Nashville Wife

…Continued from Part 1

In the last month of my pregnancy, there were several days when the baby didn’t move as much as he had been moving up until that point. It was usually only one day at a time, and then the next day he was more active. As time went on, the low movement days became more and more frequent. I was really looking forward to holding my baby in my arms and being done with the concerns of pregnancy.

Just like with my first pregnancy, my blood pressure started creeping up. At my 38.5-week appointment, it was high enough that the midwife said she could justify doing an immediate induction. But she said it wasn’t dangerously high, so I could alternatively choose to draw preeclampsia labs, which would check on the condition of my liver and kidneys. I opted to do the blood work, as the results would be available the following morning.

Both Mr. Handsome and Little Buddy were with me at that appointment, which helped put me at ease. As we left the office, the midwife told me that if at any point I developed preeclampsia symptoms or started feeling overly stressed about the situation, all I needed to do was call her and she would schedule the induction.

That afternoon, we spent a lot of time in prayer. Before dinnertime, I started feeling like it was time to get induced. I ignored the feeling at first, convinced that it was just my mind saying it was tired of dealing with pregnancy, but the feeling became stronger with each passing minute. I was also experiencing some slight vision changes, which is a symptom of preeclampsia, so that was concerning.

My concerns about the baby’s movement had dramatically increased over the past few days. The day before, I had hardly felt him, and at one point in the evening, it took 40 minutes of gently rubbing and poking at him to get him to move at all. That was a huge red flag because up until that point, he had always moved, immediately, every time he was at all poked or prodded.

After we ate, I called the midwife and told her I was ready to be induced. She was on board with the decision and told me to meet her at the hospital at 1:00am. That sounds like a strange time for a medical appointment, but when you consider that hospitals are open around the clock, it’s not so odd. When I hung up the phone, I immediately felt at peace. Until that moment, I had been feeling quite stressed out and on edge. That peace confirmed to me that I had made the right decision. I thanked God for his incredible guidance.

We put Little Buddy to bed and got everything ready to go, but it was only 8:30pm. My house wasn’t dirty, but cleaning is a de-stresser and a distraction for me, and I wanted to avoid allowing my mind to think about labor and delivery, so I went at it. Within an hour, I had the house vacuumed, the kitchen spotless, and the bathrooms sparkling. Then I took a long shower, and both Mr. Handsome and I went to sleep, setting an alarm for midnight.