Good news, bad news...... good news

I had a perinatologist appointment at St. Barnabas at 11 am this morning - everything went really great at first. Babies all look awesome, the doctor said they were 'beautiful babies' and their growth is perfect. The girls are now BOTH 2lbs 14oz (I was so worried Charlotte was going to start really lagging behind) and Jack is up to 3lbs 2oz. My cervix is still great, my weight is good (I actually weighed a couple pounds less than at the OB last week), amniotic fluid was good... last thing, check the urine.

And it was loaded with protein (they said the little test strip measures from trace to 4+ and mine registered at 3+). That was BAD - big sign of pre eclampsia - combined with my hugely swollen feet and calves (though I tried to tell them my feet have been swollen since I was 8 weeks PG, no one seemed to care). My BP wasn't high, but the protein was so high it couldn't be ignored.

The doctor called us in and said we had to immediately go to Labor and Delivery and be monitored and tested, and that this changed everything - I am on bedrest, I can go to the bathroom, that's it - if they even discharge me from the hospital.

So we traipse over to L&D, where they hook me up to a contraction monitor, blood pressure monitor, three baby heartbeat monitors, and test my blood and urine. By the time we were done it was almost 5pm. Bottom line is - I'm fine. My BP is still low - the nurses were actually laughing because my BP kept registering at about 105/65 and they were like, so you're here for HYPERTENSION, right? At one point when they were trying to locate all the heartbeats for the monitor they had me flat on my back for a LONG time which makes me really woozy and my BP went down to 60/40 - I think they thought I was going to faint (I came close).

SO my tests all came back perfect, blood tests for kidney/liver function were 'pristine', urine tested free of protein this time (though I do have a slight UTI), no contractions at all. The nurse said she thinks it was a 'tainted specimen' - who knows what caused the high reading the first time but she said I DO NOT have pre eclampsia - I do need to drink a lot more water and keep my feet up and lay off the salt because of the swelling, but other than that I'm good.

It was a big scare - but once again we somehow miraculously came out fine. The nurses all couldn't believe I was 30 wks pg with trips and had NEVER had to go to the ER/L&D before.... they said it's unheard of. So I am on bedrest as of now but I go back to the peri on Monday and hopefully after seeing all my test results he'll take me off. I will not do well on bedrest. I just can't sit still for that long - and I eat too much!! I need many trips to the kitchen!! LOL

Here's a pic of Jack from today that cracks us up - he's making such a funny face. He really looks like my husband. (Quality is kind of poor - it's a picture of a small ultrasound print out!)