35 Weeks

Sometimes it's hard to believe the same body can be carrying two pregnancies so differently. As of 35.5 weeks I have yet to exhale completely but things are looking pretty darn good right now. On this date exactly 5 years ago, I was shuttling back and forth to the hospital not quite understanding what was happening and not knowing a heck of alot about preeclampsia. I hadn't a clue it would get as serious as it did and that I would be in ICU with organ failure in just 12 days with a 2 pounder in the NICU.

You can hypothesize about the many reasons why this pregnancy is (so far) preeclampsia free, and I have ideas as to what is helping, but at the end of the day it is a crapshoot and luck of the draw. Nothing, and I repeat nothing, has been proven to completely prevent preeclampsia from recurring. All you can do is reduce your risk through management of blood pressure, reduction of stress, good nutrition and being in optimal vascular health. And getting at a healthy weight if that is a risk factor for you. (Plenty of skinny people get preeclampsia but if you are obese, losing weight helps with blood pressure which is a known risk factor) I'm about to do a post on exercise later today BTW. Anyway I liken it to playing poker. You do what you can to hold the best hand and that's all you can do.

This week's labs looked great. Creatinine is at .58, platelets are back up to 180K from 170K last week.

Went in for appointment this morning and the BABY IS HEAD DOWN! Hooray for turning. Cervix is softening but no signs of effacement nor dilation. Not that surprising. VBAC would still be great if we go into labor and doc is hopeful but doesn't want a long inducement.

I also did confirm if the BP suddenly starts to rise we will indeed deliver the baby. We will not wait for full-blown preeclampsia to strike. Thank God. Pre-e can be deadliest post-partum so I'd rather play it conservative at this point.

Getting a bit better at controlling my nerves at each checkup but white coat syndrome continues to be the bane of my existence (see previous posts) Whereas I am running 110 over 65 at home I get 122 over 68 today in the office. Not bad for me as when I am really nervous it shoots MUCH higher and then we have to do a retest.

So from here on out, we have just 3 weeks and 6 days until the end point at which they will let me go. Continued home monitoring and weekly blood tests. Achy, crampy, and suffering from awful acid reflux but no swelling. Confession - sometimes I wake in the middle of the night to go pee and look down at my ankles for swelling. Hard to believe this was me exactly 5 yrs ago with preeclampsia. Couldn't get socks on, couldn't fit anything. If only we had the magic key to preventing preeclampsia every time.