A minor concern....

Anna Kate has been rather active this entire pregnancy but this morning she was very quiet. Normally I get a few movements out of her when I get up and definitely by the time I have had breakfast and OJ. I get a few rounds in by dinner time. Well, not today. I typically don't count the exact number of kicks daily, but more of be mindful of her normal routine.

As of 2pm today, I had only felt about 3-4 moves all day. That's what I was told I should get in one hour time frame. I called Dr. B, who happened to be off today. Another nurse covering for him asked me to go home, drink a tall glass of cold water and lie on my left side and see how many I can count in one hour. I was home in 5 minutes and by 3:10pm, I had only felt 3 movements. The nurse recommended that I come on in and on the safe side, to be monitored.

As I am walking out the door, I call Mike, who is in a meeting, and relay a message through his secretary. I try to call my dad to at least let one parent know what's going on, since my mom is still in school at this point. He's in a meeting, but a secretary answers his personal phone. I just said that it's his daughter in Florida, that everything is fine, but I am heading to the doctor's office, and will call when I can. Then I try for my brother, and that goes to voice mail. At least I can leave a (long winded) message of what's going on.

I arrive at the clinic in 8 minutes. Within a few minutes of me being called back to be seen, Mike appears in the doorway of my room at the doctors office. Nice to see a smiling face, although he appears concerned. My blood pressure is 140/90...the highest it's been all pregnancy. I have had a very level bp, so the nurse said it's a good thing I came in anyway. The nurse also mentions that the anxiety could be keeping up high. She leads me to another room down the hall marked "emergency equipment" (great!!! just the room I need) to be monitored on a fetal non-stress test machine. Basically, I lay there while two monitors are placed on my belly....one to measure Anna Kate's heart rate and the other to measure my contractions, if I am having any.

At first, the nurse couldn't find a heart beat. Granted AK likes to play hide and go seek, but the nurse tried for a solid 5 minutes to find *something*. Even Mike's voice got a bit shaky while he was talking to me. (I know my bp probably went up a bit more at this point...) FINALLY we found something that resembled a fetal heartrate. Anna Kate was moving around and made it difficult to find her. Over the period of 45 minutes of being monitored, the nurse had to reposition the monitor 4 times since AK was moving around so much. Her heartrate ranged from 125-170 while there. The nurse said that is very normal for a baby at this state.

The doctor covering for Dr. B came in and said that everything looks good and that I am not contracting (yeah! Jan 11 is a tad bit early if you ask me!!) and that I should take it easy. The nurse also took my bp again...down to 120/72. See! I don't have high bp! It was just the nerves and anxiety talking! He also reassured me that I did the right thing by coming in. I love that. That don't make you feel like a psycho first time mom when things don't feel right. I love this practice.

In the middle of the test, my mom calls and Mike calls her back. My dad calls to tell her I'm on the way to Dr. B's office (his secretary gave him my cryptic message). She knew I didn't have an appointment today, so I know that call unnerved her. I spoke with her briefly to let her know that things are looking good and that I will call her when I can talk.

By the time I called her back about 20 minutes later, I know she had been crying. Bless her heart--She sounded upset (and I was trying NOT to get that way). I just told her that I thought at least one parent should know where we are, just in case something wasn't right and we were transferred to the hopsital. That last thing I want to do is call and say, "oh by the way, Anna Kate is here!" Too, I didn't want someone to call either Mike or me and not get us on the phone. THAT would have freaked out my mom as well.

So, it's been an interesting day here in Florida for us. We are certain that all is well and Anna Kate is ok and not coming too soon. We had dinner out afterwards and treated ourselves to dessert...a bit of extra sugar for good measure. I should have done this BEFORE hand, since she was performing her circus routine about 30 minutes after dinner...back to her old self now.

Anyway, it's nice to know that everybody is ok...AK, Mike, my mom and me and planning on a quiet evening. No more excitement before my next appointment next week. I promise. Not sure Anna Kate will agree to that .... :)