Tuesday, November 11, 2008

A little excitement

Yesterday Karen and I went to a breastfeeding class at the hospital, and now I feel a lot less anxiety in that department. The lactation consultant made it sound so easy. We'll see. I felt bad for the guys who were so supportive and excited to be there got dragged along. If you are pregnant and are planning to go to a breastfeeding class, leave your guy at home and tell him all about it later. Breastfeeding is not something they can really help out with if you ask me.

Today (34 weeks) I went in for my bi-weekly OB checkup. BP was normal, I'm still gaining a pound a week, urine was normal, abdominal measurement was about 2cm big (same trajectory). Then Mary the NP took the baby's heartbeat with the Doppler. And took it again. And moved it around. And took it again. Then she finally decided it was too low (115, should be 120-130 minimum) and had me go to the hospital for a non-stress test. I kept repeating to myself on the way over there NON stress, NON stress, NON stress. Yes, I was a little scared. I didn't call Steve because I wanted to make sure there was a problem before potentially stressing him out, and I knew that I would lose it if I had to explain the situation out loud on the phone. Something about verbalizing my thoughts makes things so much worse than just silently focusing on the experts.

So, up in Labor & Delivery Nurse Jill had me pee in a cup (again) and lie in a recliner-type chair on my left side, then strapped a couple monitors onto my belly. She gave me a clicker to hold and told me to push the button when I felt the baby move. Sensing my bewilderment, she then explained that when the baby moves there should be an increase in heart rate, like when we climb stairs. I lay there doing the pregnancy version of Whack-A-Mole for 10-15 minutes, then Jill came back with good news and bad news. The good news is the baby is fine and heart rate increased with movement just as it should. The bad news is I had ketones in my urine indicating that my body was starving and dehydrated. (Jill also brought graham crackers, peanut butter, and a cup of water for me to eat right then.) Then Dr. Averill came in to fuss at me; I think she actually used the phrase, "Your body is eating itself" to explain ketonosis. (I was secretly happy that something had finally concerned Dr. A because I was starting to wonder if she was just super laid-back or really didn't care about my concerns.) And I reassured them both that I actually eat a lot and perhaps my late lunch was to blame. Or maybe forgetting to take my prenatal vitamin & iron supplement for two days was more serious than I'd thought. Boy is this becoming a confessional.

Then I learned something else unrelated to my/baby's health but not yet public info that put me over the edge, so it was all I could do to get out of there and drive home. And after I unloaded on Steve he put me in front of the wonderful salad bar at Ruby Tuesday and now I'm stuffed to the gills with edemame! and spinach! and hard-boiled eggs!

2 comments:

kateypie35 said...

Ok, I know unsolicited advice is completely annoying - but I just couldn't stay quiet on this one...

Your hubbie can TOTALLY help you with breastfeeding in many many MANY ways. For example...My son had crazy windmill arms and my husband would have to hold them down so I could concentrate on latching. He would also help, um, maneuver my breast into the right position during the first week when it was hard to figure things out. (TMI sorry). And he would drip bottled milk onto my nipple to help entice my anti-latcher to go ahead and eat already. (again with the TMI). Maybe I am just clumsy, but I seriously could not have mastered breastfeeding without my husband. I was so sleep deprived and emotional, I needed him to be the calming voice of reason, and if hadn't taken the class he wouldn't have known how to help me. Breastfeeding can sometimes be challenging those first few weeks, and I think its sooooo important for your husband to understand this, and be there in any way you need him. Hey, if nothing else, he can fetch you snacks and water and change babies diaper and rub your back and fluff your pillows when baby just wants to nurse nurse nurse nurse nurse...

Anonymous said...

I agree...Dave totally helped with the latching on maneuver (and it is a maneuver) and with making sure Ethan's mouth was opened to the right position while I maintained my death grip on his head to keep him latched on. Make sure you show Steve what you learned in class or at least make him sit in with you while the lactation consultant helps you learn with your real baby.