Thursday, April 25, 2013

28 weeks...in-depth

Well, it's official: The babies and I are on maternity leave/modified bed rest. Don't worry, there's nothing seriously wrong. I didn't lie when I said there were no signs of labor. Let me give you the break down:

On Saturday April 7th, the babies and I had our first trip to Triage (the labor and delivery ward of the hospital). I had been having problems breathing for a couple days prior and my pulse (according to our Pulse-Ox) was over 100 consistently. When I was in the shower on Saturday morning and had to sit down for fear I would fall over, I knew I had to call the doctor. The doctor on call suggested that we go to Triage. She said it could be due to Gestational Diabetes (I'll get to that mess later) or Thyroid issues (which run in my family) or any other number of things. So away we went to the big city. There, they did an EKG, Non-Stress Test, and just monitored me. After about an hour, they determined that I'm basically just dealing with normal pregnant-with-twins symptoms. Since my uterus is directly under my rib-cage  and all my organs have been smooshed up to accommodate my growing minions, my diaphragm is unable to completely open when I need to take deep breaths. So, my breathing becomes a bit labored. Then, I am also carrying around an additional quart of blood due to the babes, so my heart is having extra fun pumping the additional blood around, thus my raised pulse. My blood pressure is still fantastic, my EKG was fine as well, so they don't think it's anything super serious. The did recommend that I go on Maternity leave though. They said getting up and getting ready, driving to work, actually being at work, etc, doesn't help me get the opportunity to truly relax, and causes my symptoms to get worse. I told them that I was meeting with my doc on the following Thursday so I would talk to her. They then discharged me and we were on our way.

Fast forward to Thursday. My doctor asks me about the trip to triage. I told her about it and told her that from 26 weeks, when I last saw her, I felt as though everything went downhill. I feel miserable, my pulse racing and shortness of breath worries me, and my pubic symphysis is awful. She said that she pretty much figured all of that and made the decision to put the babies and I on leave from work. I will admit, I felt a bit guilty when calling my boss and human resources manager, I had hoped to make it to 32 weeks before leaving, but I can admit that since I have been home I've been sleeping and feeling better. I still get the symptoms, but if I stretch my torso and breath in to a paper bag, I am able to go a bit longer between episodes.
As for everything else with the babies, everything looks good. We're now seeing the doctor every 2 weeks and will soon begin our twice weekly testing.

Now, for the Gestational Diabetes fiasco. I took the test on Friday the 6th. Thankfully I was able to do the test at the hospital in our town. Of course, the women gave me nothing but trouble since I didn't fast and "You're supposed to fast! You're going to fail the test now..." No matter that I had shown them the directions from my doctor that specifically said that I didn't need to fast for the 1 hour glucose test. They still gave me dirty looks and snide comments.
Now for the fun part. While in the appointment I asked my doctor for the results. Turns out they never got them and were unable to get them while we were there. They promised to call with the results soon. UGH. So we'll have to wait on those results just a bit longer...

I think that's about it for now. See ya in 2 weeks with the 30 week update!! We're in the 3rd trimester guys!

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