Thursday, March 10, 2011

bit of a scare at work

Yesterday at work I had a bit of a scare. One of those could I be going in to labor? scares. I really wish I knew what labor felt like or what I can expect in terms of a total length of labor, but since my dear son decided to be pretty neglectful in his duties as a fetus to get born (leaving me to be induced and chemically enhanced through my 12 hours of labor), I guess I will never know until it happens (or doesn't) with this one.

I spent the majority of the day sitting while teaching (as I feel I'm entitled to do now that I'm 2 1/2 weeks from my due date and still coming in to work) about the "isms of the Rennaisance." At the end of 5th period, we always have a break and I got up to fill my water bottle and head to the restroom. I didn't get up to fast, nor was I standing lock-kneed; suddenly pin-points of light were floating across my eyes. They were like the floaters one gets and can spend hours following around when bored only they were shiny and kind of like fireworks too. My coworker's first thoughts are that my BP is too high, but guess what . . . the school nurse was not in and we do not have a BP cuff on our site.

So I checked my glucose levels (112) and made sure to sit as much as possible. I had about 24 oz more of water before the end of the day. Kick-counts were strong and Baby B was still really high in my abdomen and rolling a lot - so it doesn't feel like he's ready for labor yet (although I was also getting a lot of stretching and aching in my cervical area . . . hmmm dialation imminent?). The lights lasted about 40 minutes total. Went to my Wednesday staff meeting. Found out the nurse was coming for a mtg. with the 6th grade teachers at 3:30. I am refusing to go to labor & delivery because it's 75 minutes from where I work and I didn't want to sit for an hour in triage only to be told "go home, you're fine!"

When Nurse Kathy got here, she had a BP cuff in her car!!! What luck. She took my BP and it was, again like last week's appointment, high for me, but the diastolic was still under 100 so not out of the normal range (130/80). She told me to check with my optometrist too. Hmmm?

Then called Kaiser and talked to 4 people in 20 minutes, recounting my story 3 of those times. The last human on the phone was a nurse from L&D where I plan to deliver. Since I was not experiencing any other concerning symptoms like edema, pains in the right side, severe headaches, or signs of stroke, she told me not to be too worried unless I get more symptoms in the next couple of days. In fact, she told me I was a perfect paitent because I did all the right things (and she totally understood about not driving in and just waiting for our school nurse). She told me just to wait and come in for my next pre-natal on the 15th. So, that was pretty good news.

Last night I had no problems except my sciatica was acting up again (probably from napping on the couch during Yo Gabba Gabba). Liam was a doll and went to bed easily. Hubster made brownies. I ate jelly beans. Yeah, I know, a lot of sugars before bed but I feel like I am finally allowed to give into some cravings - sheesh. This morning I had those lights show up again in the shower, but only for a couple seconds right after I blew my nose. So I'm thinking it might be a BP issue still. Another coworker suggested I might be getting a detached retina (as happened to her boyfriend). So I think I will call the optometrist and see if I can squeeze in soon. Yeah, so that was the scare. But, like I said, I'm a perfect patient ;)

No comments: