Before we talk blood pressure, let’s talk sciatica. As in, it’s getting worse. My acupuncturist was (rightfully) concerned when she saw me Monday. For over a week now, I’ve been having severe sciatic pain on my left side that leaves me walking totally weird and makes me really self-conscious. It’s like, I take a step with my right foot which is fine, and then step with my left and I sink back quite a bit into my left hip. Apparently, it makes for an adorable pregnant waddle, but it’s really fucking bad. It’s painful.
My acupuncturist saw immediately the baby was much lower than when I saw her two weeks ago. Chris had said the same thing, but the physical change wasn’t so immediate to me. I just knew Pokemon was lower when I started having righteous stabbing pains in my bladder when I walked up stairs, and felt like I had to pee constantly even when I just went. I told her he was clearly doing something really bad with my hips and the massage, bodywork, and chiropractic adjustment I had last week all didn’t really do anything to find relief.
She told me I really should see a physical therapist, but with an induction in two weeks and me continuing to average 6 appointments a week, I told her it just wasn’t going to happen. She’s concerned about the baby’s position in my uterus when it comes time to give birth, but I guess all I can do is continue to see the chiropractor, work on exercises, and hope for the best. She needled some specific points on me for the sciatica which did initially help me walk a little better, but it was, unfortunately, temporary.
My blood pressure has also been acting up again. Monday morning when I checked it (weekends always seem to be skipped and I don’t know if that’s due to the chaos of having the girls here or what) it was initially 156/92, and then five minutes later it was 146/84. During acupuncture that day, I had her needle specific points for it, and then when I got home I did a Hynobabies track which should have made it nice and low, but it was still 137/88. I didn’t have a headache (well, I sort of developed a very mild one after the readings which was probably from being stressed about it). I decided to wait until my Tuesday morning appointment to bring it up.
BPP and NST #1
Tuesday morning, after my BP medication, my blood pressure was 150/87. Something seemed to be brewing and I told Chris and my doula that I had no idea what the doctor was going to want to do that morning, if she would send me to the hospital for monitoring.
Luckily, Pokemon is doing great in there and passed his BPP immediately. He was doing his practice breaths and hiccuping at the same time when the US tech began the ultrasound. Because he was also wiggling around like crazy, he passed in 30 seconds. We tried to get another 3D image of him, but there was too much distortion with the cord by his face, his arm over his eyes, and his feet tucked up by his head.
He also passed the NST with flying colors as well. This is definitely one strong baby inside me.
My blood pressure in clinic was 136/87 which they said was fine and normal, but I explained to the PA that usually even in the office, my numbers were usually lower. I told her about my higher home readings and she left the room for a few minutes to consult with Dr. A about whether or not they would send me to the hospital for stat preeclampsia labs and monitoring, or if he was okay with getting the labs drawn in clinic and waiting the few days to get the results back.
My doctor is not an alarmist, and when he came back and said he thought I was okay to just get my labs drawn there, I felt good about the plan. Besides, I had the PA check my reflexes and everything was normal in that regard. My BP was 132/90 when they rechecked, but they were still okay with that.
BPP and NST #2
Friday I had OB appointment #2 and this time, Pokemon refused to do the practice breathing, but passed his movements and scored 6/8. No one cared, he was all good, but yeah, it was another 45 minute US while we stared at his abdomen and waited for him to practice breathe. My fluid levels all look good, but we couldn’t get a great image of him because he’s just tucked so low down with all his limbs up by his face, as per usual.
My BP has been back down to normal for the last few days, and the preeclampsia labs came back negative. However, my BP was elevated in the clinic, 147/87 after rechecking. Pokemon passed his NST with flying colors once again and I’m a pound less than my prepregnancy weight.
The PA I saw was a bit concerned about the BP readings and then suddenly it occurred to me that I was an hour and a half passed due with my medication. I had even packed my pills in my purse knowing I was going to be arriving at the clinic when it came time for my medication but accidentally shut my alarm off and it slipped my mind. Oops.
This morning, on Saturday, my BP was 133/82, so it’s back where it usually hangs out, and I’m now making doubly sure to keep on top of taking the meds.
I also had my Group B Strep test (that was fun. With Olivia, my results hadn’t yet come back before my water had broke early, so I had to be on the antibiotics prophylactically and with Emelia…I must have had them regardless as well since I was hospitalized at 34 weeks and hadn’t approached the time when people are usually tested.).
That evening, Chris and I had a date night (our last before this baby comes) while the girls went to Parent’s Night Out at their school. We went to a new Mexican restaurant that had great reviews and it was delicious.
I scoped out the menu beforehand to accommodate my asshole pancreas and ended up ordering chicken fajitas with corn tortillas. Which would have been totally fine, but I know I had too many chips because they gave us a generous portion of salsa and we had also ordered queso (because queso is life) and my glucose was 146 after an hour sonofabitch (it’s supposed to be under 140). But to be fair, it was 1 of 2 elevated numbers over the last month and I’ve been rocking this gestational diabetes diagnosis thing.
I did have a semi sort of breakdown Friday night from all the pain I’ve been in for the last few weeks. I’ve been in pain for the last few months, but I honestly don’t even notice the pubic bone pain anymore except when I try to turn in bed. This sciatica has been truly awful and I hate walking, especially in public since I waddle so bad and have to walk so slow. I told Chris I didn’t know if I wanted to scream because I’m so pissed off about it, or cry, but since both make me paranoid that my BP will be elevated from showing too much emotion, I just stomp it down and keep on keeping on.
It’s okay. I’m almost done. And truly, it blows my mind that I’ll be 36 weeks tomorrow. And that’s a huge deal for me because here I was bracing myself to go into severe preeclampsia at 29 or 30 weeks.
On the Minnesota weather front… we seemed to go straight from winter to summer as Monday through Wednesday was in the high 80s, melting allllllllllll the snow we had gotten and the girls were stoked to wear shorts to school.
Then it dropped back into the 40s and we’re going to be seeing snow tonight into tomorrow. For three days I sweated my ass off and my feet swelled, making me incredibly grateful I’m not pregnant in the summer.
On the work front, I’m officially on maternity leave. I turned down what could have been an amazing opportunity that came about when a former editor I worked with in my parenting writing days referred me to a client who needed some marketing copy done, but unfortunately was looking at an end of April deadline.
I know I made the best decision, (honestly, with all these appointments and BP issues, there’s just no way it would have worked out, but it still sucks. The silver lining is the client wants me to get in touch with him later in the summer to see if there are other opportunities.
Right now, I’m going to appointments, washing baby items, doing my hypnosis tracks, and waiting for this baby.
