Oh the lovely week 37...officially "full term" wahoo!
I went for my routine weekly appointment on Monday, 1/27. Mark has been working early hours at the new job and got off in time to go with me. When we got there, the receptionist told me that Dr. Kil had to go to the hospital for an emergency/surgery but that the Nurse Practitioner was there and could see me.
My blood pressure was 122/70 and according to their scale I had gained 40 pounds so far. Baby's heartbeat was 132bpm. As they always do, they asked if I had any swelling. I showed her my feet and she was shocked at how swollen they were. She asked if I had any other issues and I told her I had an ear infection and had just started the Z-pack. Told her I had a headache for a few days and my face was flushed a lot. She asked if I was seeing things floating and I was glad to prove to Mark that these things actually do exist.
All of those things combined with my recent high blood pressure were a red flag for
preeclampsia. So, she ordered me to a 24 hour urine collection, to check for protein. Which meant I wouldn't be able to go to work unless I wanted to carry the lovely bright orange container around the halls to and from the bathroom. She told me to collect starting that evening and into the next evening. I explained everything to my boss and she let me work from home on Tuesday. I ended up filling the container up with 3 hours left to go. I didn't know what to do because she told me she wanted every last drop. So I ended up putting the remaining 3 hours of urine in my own container (the office was closed so I couldn't go get another one of their containers). By the way, I peed over 24 times in 24 hours in case you were wondering. And this is the monster container I filled up within 21 hours...

I had to go on Wednesday morning to turn in the urine and do bloodwork. Unfortunately, they couldn't take my extra container but I was glad I brought it just in case. The lady at the lab acted as if nobody had ever filled the orange container before. After turning in my urine as if it were a homework assignment, and giving 5 tubes of blood, I drove from the lab to work, and ended up staying late to make up for being late...and to get things done for the big event I'd been planning since October, which was on Thursday. So doc told me they'd get results from urine and bloodwork on Wed/Thurs and give me a call to let me know if they were concerned enough for me to have to come in on Thursday, or if I should come in on Friday afternoon instead. I'm freaking out because I literally CANNOT go in on Thursday, that was investiture day. So I'm hoping and praying they don't call or they call and say it was nothing to worry about.
By the time I got a minute to look at my phone on Thursday, the office had already closed, and I had no missed calls or voicemails. I had to wait until Friday morning to call and find out if I was supposed to leave work early to go to my 3:40 appointment that I went ahead and made during my last appointment, or if I could just wait until Monday to have my normal weekly appointment. The lady on the phone sai that Dr. Kil wanted me to come in this afternoon to discuss the results and for a follow up.
I left work at lunch time, stopped by the house to change and let the dogs out, and then met Mark there since he was coming from Southern Maryland. I had lost 3 pounds since Monday so now I've gained 37 pounds total so far. Blood pressure was 120/80. Baby's heartbeat was 148bpm. Dr. Kil said that the bloodwork was normal and they were trying to find my urine results (how can you lose them?). Anyway, he finally got them and said it came back perfectly fine, so no protein I guess. And that rules out preeclampsia, I think. He checked my cervix and said it was only 1/2 cm dilated, just the size of a fingertip.

He measured the outside of my belly from top to bottom and said that he's measuring on track but maybe a little on the larger side, but not too bad. Mark says "a 10 pounder" and Dr. Kil laughed saying "no no not that big". So he said he would like me to get an ultrasound to get a more accurate reading of how big he's measuring. I'm thinking he wants to do this to see if baby is big enough to do something about it before the due date. He doesn't want to risk me going into labor on my own and my BP spiking and causing the baby distress. So we made the appointment at the imaging center for Monday, 2/3 and then I'll come for my normal appointment after that to discuss.
As I do after every appointment, I told my mom, Megan, Devon, and Mark's mom the update. Debbie offered to come with me for my appointment, knowing Mark had to work (he has to be in Baltimore by 7am on Monday morning, fun stuff). So I told her that would be nice. She even offered to take me to lunch afterwards, so it'll be a nice afternoon with Camden's Nana! I'm hoping for good news, not sure what to expect though. Always have to just hope for the best but plan for the worst. I just really really do not want to have to get a c-section. So whatever happens I hope I'm able to push him out! That's what I'm most nervous about. If this boy is already like 7 or 8 pounds then they'd better induce me to get him out before he grows even more!
Oh by the way, the event went well...thanks for asking! So glad it's over and that there are no big events in the near future because I definitely don't like other people doing my work and don't feel comfortable leaving events behind for others to handle. So while I'm on maternity leave there are only a bunch of small events that aren't a big deal. Speaking of maternity leave, I entered mine the other day...it's so surreal now.