Pregnancy Problems.

I have been contracting off and on for weeks. They will get very regular at times, 2-4 minutes apart, then space out and sometimes go away for hours at a time. They have always been uncomfortable from the tightening, but never really painful. They get worse when I work, or do something active, and settle down when I lay down. The last 2 days they have gotten more intense. Last night I contracted every 2-3 minutes for hours and hours. They started hurting, and would persist no matter what I was doing.

I also started getting sick last night. Payton has been sick with a cough, sore throat, fever, and throwing up. I started feeling it last night, and by this morning it was worse.

My swelling has gotten a lot worse lately. It is there constantly, and worsens whenever I am on my feet. I started swelling bad in my face, legs and arms. My blood pressure has started to creep up. Last time I checked (at work on Thursday) it was 132/84.

So, after 2 days of getting worse, we decided to take Payton to the Dr. today. I was feeling bad enough with everything I decided I should run to my Dr's office and make sure everything was ok.

Payton's appointment went fine. Blood work showed what he has is viral and we really can't do much besides manage symptoms. After his appointment, I almost decided not to go to my Dr's since I had the same thing..but Devry convinced me to still go to make sure the contractions weren't causing problems.

They check me in and check my bp. 146/93. Not good. Especially after spending the last few days resting a lot more since Devry has been home. My Dr. wasn't in today, so I saw his partner. They check heartbeats and Baby A's was a little high. He checked to see if I am dilated...and I was 2 cm and 50% effaced. The Dr. wanted to monitor Baby A for a while because of his high heart rate on the doppler. Luckily he looked good. He checked a few other things to see if my elevated bp was causing problems, which isn't yet. So...he told me I couldn't work anymore. If my contractions are dilating me and my blood pressure is up when I'm not working, working definitely would cause both to be worse. And I'm supposed to "take it easy." Not strict bed rest at this point but definitely should spend most of my time sitting or laying down.

So the complications begin. I have been lucky up to this point with no problems. The hope is by taking it easy, my bp stays ok and my contractions stay non existent or at least mild enough not to do anything. I will see my Dr. on Monday and go from there. Unless of course the contractions worsen before then and start doing more, or I start having some warning signs from high blood pressure. Once again I am grateful that I know so much about pregnancy, labor and complications so I know exactly what to watch for. Hopefully we can cook these kiddos for a few more weeks so they can come out healthy and strong. I'd love to avoid the NICU.