Going On As Normal

Yesterday I felt “normal” for most of the day. Today too. Actually, perhaps even a little better than my 3rd trimester pregnancy normal. This not hoping or worrying for labor is nice.

Amber is asking now “When will the baby be born?” and “I wish Aurora would be born”. She and I have agreed that before Summer starts is what we want. But Monday would be really good.
wink emoticon

Only problem from yesterday was the doctor (and nurse) covering at my OBGYN’s office for both my dr and her partner. (See next post for _all_ the details if you really care to read that much!)

Anyway, Friday and today were good. Today I mowed the lawn some (light electric mower) – after all if they are going to want to induce, why shouldn’t I try some natural methods?

I DO want the baby to come. I DON’T want to be induced.

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My scheduled NST of course turned into a post-hospital triage follow up. Which is fine. The NST started with my BP borderline high at 150-something over 95-ish. By the end of it (which was longer than normal despite the baby moving because apparently the baby’s heartbeat wasn’t accelerating the way they want. One juice box at the offering from the nurse, and baby girl started showing all the signs they wanted.) By the end of the NST, my BP was 138 over 90. The nurse declined to take it manually. Then the covering Dr came in, reviewed stuff, told me about a Task Force from the ACOG in the last two years that has changed the recommendations on hypertension and pregnancy.

Short of it: he tried to schedule an induction for me for Monday. I said, “No offense, but I want to talk to my doctor first.”

He and I talked things through. I told him my #1 reason for not wanting an induction is the conversion rate to caesarian. (There is another.) He explained both the ripening procedure, as a mitigation, and inducing. We had a good open conversation, but he said the recommendations now are for High BP to deliver between 37 and 39 weeks. And since I was 38, I was right in the best spot. He also said something about the placenta being found to give out near the end of pregnancy in chronic hypertension women (at 38-40 weeks?) He wanted to get something in the schedule for next week because spots fill up. I would not, but said they might convince me for next Wed, as I’d be 39 weeks then.

We compromised on: He would send a note to my OBGYN with what he told me and his notes, I would keep my previously schedule appt for Monday with my OBGYN and talk things over with her, and I would monitor my BP at home this weekend and call the on-call line if readings were 150+ / 90-100+ more in subsequent checks (which I took to mean 3 times in a row, as after the first high reading I assumed I should wait 20 min and try again).

Today I did research on this task force he mentioned, and on current recommendations on for my situation. I have not found anything about the placenta (though I could still believe it), and that dr’s interpretation is not quite in line with what I read:
“For women with chronic hypertension whose blood pressure is lower than 160/110 mmHg after 37 weeks, with or without antihypertensive treatment, timing of birth, and maternal and fetal indications for birth should be agreed between the woman and the senior obstetrician.” The WHO says induction should be “at term” as a “weak recommendation”. And that task force? It’s major output was that pre-eclampsia diagnosis should not be based on just the combination of high BP and protein in the urine, because by requiring proteinuria too many cases were diagnosed late. I also noticed that my Dr has not had me do all the tests recommended for my current situation if I was in the same situation 3 weeks ago. My pregnancy, the baby, are healthy after all. My dr knows the history of this pregnancy, even my normal nurse. I feel like they would have given the 136/90 a pass.

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