Doctor appointment, vacation, doctor appointment

Hello Readers!  I am back from vacation! We had a relaxing time. More about that in a minute. I apologize for the long post. Lots of updates.

Lets start with my doctors appointment that I had the Friday before (aka the day before) our vacation started. I had scheduled appointment for right at the end of my workday. I left work an hour early so I could take my time getting to my appointment. I did the usual routine.. pee in a cup, get my weight checked and then I went into the room where I would meet with the nurse to talk about my new symptoms I might be experiencing and take my blood pressure. Let me also say that I felt fine all day.

The nurse asks me if I had any new symptoms to report. I told her just some minor swelling. Her response, "really? already? at 30 weeks?" Between that comment and the comment about my weight at the last appointment I wanted to slap her. Especially since I called when the swelling first started, but talked to another nurse, and was told that it was normal to have minor swelling... but whatever Ms Nurse lady.

She them proceeds by checking my blood pressure.  She takes it once and says, "Have you ever had a problem with high blood pressure?" and I say, "no... never" She takes it again.... then says that she wants it to check it again but wants to wait a few minutes.  In the meantime she went to check my urine. (in case you don't know...high blood pressure+swelling+protein in urine can be a sign of pre-clampsia). While she is gone I am trying my very best to stay calm but i'll be honest I was freaking out a bit and was trying my very best not to burst into tears. I kept telling myself that I had to remain calm. Another nurse comes in and takes my blood pressure its still high. Why I didn't ASK what it was is beyond me. I guess I was to busy worrying.  But anyway....I had to lay down... on my left side for five minutes and then it would be checked again. The doctor comes in after about five minutes and the blood pressure is still high but better. It was at 140/71. (Once again....it was better... so what was it before? I didn't ask... to much going through my mind).

The doctor and I spend time talking about my blood pressure and what could be the cause for it being higher than normal. Apparently the genetic disorder I have, neurofibromatosis, can cause high blood pressure in pregnancy. This is the whole reason I am with this doctor to begin with because he was familiar with the disorder that I have. He said he wasn't worried but wanted me to take a blood test and do an ultrasound to rule out pre-clampisa. We also spent some time talking about happens if I do have pre-clampisa (basically it would mean good bye vacation and hello bedrest). I told him I had no blurry vision or headaches. I also explained that I ate a mostly healthy diet (not one with a ton of sodium).

Baby was still on schedule with growth (pre-clampisa can slow baby's growth) and blood test came back normal. So we were cleared to go provided that I took it easy. Good thing this was our plan along. Although I was not to exercise... unless it was an occasional walk. We also scheduled another doctors appointment for the following Friday (today) and I was told to go some place to have my blood pressure checked while on vacation.

The vacation was great and relaxing. Unless we had to go into town for something (food, groceries etc) I was resting either in bed or on the couch and my feet were always elevated. Dan and spent lots of time watching movies, talking, reading, enjoying the time in front of the fire and watching/listening to the lake. Monday I had my blood pressure checked and it was back to normal.

We came back today and I had a little time to relax before my appointment. Blood pressure was normal. Thing with baby are still looking great. We did the same blood test as last week, but the doctor doesn't think we need to worry, he just wants to compare the numbers. I still can not exercise. I still need to take it easy. I should probably mention that I asked what my blood pressure was when they first checked it last week. Are you curious? I sure was because when I told a few people what the final number (140/70) it was often followed by, "thats not too bad." So with as much concern from the doctor and nurse I wanted to know.  Well... it was 160/91. Yeah Holy Shit! (thats what I thought anyway) That being said I also need to go back on Wednesday and have my blood pressure checked again. I've basically been on bed rest this whole last week. There is concern that once I start working again that perhaps it might go back up. Hopefully.... because I won't be exercising (only working) that things will be okay. You can probably infer what is likely to happen if my blood pressure skyrockets again... and that is something that I do not want to happen.