December 15, 2011
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Our Baby Story: Week Leading Up to Luke's Birthday
Note to self (and anyone else reading): I blogged detailed updates each day leading up to Luke's birth and kept this post privatized until 3 months after Luke was born.
37 Weeks! My big, baby belly!
Thursday, Dec 8 2011
Went to see Dr. Lieu for a regular checkup appt. Found out I gained 8 pounds (212) since my last appt!!! 8 pounds in 1.5 weeks?!?!? How that happened I have no idea but that was definitely alarming to me and Dr. Lieu.
On top of that my blood pressure was 145/90, which was definitely the highest it's ever been. Usually I'm between 110/70 to 120/80 so this was definitely not good news.
In addition to the weight gain and high blood pressure, my legs were swollen like an elephants so this was enough for Dr. Lieu to send me straight to St Luke's for bloodwork for preeclampsia.
Good news from the appt -Pumpkin's heartbeat was steady and in good range, and I am already 2-3 centimeters dialated!
Woohoo!I had to head straight to St Luke's Labor and Delivery on the 12th floor via taxi. After another urine sample, several vials of blood and 3 hours of waiting while being monitored on a bed (1 monitors was for Pumpkin's heartbeat and the other was to see if I was having any contractions -which I was, but very light!) they told me all the tests came back negative and I could leave! So very thankful that nothing was seriously wrong! Praise God!
As excited as we are to meet Pumpkin we definitely need some more time to get ready.
After the hospital, we had to go straight to Gabrien and Rusan's for Gabrien's birthday potluck. It was a fun night with good friends! While at their apt I used the bathroom and encountered "bloody show" when I wiped!
One of the signs of impending labor! I was excited but stayed calm as everything I'd read about this sign said that there was no indication that this would mean the baby was coming right away.I told oppa about it and we both realized that the baby may make his appearance sooner than we thought!
When we got home I immediately packed my hospital bag and made a list of things I need to get done this weekend/asap!
Plan "Get Ready for Pumpkin!" is in full swing!!
Saturday, Dec 10
Had a super busy day. Marie and Kyu spent the night on Friday night at our place, so we ended up hanging out and watching a new show together until almost 3a.m. Felt like college again! On Saturday we had a mini UF/CCF reunion in honor of Chanmi's visit to NYC. It was great to see her and catch up with Moses (and his wife), Justin, Grace Jun-Park, Jesse, Inae and Chanmi of course. After the reunion I had an appt with Pastor John to receive some pastoral care.
Then immediately after that I met up with Eunji and Julie for dinner.
On the way home I felt a lot of wetness in my underwear. When I got home it looked like water and not the usual thick discharge I've been having throughout pregnancy. I googled "water breaking" and tried to see if the water was continually leaking or pooling but that didn't seem to be the case so I decided not to call the doctor.
Sunday, Dec 11
I woke up and noticed there was more wetness in my underwear, definitely more than the night before. So I did some more googling and called my mom to weigh my options. Mom and google said I should call my doctor to see if I should go in to the hospital and get checked out. Dr. Shin was on call and recommended that I go to the hospital to get checked out to see if it was really my water or something else. The risk being if it was my water they would want to induce to prevent infection.
I honestly had no idea it was such a big deal to break your water before contractions started. I thought I could just wait it out and see if contractions would just start on their own but after my mom really pushed me to go to the hospital to get checked in case something was wrong I couldn't say no and went.
James and Christine took this photo for us, we thought it was going to be the last photo we'd take as a family of two.
At the hospital the doctor confirmed my water didn't break but she noticed my blood pressure was high again (145/90) so she ordered another round of preeclampsia tests.
Thankfully the tests all came back negative but this time I was asked to do a 24 hour pee test to see if proteins showed up in my pee. I made an appt to see Dr. Lieu on Tuesday to followup on my blood pressure.
We left the hospital and went straight to church for 2nd service.
Monday, Dec 12
Super busy day at work and then had an editor's dinner with Justine. Nothing out of the ordinary. Went home and did a ton of church work and checked a few items off my to do list.
Oppa snapped this side shot of my belly as I was getting ready for bed. The only time I'll ever be exposing my midriff on purpose.
Tuesday, Dec 13
Went to see Dr. Lieu and again the baby's heartbeat was healthy but my blood pressure was slightly high again. My weight came down to 208 from 212 (still can't believe how high it got!!) which was a good sign but Dr. Lieu was concerned again about my blood pressure (143/90). She said that if my blood pressure was still high on Thursday and any of my bloodwork showed signs of trouble she would have to induce me.
To encourage natural induction she stripped my membranes a bit (not a fun thing to feel) and asked us to have "some fun" that night to encourage ripening of the cervix.
For dinner we hosted the Turkey team and had a reunion minus Young. It was a lot of fun to just chill with friends at our apt and catch up. We basically packed the week with social events and meetups with close friends.
Later that night we listened to Dr. Lieu's advice and had some fun but it was sorta funny to try to get in the mood being so big and oppa dealing with a cold.
Poor oppa!In the middle of the night when I went to use the bathroom I noticed a huge pinkish clump, sort of like jelly, fell out of me and onto the toilet seat after I peed. I was pretty sure that was the mucous plug! :O
When I went back to bed I started to feel contractions and stayed up to time them but they were very irregular (one was 35 seconds, one was 1 min 10 seconds, 45 sec) so I ended up falling back asleep.
I didn't feel any contractions the rest of the day but did have a bit more sciatica pain in my left leg than usual.
Trying to finish preparing Pumpkin's room
Wednesday, Dec 14
The day went on like normal, no contractions and minimal bloody show. Oppa and I got to have what will probably be our last date night. I received two free tickets to see Harry Connick Jr in the Broadway show "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever". The show wasn't what I was expecting but it was still a wonderful treat and boy is Harry Connick Jr. an awesome performer and super handsome guy! We both enjoyed the show and got to relax a bit. During the show I felt a few contractions and also more annoying sciatica pain in my left butt and leg.
At this point the sciatica pain scares me more than the labor contractions!
Oh I should note I've been collecting my pee for 24 hours to bring to the doc's office to get tested tomorrow. Praying that I don't have to be induced tomorrow. I'm so close to finishing up some work projects and checking off the things on my to do list.
Praying that the baby will come sometime next week before Christmas!
Harry, me and Oppa on our last official date before Luke arrived
Thursday, Dec 15
Went to the doc's office bright and early with my jug of pee.
My blood pressure came down! 130/90 and my weight came down another pound to 207!My urine test indicated no protein so Dr. Lieu said no need to do an induction. However, she said she would continue to monitor me closely and asked me to come back in on Tuesday for a check up and then again on Thursday if I hadn't gone into labor yet.
I'm so relieved that I didn't need to be induced today! Yay! I came straight to the office and am motivated to get a ton of things done today and tomorrow (hopefully) to square away work projects.
Also it'll be so nice to spend time with Janet and Jason tonight one last time before baby comes.
