Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Pregnancy Update: Blood Pressure, Sunburn, Swelling - Oh my!

Not the most fun thing to write about, but this time in my pregnancy needs to be documented and I need an outlet for all the crazy thoughts in my head right now.

First of all...I will be 30 weeks pregnant tomorrow! That's 3/4 of the way done. Just 10 more weeks until we get to meet our sweet Lillian Belle! Also, just 10 more weeks to get everything ready for her. Matt had a man-nesting day yesterday and decided that we were "way behind" on her nursery and that he needed to hang her name and pictures on the wall. It looks perfect. He did a fabulous job!

Currently, I have had some big changes these past few days. 
While we were in Sunriver, OR (which is a post that is in the works) I got bad sunburn. This was on Friday afternoon. Most of my body is now just peeling, but unfortunately, my left leg has turned a few different shades of pink/purple today and I'm starting to think I may have had a bit of sun poisoning. 
Anywho...I had have the sunburn. While we were driving home from Sunriver, which has an altitude of about 5,000 feet, my legs started to swell up. As the night went on, they just continued to get more and more swollen and tight. I figured I needed to just elevate them, drink water and go to bed and in the morning it would be okay. Morning came and it wasn't better but in fact they were a bit bigger. I waited until 12:30pm to call my midwives. I assumed when I called that they would just say it was no big deal and that I should do "this and this and that." Well...she actually told me she wanted me to come in as soon as I could so that they could check my blood pressure because it was something she was worried about with how much swelling I was having (even with the altitude change, it should have calmed a bit instead of increasing). So, Matt and I headed to the hospital. 

First thing they did was check my blood pressure and it was high. I stink at remembering numbers like this but I know it was 130 over 70-something. Usually my blood pressure is in the 112 over 60 range. They had me head over to the lab for blood work right after my appointment because they were worried about it being Preclampsia. Lori told me to take it easy and to do even less than I was doing at dance. (I had already been on orders to "take it easy" at dance...to "not demonstrate anything"). I had not been following that guidance as it is nearly impossible to teach 2-5 year olds without demonstrating anything. She told me not to teach too many in a row and if I can sit down while I am there that I should do so. 

The next morning, Tuesday, I had a 3-5's Ballet/Tap class at 11am. I taught it and did not really listen to her advice (again). I danced as I would have had I been just 20 weeks pregnant, I even remember that I jumped a few times. Not big jumps, but still...I was jumping. **Side note: I am also in physical therapy and am not supposed to be doing any physical activity per their advice...Oops.** When I left to go to dance, my feet were still pretty swollen, but small enough that I could still put my tap shoes on. At the end of class when I took my socks off, I knew it wasn't good that I had danced like I had. **Note again: I wasn't doing any crazy hip hop or anything, simple things like shaking my hips and step claps were the height of my activity, but at 30 weeks...those things will getcha.** 

My midwife, Peggy, called me around 2pm with my blood work results and asked how my swelling and sunburn were doing as well. My blood work came back fine. I told her that I had taught a class that morning and had bad swelling again. I also told her that my sunburn had pretty much gone away, minus on my shins and chest/shoulders. That's when she told me the dreaded words..."Ok Chelsea, so I am not saying this to bug you or upset you, but I think it is time for no more dancing or teaching. Nothing that is going to really get your heart rate up. You need to be resting and keeping your feet elevated. Drink lots of water. And seriously, rest." 

It is no secret that I am an active person. This is going to be pretty difficult for me. 
My teachers really stepped up and have offered to sub the majority of my classes. There are only a few that I have to teach. At this moment in time, there are 5 classes and 1 birthday party that I have to teach in the next 2 1/2 weeks. That went down from 42...

I have an appointment again for Tuesday just to check my blood pressure again. I hope that all of this resting will have brought it down some. Unfortunately, with getting subs for all of these classes comes some not so understanding parents. Lots and lots of them ARE understanding, but I've had a few not so nice emails that are stressing me out. I'm not suppose to stress out. 

My pelvic/hip pain is still very real as well, so I know that this is all for the best. 

10 more weeks until we meet our baby girl and this will all be so so worth every second of pain, worry and stress! 

2 comments:

  1. I'm glad you are taking your midwives advice, finally, and taking it easy! Gotta do what's best for baby girl. She'll be here super soon and then back to dancing you go. I hope the next ten weeks fly for you!

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    1. : ) Thank you, Bridgett! How are you feeling??!!

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