Hedging my bets

Mondays have been "doctor days" for a while. For a few months, Monday meant either a visit to the OB, a visit to the peri center or both. From here on out, it means both. That meant spending upwards of 4 hours at the hospital yesterday.

I started at the peri center. They are notoriously slow. I rarely spend less than an hour waiting to be called back. Every Monday I get a story about how it's a "crazy day." Even though I'm often one of only 3 or 4 patients that I see the entire time, so I don't really get it. Whatever, I've learned to bring a book and take a loveseat behind reception instead of a chair across from it. You can't get a cell signal in front, you see.

Things went fine. Had my favorite u/s tech again. Baby is "running out of room" (not news to me!), very low (also not news to me!) and has a lot of hair. (surprise fun!) Fluid looked good, all was well. Off to the NST which I passed in 20 minutes. BP was 118/72, I think. Good and low, anyway.

My OB appt was a short time later. I had to kill a little time, but again- I brought a book! (Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. SO GOOD.) Dr. G was very excited, as usual. It's fun that I basically bring good news just by walking in the door every Monday. People are happy to see me like at no other time in life.

We discussed the big question of the moment- when to deliver. I told her that our favorite peri said I could schedule for 38 with the understanding that if anything went sideways, we deliver. She decided to see how my labs went this week, but as long as everything was stable, she was going to schedule me for December 1 - 38 weeks exactly.

There were a few other smaller details, discussing hospital stay time, getting her okay to take the breastfeeding class at the hospital, confirming when to stop taking the aspirin, but after that, I had my labs drawn and was on my way, quite pleased.

And then today, one of the nurses called with my lab results. I don't usually get them until Wednesday, so I was surprised anyway, but then she said my protein was up again. 391. Not horrifying or anything, and my BP is still fine (120ish/80ish most of the day today) and my ALT was actually down even further (34- that's good!) but my blasted kidneys just weren't happy.

As of now, nothing really changes. Dr. G planned to discuss the results with the peri lab and see what they thought. I'm not to do anything differently for the time being and will discuss it further on Monday at my next appointment. I'll be 34 weeks on Thursday, which is a big milestone that I'm happy to see. But I don't know if I'm going to see 38. We'll see what she says on Monday, I suppose.

I'm not freaking out or anything. But I am rather annoyed. I swear it's like my body just doesn't want me to get too excited. I'm still hoping we can make 37. But I'm also finding myself doing a little bargaining "still 37.. or at least 36.. but well.. surely 35, right?" And then I snap myself out of it and remind myself that I won't know until I know and we'll handle it either way.

I had a strong feeling about November before I even got pregnant again, and here we are- November. While I'd love to deliver in the month that I'm due (December) November is a fine month, too. Hell, at least we're getting the season right this time. Robbie would due in the fall and it was still spring when he came.

In any case, feel free to say a few extra prayers for my kidneys to calm down for at least a few more weeks. We're close, but not there yet.

As a reward, I'll offer you Robbie as Prince Charming on Halloween:

--Trish