After Clint helped me gather myself, we got in the car to head to work. We headed to McDonalds to get a large diet coke (at this point I had thrown out the limited caffeine rule) and some breakfast. All I could stomach was a hash brown and a few sips of coke. Clint mentioned he thought I should call my doctor, but I brushed it off. What could she do besides tell me to take tylenol for sore muscles?
When I walked into work, my boss asked how I was feeling that day. Normally, in the South, you'd be polite and say, "Good, thanks. You?" I was way past that. I told him exactly how horrible I felt. His wife was pregnant with their second and due just a few weeks after me, so he had been researching some stuff the night before and asked me about swelling, headaches, and a few other things. I said I didn't have any of those, but he said he still thought it wouldn't hurt to call my doctor and just see what they thought. I figured I might as well. It couldn't hurt. So I called and left a message for my nurse, breaking down the last couple of days and how miserable they'd been. My nurse normally took a while to call back, so I sat down, on my exercise ball (gotta keep moving that baby down, people!), and started working. I was shocked when she called back 15 minutes later.
Her: Well, Stephanie, if I was a betting woman, I'd bet you're in labor and you're just laboring in your back.
Me: I really don't think so. I took tylenol about 30 minutes ago and I feel great right now. That wouldn't help contractions, would it?
Her: Probably not, but why don't you and Clint go ahead and pack your bags and come on in and we'll figure out what's going on.
Me: (laughing) Um... ok, I guess!
I called Clint and told him, let Eric know what was going on, and headed out. People in the office saw me leaving and asked if we were going to have the baby and I had to reply with, "I don't know. We're going to find out!"
So we got home around 9:30 and took our sweet time packing. When it came time to load the car up, we couldn't figure out if we should bring the carseat or not. It had just come in the day before and we hadn't had time to install it or anything. Clint said it wasn't worth trying to install it now since we wouldn't need it and I almost agreed, but then we decided to just throw it in the back just in case...
We got to the Dr. and did the whole pee in a cup and weigh yourself routine. This may be TMI, but I don't really care... I noticed my pee was a really funny color. I had been drinking water like a champ my whole pregnancy so it had always been clear. Not now. It was a weird brown color. I figured I hadn't had enough to drink in the last couple hours. I also noticed I had gained 5.5 lbs since my appointment 6 days ago, but I hadn't taken the time to take off my shoes and sweatshirt so I didn't think too much of that either.
I got called back and my nurse stuck that strip in my pee just like she had done every other check up. But this time she didn't just look at it and move on. She loooooooked at it. Stuck another test strip in the pee. Looked at that one. Stuck another strip in pee. Looked at that one. And then did it again! Then she took my blood pressure and went "hmmmmmm" as she listened for my heartbeat to start back up. She took the cuff off and said, "This may not be labor, but something's up. I'm gonna let Dr. McGuinn look at your chart." Then she moved us to the check-up room. Once we were in the room, I remember praying something along the lines of, "God, I don't care what you have to do as long as we're both healthy at the end of it, even if its preecclampsia and I have to be induced. I just want him OUT!"
A few minutes later my doctor walked in and asked which hospital I was delivering at. I told her and she shouted it down the hall. Then she closed the door and said
"Ok, they know you're coming. We're going over there and getting this sweet baby out of you. Today."
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