I am interested to see what my weight is.  When I left the hospital I had already lost all but 10lbs of my “baby weight”, and now that I’m breastfeeding I’m interested to see how much I’m going to weight.  Hey maybe I won’t have to consider buying any of the Kettlebell videos after all!

Anywho, Sunday I have a baby shower to go to.  I ended up missing my first baby shower because I was in the hospital!  Elliana arrived the day before the shower, so Hubby went in our place to accept all the wonderful gifts we received.  My mom had planned a second shower from my side of the family for November 8, so I’ll get to attend at least one of my showers.

Then on Monday I have to have Elliana in Greenville for an MRI.  She has a sacral dimple, and she had an ultrasound on it last week that was inconclusive.  The radiologist said it’s closed and not leaking fluid, and they don’t think we have to worry about spinal bifida since she has full use of her legs, but no one wants to take a chance on not catching a problem that might exist. The pediatrician scheduled an MRI to get a definite answer as to whether her dimple is a sign of a problem or not.  Most of the time a sacral dimple is harmless, but we’re not taking any chances.

Tuesday we’ll be right back at the pediatrician’s office to get the results of the MRI and for Elliana’s 2 week checkup.  I can’t wait to see how much weight she’s gained by then seeing as how she packed on 6oz between Friday and Monday.  My little piggy is fattening up, and you better believe I’m going to let her.  She’ll be 5lbs before you know it!

So as you can see the next few days are going to be very busy around here in and out of doctor’s offices and what not.  I’m still trying to avoid visitors (no offense to friends and family) right now because I just feel like it’s too risky to allow so many people around a preemie with the flu running wild right now.  I don’t even like the fact that I have to take her out in public to go to the doc’s office…especially since that’s where you’re going to run into all the sick people.  Thank goodness her pediatrician rushes all babies straight to a room setup in the back just to keep them away from the waiting room germs.

Anywho I’ve been rambling for quite awhile now, and the little one is starting to stir.  I must get her fed and cuddle her while my wonderful Hubby cooks us dinner.

It turns out I was developing severe preeclampsia at a very fast pace, and it hit so fast there was really no way we could control it to keep little miss Elliana inside any longer.  The only option was to deliver at 35 weeks via emergency c-section and hope for the best.  We tried for a vaginal birth, but inducing me didn’t go so well.  I was 3 1/2 cm after 24 hours with my systolic bp well in the 200s, so we had no choice but to go for a c-section.

Luckily for us she is a very healthy little girl.  When I say little I mean it, too.  She showed up at a whopping 4lbs 5oz and 17 1/2 inches long.  Luckily she didn’t lose much of that weight when she dropped weight like the typical newborn.  After laying up in the hospital with me for 9 days while the doctors still worked to control my blood pressure she had only dropped 3oz.  She’s already gained back what she lost and surpassed her birth weight over the weekend!  At her doctor’s appointment yesterday she weighed in at 4lbs 8oz!

Anywho I’m getting sidetracked.  Yes I was bored out of my mind while I was stuck in the dreaded hospital for 9 days.  I was going stir crazy with nothing to do but watch tv and stair at the glass tiles on the windows. Yes I did have a brand new baby to take care of, but I wasn’t allowed to do as much as I would like thanks to trying to control my bp. I’m still not completely better.

After my c-section I lost a ton of blood, so on top of the preeclampsia I ended up extremely anemic.  I had a blood transfusion (3 pints), followed by more days of rest and lots of bp meds followed by getting pumped up with lots of potassium because that dropped extremely low, too.  I have to admit there were plenty of times I was scared out of my mind.especially when I was told I was so anemic that on paper I should be on my death bed although I physically I didn’t look that way.  It was definitely a very long 9 days.  What’s scary is Elliana was cleared to leave the hospital before I was, and I had to watch her ride off to an ultrasound in Greenville without me.  I definitely cried knowing I couldn’t be there for her first big trip out into the world.

Anywho I was finally cleared to leave that dreaded place on Halloween.  We’re keeping my bp steady with a ton of bp medicines, but it’s still high. I’m not on bed rest, but I’m not allowed to do much other than caring for Elliana. I was told not to lift anything that weighs more than 2 of her since she’s such a small baby, and I’m not allowed to do any housework at all. I could probably spend more time online, but I’ve decided to use most of my downtime to relax instead in the hopes that it’ll help my body heal and my bp return to normal sooner. I’ve been sleeping as much as possible, and I figure I’ll have plenty of time on down the road to do online things. Right now I’m recouping and enjoying the time I have to spend with my precious little girl.

Then I found out there’s a very good chance that Elliana is going to grace us with her presence a lot earlier than we expected.as in the next two weeks early.  Then when I got home I sat on the porch swing with Hubby and broke the dang thing.  We’ve been sitting outside on that swing everyday when he comes home from work for 6 years, and in 6 years his 250+lbs hasn’t broke it.

Then fatso me sits down on it last night, and the dang thing broke on my side.  Luckily that’s not the reason Elliana may arrive early.  I fell straight down a couple feet, and lard butt that I am now I had plenty of cushioning for the fall.  My doc laughed when I told her what happened, and it actually helped me to feel better about the situation instead of feeling like I’d injured my poor child forever.

Anywho, the reason she may arrive early.

My blood pressure has always been pretty low, but at the doctor’s office yesterday it was through the roof.  She asked me if there was anything that could trigger the high bp, and I said we’d had a pretty rough morning, so yeah.  I thought the nurse was just picking at me when she said I could end up with a little birthday present if my blood pressure stayed so high.  My birthday is 16 days before my due date.3 weeks from now.

Then while I was giving my urine sample I overheard the nurse and the doctor talking outside the bathroom.  The nurse was telling the doctor my bp was extremely high.  That freaked me out enough that I forgot to even ask what the actual number was, but when it came time to schedule my next appointment she decided it was high enough to want me to come back in a week instead of 2 weeks.  Then Dr. Beasely used that one word I dread hearing…induce.

I’m already super paranoid about induction.  I loathe even the thought of Pitocin, and after watching one of our best friend’s go through a failed induction into a c-section into a severe uterine staph infection I get even more freaked out when I hear that word.

I crossed my fingers hoping when I go back in a week I won’t have any problems, but she said if my bp is still sky high she’ll probably have me induced to avoid preeclampsia.  I’ll be 36 weeks exactly on the day of my appointment, so we don’t really have to worry about her being early.  She gave me the typical “lay down and prop your feet for an hour in the morning and in the afternoon” prescription, but she seemed kind of alarmed when she asked how much time I do spend on my feet during the day.  I answered really not much because I’m usually stretched out in my recliner working online.

I was hoping the high bp was just a fluke, but it’s not looking that way.  It was 162/114 when I got home and checked it yesterday.  It was 170/something (can’t remember) when the swing breakage occurred & I called the doctor.  When she found out I had a bp monitor at home she told me to keep an eye on it today and report to her this evening if it stayed high. Well it’s still sky high to the point it scares me.  This afternoon it was 153/116, and it’s only risen from there.  Right before dinner it was 171/112, and when I checked after eating I was down a little but not much at 163/109.

I called the doctor back this afternoon, and it’s not looking good on the hoping I don’t get induced part, and I’m starting to go into omg she really might be here in the next couple of weeks mode.

And if you think I’m freaking out…you should see Hubby!

I wanted to stay in bed as long as possible this morning due to the fact that it’s just too dang cold out there, but the baby girl had other plans.  She must be playing games in there trying to stay warm or something because she’s been kicking up a storm non-stop since 4am…and we haven’t even had coffee yet. 

I did just start my coffee (decaf), so hopefully that’ll jump start the warm up process since my big fluffy robe, fluffy PJs, and blanket don’t seem to be doing the trick.  I’ve got my floor heater running, and as soon as I get it heated up in here enough that I don’t feel like a popsicle I’ll work on getting a small fire going in the woodstove.  That’ll warm it up in here quick!

Thank goodness it’s supposed to be back up in the 70s tomorrow.  I was beginning to wonder where Fall went.  I mean come on…NC mountains got freakin’ snow this weekend!  What’s up with that?

I did manage to drag myself out to the grocery store this afternoon, then I headed right back home where it was warm.  When I got back Hubby surprised me by finally painting the bathroom!  I was a good girl and stayed away from the paint fumes.  I did something I haven’t done in a while, played a little bit of Sims 2, while he did the painting.  I figured if I couldn’t be in there painting our own house I could at least build and paint a few in game!

After the painting was done Hubby retired to the living room to spend some time on the Playstation 3.  If he’s not gaming he’s using it to get online now that I’ve shown him how, and he loves it.  He’ll spend hours looking at Youtube videos or searching for auto accessories for the Evo he says he’s going to buy once the Blazer is paid off. We’ll see about that one, but if we get an Evo I hope he doesn’t think it’ll be his daily driver *wink wink*!

Anywho I fell asleep on the couch watching him surf the net, and I woke up 2 hours later to find myself cold and hungry, so of course I had to cook something.  I’ve heard some pregnant women get on this baking kick while others suddenly want to cook all the time.  I think I’m dealing with a combo of both, and I’ve been on this Japanese kick. 

Once I found out how simple it is to make a tempura batter I just had to make tempura.  We started out with broccoli, mushrooms, and imitation crab sticks, and we ended up trying cheese, weenies, and bananas.  The cheese and bananas didn’t work as both were way too mushy.  Hubby says i was just looking for an excuse to put whatever I could in the Fry Daddy.  I think I might have to agree.  In the end everything turned out awesome, though. 

Next time I want to make cheese wontons, but I need to find out where to get wonton wrappers since I couldn’t find them at Ingles or Walmart.  I’ll have to check Bloom, but I guess I could order them online if I need to.  Ooh I think there might be an Asian store now next to our favorite Japanese restaurant in Clemson, so I’ll have to check into that!

Anywho I’ve rambled about food until I’ve made myself hungry again.  I think I hear a piece of cheesecake calling my name!