!

Another more smooshed version. His nose is not really that lumpy :)

He already has wispy hair!

Thanks for all the love, support, concern, and prayers from everyone. We really appreciate it. We are doing great and are in the best possible place. Hopefully the next update will be the birth of our little man!