First full day of bedrest. Yuck.

Hi Munchkin,
Today I am working from the couch - trying to help the Civil Rights Moot Court team, not knowing why they aren't writing their briefs for competition, and reading an interesting yet boring book on parents rights (for my paper). After seeing the doctor yesterday I was really pretty confident that this was no big deal, and I really thought that after a day at home and resting I'd have the effects of the Las Vegas trip behind me and I'd feel normal. But alas, I really don't feel normal. I've been up very little but am still feeling short of breath and have still had some spotty vision. I poked around on the internet a little bit and read the handout from the doctor, and I realize that it's not that unlikely that I could have preeclampsia and that while it is dangerous and has to be monitored closely, it isn't at all uncommon and it wouldn't be such a shock or such a horrible thing if I had it.

Apparently, about 6 to 8% of pregnant women have preeclampsia. It is also more likely to occur during first pregnancies than later pregnancies. The cause is unknown and while obese women and women with chronic hypertension are at higher risk for it, they are by no means the only expected candidates. It's also not surprising that I haven't felt all that bad. According to one site I've found, "if you have mild preeclampsia, you may not have any symptoms and may feel perfectly well."

Treatment depends on how close you are to your due date. Since we are due in 23 days (yikes, can you believe it?) we could be pretty confident that you'd be okay. But the doctor said yesterday that for little boys, it's really better to try to get at least to 38 weeks because boys lung development seems to happen a little more slowly than girls, so it's best to let you cook. Still, that means that on our appointment next Tuesday, we could be looking at scheduling an induction because delivery of the baby is the best treatment. I really, really don't want that, and as long as it does not become too severe, we could keep you in there until you decide to pop out naturally by resting in bed, lying on my left side as much as possible to take the weight off of you and my major blood vessels, having more frequent checkups (more frequent than weekly? Jimminy Cricket!), eating less salt, and drinking lots of water.

I have my feet literally up, even though they don't look swollen to me. I can't put my wedding ring on - not even the slightly larger than normal substitute ring I've been wearing, but I still look normal (at least, normal for a 9.5 month pregnant lady). I do manage to sleep long and hard, unlike most pregnant people, but to my mind, unless it really means that you are in danger, that's hardly a symptom - it's a blessing! Mostly, I just don't feel like we're ready, and I want to be ready.