36 Weeks and Counting (UPDATED)

36 weeks was on Monday.  I haven't been here before.  If I compare this pregnancy with my first, Emma would have been born by this past Friday.  So, all things considered, I consider this a success. 

I had an NST on Monday.  All was well as usual.  Cate 'looks beautiful' according to the doctor based on her heartrate and activity level.  I have an ultrasound next Tuesday to see how big she is ... if I make it that long.

Why do I say that?  Well, my blood pressure was a wee bit high on Monday so the doctor suggested I start taking it at home again.  I'd had a busy weekend so I figured I was just anxious and tired. So yesterday morning, I got out my bp cuff only to discover that even straight out of bed, my blood pressure was really high.  I took it a few more times since, I hadn't had a great night of sleep ... we had a blackout and I had a tiny furnace sleeping next to me ... and we'd had a stressful evening overall. 3 more times, all high.  Not as high, but still over the benchmark they asked me to look for.  I called the doctor to report the numbers.  She wanted to 'investigate' so I went to the office in the afternoon.  My blood pressure was high there too.  I took my cuff to compare it to the one in the office and they matched so my readings in the morning were right. The good news was that I didn't have an protein in my urine which is a sign of pre-eclampsia. She sent me off for blood work with instructions to rest a lot and come back in the morning.

My appointment this morning is at 8:30.   I don't know what's going to happen or how much of my bloodwork will be ready, but my bag is packed just in case.  The thing that has me a little worried is that I didn't have protein with Emma either.  Just high blood pressure.  My blood work didn't look good though.  My guess is that I will at the very least, be on bed rest until Monday when I am 37 weeks and the baby would no longer be considered pre-term.  Who knows though.  I'll keep you updated.

*** UPDATE***

I went to the doctor this morning.  All is well! My blood pressure was still high, but the doctor I saw today said the numbers alone aren't a concern.  The numbers are high, but not dangerously high.  My blood work looked great, so for now I'm in the clear!  He suggested the higher numbers were a combination of stress and being further along in my pregnancy.  When I got home, I took my blood pressure and it was back to normal.  I guess it really was stress.  He did say that since I'll be 37 weeks on Monday if my blood pressure continues to rise, he won't worry about delivering.  He felt it would be totally reasonable to deliver next week if neccessary. So no baby today.  I'm feeling very confident that I can make it through the weekend (or longer) and that I won't have a preemie! Either way in 3 weeks or less, we will be a family of 4!