And of course, at 30 weeks...

... we had our first trip to the ER. It was like deja vu. I've been here, I've done this. Four years ago, to be more exact. I thought i was out of the woods when four weeks ago they told me that I didn't have gestational diabetes. But for the last few days I had been having a pretty bad headache and today I decided to go to CVS to check my blood pressure. Sadly, IPhone doesn't have an app for that yet. Of course my BP was 145/105, which is pretty high. I called my doctor's emergency number, and they told me to go to the ER, which in UIC's case is labor and delivery. That's a very good thing, because you deal with people who know what they are doing, not with regular ER doctors with no expertise in OB/Gyn, which was my experience at Prentice. Everyone was extremely nice, they checked my BP and heart rate (which as is common in me was on the high side) for a couple of hours, and when they started believing that I'm really fine at 120 bpm they allowed me to go home, and take the 24 hour urine sample here. I had preeclampsia with my first pregnancy, and such samples were taken during a 24 hour hospital stay that made us crazy. We never understood why I needed to be admitted to pee on a jar. What I loved about UIC is that we didn't even have to ask for it. They thought about it on their own. Seeing first hand how low intervention they are is reassuring for me. It may not be the fanciest hospital in town, but I'm more certain every week that it is the best place to try for a VBAC.

The only down side about today is that they gave me a bag and a half of IV fluids, and now my legs could go straight to the elephant section in the zoo. IVs and me is not a good mix.

If I could just hope this is the last visit...

Let's keep going...

My OB's assistant called, and they want to do blood work on me on the third day of my next cycle. They will check the thyroid thing, too. I don't think it's too good that I always talk to the assistants... I guess it is if that means that the doctor is attending a delivery herself without abandoning the poor laboring woman... But, how do I know that? Anyway, I'll go for my appointment at the beginning of March (or whenever my cycle starts), and we'll see what happens. My problem is that I don't really want to take anything that would increase my chances of conceiving twins. Not that I don't think they are adorable, but with my history of preeclampsia, that would mean almost guaranteed bed rest, and without any family being able to come, that would be a huge problem. I don't want to leave my toddler... Wishful thinking, anyway, because for any chance of twins I need to get pregnant first. I should be ovulating right now, but I don't feel it happening. I used to, but I think I'm controlling and charting everything so much that I have forgotten how to read my body.
I'm realizing that I am focusing on the conception part of my next pregnancy... and at some point I should talk a little about the VBAC part and how I'm preparing for it. I will. Soon.