Officially Off Work

I went to the doctor yesterday for my regular check-up. My doctor is on vacation so his associate was filling in. The new Doc intorduced himself and asked me how I was doing? I told him I was tired, uncomfortable, my feet/hips hurt and looking to be done work. He just smiled and said, but you are only 32 weeks! I corrected him and said "just shy of 34 weeks" (but who is counting... hahaha)!!

The doctor listened to the baby's heart, which was good (150 beats/minute) and he measured my belly, which was fine. Then he said, "I noticed your blood pressure is up - 146/64 (it has never been high, with Emma or otherwise) and there was protein in your urine." Of course I knew that's not good. The Doc told me he was concerned about onset of pre-eclampsia, thus he wanted me to go to the hospital for blood work and a non-stress test. So before I left his office, with everything he just told me, I asked him again to put me on medical leave from work, to which he answered, "no, I think you should wait for your regular doctor to do that." I must have sounded desperate when I stated, "he's not back for another 2 weeks!" I went on to say that I am on my feet a lot of the day at work, dealing with the public and their problems, interviewing clients, blah blah blah! He looked at me funny and said, "are you really on your feet for most of the day?" I said, "yes." He still was not going to budge and recommended going to see my family doctor.

Anyway... on my way to the hospital, I stopped off at my family doctor's office to make an appointment and his office was closed (he is away on vacation too... UGGGHHH!!)! As I drove to the hospital all I kept thinking was how I could send my medical form to Dr. Rossouw in PR so he could sign it (sure do miss him and that close relationship)!!!

I arrived at the hospital and waited 50 minutes at patient check in (way too many people, not enough staff), then I was sent to the lab for blood work. 40 minutes later, 2 tubes of blood were drawn and then it was up to maternity for the non-stress test. Surprisingly enough, there was only one lady in labour, thus the nurse was able to hook me up to the machine right away and I sat for approximately 30 minutes listening to my baby's heart beat, his movement, and then he got the hick-ups, which was loud on the monitor (it was fun to listen to). The nurse took my blood pressure again, and it was 121/70. The nurse was satisfied that the baby was fine and she liked all the movement etc (he was not under any stress). She asked me for another urine sample, so they could check for protein, thus it was off to the bathroom. My urine came back fine, no protein. The nurse asked me to wait as the lab was processing my blood and she wanted the results back before she would release me. As I was waiting, the Doc poked his head into the room I was in and passed me my medical note. He said that he thought about what I said, and it probably would be best if I was not working anymore (I guess he needed a few hours to wrap his head around my desperation and my health). My blood work came back and it was fine... so who knows why my blood pressure was up and who knows where the protein came from. The doctor will be montioring this and of course I have to watch for the symptoms of pre-eclampsia just in case. That brings you all up to speed on me and the baby.

On a different note, when I went for my sugar testing (the orange pop drink) 2 months ago, I saw an ad in a magazine for these cute baby shoe charms. I fell in love with them, so I took note of the designer's name: Aaron Basha and thought I would look up his website. Needless to say, my expensive tastes have not changed over the years. The charms are "silly" expensive (over $2000 American). What I thought were rhinestones are diamonds set in white gold!! Hard to justify getting one for each of my children, but I still love them. If you want to check out all his charms etc, the website is: www.aaronbasha.com