I am officially on maternity leave, less than 3 weeks away from D-Day and very pregnant and uncomfortable!  It's like my body knew when I was stopping work.  Everything has been getting harder for the past few weeks, but near the end of last week was when it really hit me.  

Last Sunday night I started having contractions (which have been increasing day by day) that started occurring every 5-10 minutes.  I started timing and documenting them and kept hearing my OB's voice in my head to call if I have more than six in an hour (I had seven).  I started to stress a bit and thought "this can't be happening!" so I did what any normal person would do.  I stopped counting the contractions, immediately went into denial while I showered (just in case!) and packed my hospital bag.  I was tired and decided to go to bed thinking if this is the real deal it'll wake me up.  By morning I wasn't contracting as much, but I was very fatigued and had nausea and diarrhea (sorry TMI).  I decided to call my OB and get checked out just in case.  I called at 8am on a Monday morning and called back at 1pm, as I hadn't received a returned phone call, which I never get from them!  I spoke to the MA to my doctor (Mary Ann) who I love; she passed on the message to my doc and she thought I should be seen as well so they scheduled an appointment at 3pm.  At 3pm I pulled up to the office and got a phone call from them.  It was the receptionist telling me the midwife who was on call wanted to speak to me about my symptoms.  I explained I was outside and I could come in, but she insisted I speak to her on the phone while outside.  I again explained my symptoms and she thought it was best for me to be evaluated at the hospital.  I told her I didn't think it was necessary, but begrudgingly agreed after she said "humor me" and immediately went to labor and delivery at the hospital.  They hooked me up to monitors, asked me a ton of normal, but totally irrelevant intake questions and finally the midwife came in the evaluate me.  They did a swab culture to make sure my amniotic sac hadn't ruptured (I think I'd know if it did!), which of course came back negative.  After a vaginal exam showed she thought I was still closed, she mentioned something about 34 weeks.  I told her I was 36 weeks and a few days.  Why does this matter?  The reason it was so important to determine if I was in labor at the hospital was because at 34 weeks she would've stopped it; at 36 they would let me continue.  All in all it was a huge waste of time, not to mention cost from going to the hospital AND missing work!

My regularly scheduled appointment Wednesday proved to be equally as frustrating.  I was roomed by Mary Ann again who asked if I was better after Monday'sincident.  When I explained what had happened she said in a low voice "all she has to do is look at the freakin' chart; it calculates how many weeks you are automatically."  I like Mary Ann's honesty with me and think she's so open because we're both medical assistants and both deal with similar frustrations at work.  I told her I thought she had relayed my symptoms to my doctor, which she explained she did, but I guess the right hand doesn't talk to the left hand at that office and it wasn't relayed to the midwife that was on call and who I was to see that day.  The midwife had explained at the hospital she thought Kingston was sitting on my cervix, but not yet engaged, and she educated me on exactly what that meant.  After she left, I got a knock on the door and expected my doctor to come in, but nope!  It was yet another midwife I hadn't met.  She explained she'd be seeing me instead of my doctor... who was 10 feet away in her office!  I was extremely puzzled and thrown off guard.  I understand them having me see other doctors and midwives there, but to pawn me off at the last minute when she was in the office was really frustrating!  Mary Ann had told me my doctor wasn't in a good mood because some of the practicioners had moved to the office that day and none of the rooms were set up correctly.

The midwife recommended a non-stress test, which I do weekly, but explained I needed to go to the hospital since they didn't have the equipment in the new office yet.  I said "absolutely not, I'm not going back to the hospital!"  I told her I had a NST done on Monday (two days prior), which she replied with "well you're not exactly a low risk pregnancy."  She finally agreed it was okay for me to skip it since my doctor said to have it done weekly.  She also agreed to let me go to the other office after my appointment from here on out to do the NST, since it's too costly in the hospital.  She said "oh do you have to pay for that at the hospital?"  Ugh... yeah!  I may have excellent insurance, but everything is at least double there.  If I have to go there, I will... which I may have to today; I'll explain in a few.

Okay, enough complaining about my OB office!  A couple of weeks ago my friends Lourdes and Betsy threw me a beautiful shower.  She made the theme Lion King; the king part for Kingston and also appropriate since I love animals.  Every little detail was so beautiful from the cake to the covered oreos with his name written on them to the hershey bar party favors enclosed in a sleeve that had the theme of the shower and my favorite ultrasound picture of him!  My friends were very sweet and generous with gifts and we pretty much got everything we need for Kingston!  Leandra, Kingston's godmother, came down from Tahoe for the weekend and was in charge of games.  She put together a scrapbook for Kingston, which fortunately I didn't read at the shower, but afterwards which made me a crying mess!  She had put some of the photos I posted on the blog and inserted some advice cards she had received from friends and family back home.  The crying began when I read the one from my grandmother.  She hoped "Gee" would be Kingston's first word and hoped to Skype a lot to see him as she may not have a lot of time left.  Everyone's advice was unique, funny and heartwarming, but one that also had me sobbing was from our friend Adrianne in northern Virginia; she is married to one of Lee's childhood friends.  She wrote separate advice for Lee and I and on his she said "you'll see what it's like to watch your heart walk around outside of your body."  I told Lee he had to read all of them though they would make him cry as well.  I was happy to come home one day after work and find him going through the scrapbook.  I'm not sure if it was just his allergies, but there was some sniffling going on.

Saturday we had a scheduled appointment through Dominican Hospital (where I'll be delivering) to have the car seat installed.  I am so glad we signed up for it!!  What they taught us in 30-45 minutes would've taken Lee and I hours to figure out.  They also pointed out the cute little owl seat belt covers on the car seat that my sister-in-law bought off our registry were not safe and if I got into an accident it would void the warranty on the car seat.  They told us anything changed on the car seat would as well.  I had just purchased this car seat set with a cute little blue back cushion/pillow, a matching folding canopy cover that also came with a blanket and cover that went over the whole car seat to keep the sun out.  Basically I can use the blanket that goes over him and the cover for the whole seat; everything else is out!  I am glad to know all of this, but wish people wouldn't be allowed to make items that are not safe!  Another item included, which we hadn't gotten yet, but was on my list is a back seat mirror.  I found that out after asking which side is best to put the car seat in for me to see him.  I was told he's in the car seat, he's fine.... if I need to check on him I'm supposed to pull over, since looking in the mirror on his seat is worse than texting.   

Kingston's nursery is almost done, and will probably have the status of "almost done" for awhile!  The room still needs flooring in the closet, heat run into, the light switch replaced since it crapped out, blinds which should be arriving in a week and the dresser that was my mother's childhood dresser still needs to be repainted and put in there.  Other than that, everything is neatly tucked away and ready for him!  I Skyped with my mom last night and showed her some of the items in his nursery, but really can't wait to show her every little detail!  We got a gift from Banjo & Kazoo (really from my in-laws) that is a wooden boston terrier crib mobile I fell in love with on Etsy when I first got pregnant.  I searched for the boston terrior one recently, but couldn't find it and was having the hardest time liking any of the crib mobiles I came across.  We also got a Duke onsie with matching pacifiers from a newish physician assistant at work that moved here from Virginia and went to Duke.  My father-in-law decided since we had Redskin and Duke stuff that Kingston needed some air force academy attire and bought him a onsie with matching fleece jacket and a hat.  I hope this little boy likes all these teams we're throwing at him!

So back to my probable hospital visit today.  I swear I have become a hypochondriac since being pregnant, which is almost opposite of who I am.  With myself, I only go to the doctor if I'm really sick!  On Friday, my last day of work, I woke up with a bright rash on my right cheek.  It looked like someone had slapped my cheek and that's where my mind immediately went to:  Slapped Cheek aka Fifth's Disease, which is a parvo virus.  I started relating not feeling well that week plus swollen, tender lymph nodes in my neck several days prior; also my neck looked swollen that morning.  I had one of the doctors at my work look at it first thing (Dr C was out of the office that day), who didn't think it was slapped cheek, but a cellulitis and had me asked the other dermatologist when she came in.  She agreed with him and after questioning me determined it's probably cause was from an ice pack I put on the right side of my nose on Friday after a nurse tried to nick a milia out.  One of the doctors gave me his cell phone number and told me to call him this week if my rash worsens.  Fortunately it didn't, but I've had some other interesting symptoms.  The swelling my legs, particularly in my ankles and feet has increased and doesn't go away after being in bed all night.  On Friday I work compression socks all day at work and didn't take them off until right before we left to go meet a potential pediatrician for Kingston.  I put on skinny jeans and flip flops and by the time we arrived at his office (20 minutes later) my ankles were bulging out of my jeans!  I finally made myself stop cleaning yesterday and put my legs up after I could feel the fluid on the tops of my feet.  For the past several days I've also had swelling in my hands that is painful.  The swelling can be normal from pregnancy or a sign of preclampsia, which I doubt I have since my blood pressure has been excellent throughout my pregnancy.  I was contemplating calling my OB today or waiting until my appointment on Wednesday.  I will mention this all today, but the reason I am concerned was my extreme itching all over my body last night, which I had the night before as well.  I saw redness on my back and asked Lee if I had a rash, but he said they were just scratch marks.  I was literally clawing at my skin all over.  I woke up at 3ish this am (as I normally do now; a combination I think from my body getting ready for those late night feedings and the numbness in my hands) and decided to google itching in the third trimester.  I came upon a diagnosis I had learned about a month or so ago:  Cholestasis (aka jaundice of pregnancy).  Around that time I had itching on my palms one night so severe I drew blood.  I wasn't worried, but thought I'd google to see.  I've had itching here and there on my palms and rarely, but occasional on my feet and mentioned it to the midwife I saw at that time.  She said there is a blood test they can do at the hospital, but it takes 2 weeks for the results.  I could tell she was on the fence about doing the test and after she told me it gets worse, I told her I'll just call if it worsens.  After that I didn't really have a problem with it; it's been very mild and sporadic.  

I did learn with my research this morning that intrahepatic cholestasis does increase your risk for stillbirth and can be very harmful to myself and the baby.  I don't seem to have any of the other symptoms, but the itching, which is more severe at night seems to be classic for it so I'm going to call and demand I be seen today.  I'll probably have to go to the hospital for testing, but am not sure what they'll do.  I read LFTs (hepatic liver function) can be run, but take a day for results; I wonder if they can be read STAT in the hospital.  I'm also not sure what the two week test the midwife talked about is.  Treatments for it, I read were medications, close monitoring and even early induction.  Cross your fingers this is just me being a hypochondriac!  

Please keep myself and sweet little Kingston in your prayers.  His arrival is quickly approaching and I'm beyond excited to meet my little miracle!

XOXO,

Chelle