This is bedrest?

Soooo… I was gone all day enjoying the world of modern medicine. The latest pee jug showed an increase in protein, so my intuition/sense-o-denial that told me the last two tests were flukes didn’t really pan out. They say the pre-eclampsia is progressing, but progressing slowly – so that’s good news. Yea!!

In addition to bedrest, the doctors have beefed up our monitoring schedule a bit. So here is the new official schedule…
-weekly biophysical profiles
-twice weekly non-stress tests
-weekly 24-hour urine tests
-weekly blood tests for kidney and liver function
-every-other-week growth scans
-daily ice cream therapy (note: this is a patient initiative)

Maybe Alexander loves suspense …or maybe he just loves sleeping. Once again his napping schedule caused drama when he slept through most of the non-stress test today. Twice the doctor put that buzzer to my belly to wake him (which made the poor little guy jump in surprise… then go back to sleep). Just when they were about to give up, he started moving and *just* passed the test.

Since it took so long, the doctor decided to send me off to the radiology department for a biophysical profile ‘just to be safe’. Then I swear the doctor muttered under her breath “cha-ching!” I was like “what was that?” and she said “a ring… I’ll give the radiology department a ring to let them know you’re coming.” This seemed plausible since ‘cha-ching’ and ‘a ring’ do indeed sound similar -- but the way her eyes were darting back and forth only added to my suspicion. Well, even if they were just throwing some extra money towards their friends in radiology, I’m pretty sure Blue Cross/Blue Shield can afford it. Plus getting to see the mini-muffin on an ultrasound is always fun,

The biophysical profile (or BPP as acronym lovers call it) is timed and the baby has to pass several components to get a passing score. Unfortunately two of those components involve movement… and Snoozy McSleepinstein wasn’t so much as wagging one tiny finger. If he didn’t pass, it would mean another trip to L & D (or Labor and Delivery as acronym haters call it). When we reached the twenty-minute mark, the tech was getting antsy. I tried to reassure her that Alexander wasn’t in distress, he was just living up to his established idiom of being uber mellow. She wasn’t impressed with this explanation and ran to get me a lollipop. Yeah, I didn’t see that coming either but apparently she was hoping the sugar would get him moving. At the thirty-minute mark, the tech was really supposed to end the test -but we had bonded and she was trying to help avoid a hospital trip. So she gave my belly and the boy several well-placed jabs… and the kid finally woke up and passed the test at the 32 minute mark.

Phew. And, of course, he’s been up and kicking since I’ve been home. Maybe we need to get him a little PDA so he knows what times he needs to be awake to pass tests,


(By the way, he is definitely a boy – I saw his bit and pieces with my own eyes!)