Let’s not discuss that this soon-to-be first-time-mom who is considering an epidural-free birth required an anesthesiologist to, after two failed attempts from well-meaning nurses, get an IV in her arm — that’s a laughing matter for another time. The reality is that I’m supposed to be sleeping in a triage room at the hospital because I convinced the doctor that they should give me until morning to start their now recommended induction process.
The good news is that as of tomorrow, I’m 39 weeks + 6 days pregnant. In other words, I’m full term, and inducing a baby at this point is a lot lower risk than it would have been, say, a week or two ago. But, I’ve been hoping for an induction-free birth — -and my body just isn’t ready yet, so they want to give me this drug that — as I’ve been reading about all night that I’m supposed to be sleeping — is not even FDA approved for the induction of labor. Got to love how scientific medicine is until it isn’t.
How did I end up in Labor and Delivery this evening? Well, I had a routine prenatal appointment at Kaiser this afternoon. I’m in a “centering” group which basically means Kaiser saves money by speeding through appointments of multiple women and then offers a 1.5 hour support group style discussion every month (and every two weeks later in pregnancy.) There have been a lot of parts of centering that I’ve enjoyed — certainly as a FTM it’s nice to meet other expectant mothers. However, I was kind of shocked that they actually had you do your own blood pressure readings at the start of each appointment since that seems fairly important to get right.
Every time I arrived at my centering appointment, I was rushing from work and then from the parking area and within 10–15 minutes of arrival took my blood pressure. I did get a few high readings which I found concerning — but my ObGyn didn’t. Usually after a few minutes they went down. But apparently they only recorded my first reading or first two readings, which were often high. I even pressed my doctor to provide a protein-in-urine test at my last appointment due to varied readings and she basically brushed it off as necessary but let me do it (there was no protein in my urine then, so no preclampsia.)
After my last appointment — though she made it clear she wasn’t worried at the appointment — she sent a note saying she was going to run preclampsia labs along with my planned blood work. But, apparently she forgot to do that. So when I arrived today for my appointment and my first blood pressure reading was a scary 159/100-something, I immediately asked her if my labs had come back with any info. What labs, was pretty much the response.
They did have me retake my blood pressure again an hour into the session — but, they have two different machines and my read on both of them was very different. Still, both were still high enough that I was worried. They had be do the protein-in-urine strip test that takes a few seconds for results to appear. And, moments after thinking I was returning home that evening and preparing for my 40th week of pregnancy, I was told to get my butt directly to Labor & Delivery and do not pass go.
Ok, so suddenly you go from — probably not having a baby tonight to — oh, crap, I’m going to have a baby tonight. Well, I’m not going to have a baby tonight, if tonight is still… last night. The doctor was definitely concerned upon my arrival into L&D. They took my BP and labs — -and upon arrival my BP was definitely high on a number of reads, though a bit all over the place. Perhaps the whole “shit I am going to maybe have a baby tonight with an induction that will be super painful” played into those levels — I don’t know.
I really would prefer not to be induced, but I am also not an idiot and will do what is medically best for myself and my child. The problem is that “medically best” isn’t quite agreed upon when it comes to anything medical, esp in labor. For the most part, even my BP levels and supposed super minimal level of protein in my urine would likely trigger a “go home and relax” type of prescription if I was earlier in my pregnancy… but because I’m full term, the general thought is why not induce and get this baby out of you?
Maybe that is the right answer… but I’ve also had time now to do research into the medication options they are providing, and I’m not a massive fan. I can’t even go straight to picot because I’m not dialated yet, so they have to give me a non-FDA appoved drug to try to get things going. I’m vey glad that I was able to think straight enough to request that I have the night before we get started with the induction…
Before you jump on me about not wanting to follow medical advice, what’s happened since I checked into L&D is that they’ve uncovered my labs are entirely normal (no protein in my urine) so I don’t actually have preclampsia (yet.) I do, apparently, have gestational hypertension — which can turn into preclampsia and is still dangerous. But, they’re basing that mostly off my prior blood pressure readings that I took when running to my appointments in the summer heat, and a few high readings today that have since gone down.
The doctor even was about to agree w/ my suggestion they let me go home in the morning after monitoring for the night based on how my BP was going down, but then she said that I’ve had a few high readings in the past couple appointments so she wants to induce me tomorrow anyway. And, by induce, it means start slowly with non-FDA approved medication for ripening the cervix, followed likely by picotin, followed likely by a long and painful delivery that may or may not end up in a c-section because my body just isn’t ready yet to have a baby (she didn’t say that, but it can definitely happen given how things are currently looking.)
Dan went home to sleep because this room has no cot for him. I’ve tried to sleep. That hasn’t gone that well, but…
What’s happened since, though, is that I’ve had three lovely normal blood pressure readings as I’ve half slept here in the triage room with a blood pressure cuff automatically taking my readings every two hours:
- 125/75 @ 12am
- 113/65 @ 2am
- 111/75 @ 4am
Maybe, just maybe, my readings from yesterday were off the charts because I was so stressed out and really my levels aren’t that bad after all. Or, maybe I’m at super high risk for dying of preclampsia and I’d be an idiot to refuse an induction in the morning. I’m really not sure.
My preference would be for the doctor to look at my blood pressure readings and say go home, relax, eat healthy, and let’s see how you progress this week. I’m pretty sure between working up until my due date and trying to triage my father’s medical condition from across the country the last few weeks, I’m not in the most relaxed state as it is. But, should I return home, sleep, read a book, float in a pool, and, you know, do things I should do right before I give birth, maybe my BP levels won’t get so crazy.
Or maybe I’m an idiot for even thinking to request to go home tomorrow vs have this baby. I very well may end up right back here in 24 hours, or even a week, with no progress of my labor, and the same need to be induced — only with a bigger baby. Or, worse, develop bad preclampsia and, you know, die.
It’s so hard to know what the risk really are. I want to trust the doctors, but the doctors also have strict protocols and liabilities once they’ve see certain things — and I don’t trust my BP readings when I know I had to administer those myself and I also know they’ve come down dramatically with time, with the exception of today’s readings which were high — but then I’m having totally normal readings all night. So, what do I do?
life with interest 