Another Long Doctor Day

I had my epidural interview today. We all decided that they'd have a wheelchair and the drugs waiting for me when I get to the hospital. Okay, maybe not. It was interesting though. I got checked in and the nurse started interviewing me, asking me about my health history.

We heard a knock on the door, and another nurse with a cart came in. She told me she was there to take my vitals. I warned her that I had high blood pressure and was on bedrest, but she was still quite concerned over my not-so-low reading. So concerned, actually, that she immediately pointed to a small bed/table and told me to hop to it. So I did the rest of my interview and watched the epidural video while laying down. The nurse actually had to rearrange the room so I could see the television. Fun stuff.

As the appointment was wrapping up, the nurses started talking about sending me over to Labor and Delivery. I was not happy about this, because 1) my doctor isn't concerned when my blood pressure is even higher than it was, and 2) going to L&D for my blood pressure has never been super productive. They usually hook me up to the monitors, tell me the baby looks great, wait until my BP goes down a little, and send me home. I told the nurses that I had an OB appointment when I was done there, and they agreed to let me go. Thank goodness (although I did have to talk the nurse out of pushing me out to my car in a wheelchair)!

After a delicious lunch of cold pizza eaten in my car in between appointments, I drove across the street to the OB office for my weekly non-stress test, ultrasound, and doctor's appointment. They hooked me up to the monitors for the NST, and the first 20 minutes did not go well. The baby's heartbeat was really slow, dipping down into the 11os, and he wasn't moving. The nurse came in to check the readings and started to panic a little bit. She said that we needed "a few more minutes" and left me to stare at the monitors and pray. After a while we finally got the movements and the heart rate spikes that we needed. The nurse told me I passed and sent me to the ultrasound room.

The ultrasound was perfect, just like always. My amniotic fluid is still really good, and we were able to see the baby "practice breathing." It was so cute. His little diaphragm was moving up and down like a champ's. Such a good baby!

My OB was sick, so the nurse measured me and checked the heartbeat again. My doctor came in for about 30 seconds and said everything looked too. And then the good news...she said we were going to schedule my induction for March 14th. This date is great, because it's a Saturday, and she's going to be on call the whole weekend. So unless something happens, I'm guaranteed that my doctor will deliver our baby. I'm so glad about that! March 14th is also three days before my own birthday and one day before Selection Sunday! I guess John and I will be filling out our brackets in the hospital this year. That will make a great story for the baby someday!

So it's been a long day. I was at the doctors' offices from 11:30 to 3:00. I think I've got my off-the-couch quota in for the week. All good news though. Only two and a half weeks to go!