A Preclamsic Story

I think I jinxed Katie.

Katie signed us up for a third-trimester class at the LDS hospital in Salt Lake. At first, I didn't really want to go. It is 3 hours every Thursday night, and I didn't really want to give up my relaxing evening after work. It's the same night as The Office, afterall. Plus, what could they possibly tell us that we wouldn't find out in the next six weeks anyway?

We went to the first class, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. We learned about different positions the baby might be in, relaxin, we listened to Pure Moods, Katie got a massage, and many other things. But at the beginning of the class, the instructor wanted to know one thing the women liked about pregnancy (every girl said they liked feeling the baby move), and one thing the men did not like. I honestly could not think of one thing I didn't like, so I said that the pregnancy had been a breeze so far and if I had to choose something, it's that she didn't have a belly button anymore.

Saying the pregnancy has been easy was a mistake. By saying that, I was asking for trouble. And soon we got it.

Katie went in for her normal two-week checkup about a week and a half ago. Up to this point we were used to doctors saying things like, "You are the model pregnancy" and "Wow! Look at those birthing hips!" (well, sort of). This time, it was a little bit different.

The doctor measured Katie's belly and remarked that the baby had not grown over the previous two weeks. Because of this, they scheduled a "stress test" the following week. This raised our eyebrows, but we weren't that concerned about it.

The next week she went in for the stress test, feeling peachy and dandy. They started with an ultrasound and placed monitors on the baby; everything looked normal. Then came the blood pressure test.

"Uhhh, do you normally have high blood pressure?"
"No..."
"Well you do now."

High blood pressure is a sign of a condition during pregnancy known as preclampsia. Nobody knows why it happens; it just does. It can result in smaller babies and a need to induce labor prematurely. If not handled properly, it can be fatal for mother and baby. It isn't, however, rare. Something like 1 in 20 pregnancies are preclamptic (I may have made that word up).

So imagine my surprise when I get a call at work from Katie saying that she is being rushed to the Labor and Delivery room.

Once she got there, the doctors hooked up machines to measure her heart rate, blood pressure, contractions, baby's heart rate, etc. etc. and have her lie on her side for the next several hours monitoring all of this information. Thank goodness for health insurance. When I got there, Katie was still pretty chirpy (she used to be a Bird, afterall (nyuk, nyuk)). Fortunately, her mom was also there next to her through the whole ordeal, and I think that kept Katie more confident and relaxed. The hospital staff was also very nice and helpful.

Katie is mildly preclamptic which means the baby doesn't come out yet, but Katie has to be on bedrest for the remainder of the pregnancy. She still has 6 weeks left in the pregnancy, so it's going to be a long, boring, uncomfortable month and a half. Good thing we bought new couches. I also think there is a decent chance the baby will come a little bit early. At this point, that might be a good thing as Katie has not been feeling well since the hospital visit.

The good news is the baby is still in great shape. She is still sub-four pounds, but if the doctors really needed to, they could retrieve our baby at any time.

I also won't have to miss The Office.