Yesterday's Adventure

Okay, so it really wasn't that much of an adventure, but it's better than calling this post "The 31-week OB appointment."

We had another OB appointment yesterday, and it was a little more exciting than our other visits. I may or may not have mentioned my "chest pain" on here, but for the last couple of weeks I have been experiencing some horrible upper back and chest pain. I treated it like heartburn at first, then thought it may have been muscle pain since it takes so much to hoist myself out of bed, I thought I was just straining my chest and back muscles. Then I started researching the web, which I love to do when I'm not quite worried enough. Reading all of the possibilities of what my chest pain could be just helps my stress level oh-so-much. But, I did it anyway. While I was doing my research, I ran across a very possible answer to my pain -- hiatal hernia.

Three years ago when I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease via an endoscopy, they also discovered that I had gastritis and a hiatial hernia (yes, I really am only 34 years old). I have not been taking any medications to treat these conditions, since I really wasn't symptomatic -- I have just been watching my diet and limiting the amount of acidic and spicy foods I eat. What I read however, is that a hiatal hernia can become aggravated during pregnancy as the fundus height causes the stomach to get squished (a very medical term) into the chest cavity. The squished stomach is a normal side-effect of pregnancy as the baby grows. What exactly is a hiatal hernia then, you ask? Well, a quick definition is a hiatal hernia is what happens when the upper part of the stomach protrudes into the chest through an opening of the diagram.

I talked to my doctor about this, and she said that hiatal hernias are what they first suspect when their patients complain of chest pain. I told her that I was currently treating this with Tylenol and Mylanta and so far, my treatment has been working. She warned me that if my symptoms begin to not subside with this treatment, I am to go to the Emergency Room -- yea for me! Hopefully we won't have to reach that stage -- although some nights the pain is so intense, I am in tears.

Then I happened to mention that I hadn't been feeling the girls move as much in the last couple of days. She questioned me as to whether I was feeling at least six movements in an hour -- I said, sometime, but not always. She finished the exam and told us that she wanted us to go upstairs to L&D for a non-stress test (NST) since I was feeling less movement. She also said that they would also monitor my blood pressure while I was up there, since that too was high. I didn't have any protein in my urine, but they want to keep an eye on my blood pressure to avoid pre-eclampsia.

So, upstairs we went. We checked into the triage area of L&D, and I got hooked up to the monitors -- two heart rate monitors and a contraction monitor. The nurse left the room and Geoff and I got situated in front of the mini-TV in the room. The girls didn't like the monitors too much -- Baby A has always been our squirmer, when I was in the hospital after the cerclage she really enjoyed playing keep away from the monitors. She didn't disappoint us yesterday -- she was back to her old games again -- but this time, not as bad since she is much bigger now. Baby B has always been my mover and shaker -- I feel her movements most frequently throughout the day and she too kept up this role. She was on the monitor for about 20 minutes and was taken off since her movements and heart rate were "perfect" according to the nurse assisting us. Baby A on the other hand, was not doing anything alarming, but her movement and accelerations weren't quite what they wanted to see, so they kept her on the monitor a bit longer.

After about 20 more minutes, the nurse came back in and said that Baby A still wasn't performing up to expectations and proceeded to pull out a little "zapper" that she said she was going to use to see if she could wake her up a bit. After a quick zap Baby A's heart rate picked up -- the nurse left us again and left Geoff and I to watch our little Baby A's heart rate on the monitor. Geoff spoke words of encouragement to her -- telling her to "moooooove" pretending to be a cow (he will kill me for posting that, but it was cute -- I couldn't resist). After another 20 minutes or so, the nurse came back in while she was on the phone with my doctor. They were going to let us go, but my doctor wanted me to reschedule my Wednesday appointment for Monday, so they could check my blood pressure again.

Overall, Baby A's heart rate was not concerning -- she had good accelerations, but they were just not consistent. I told the nurse that throughout my pregnancy, I have felt Baby A less than Baby B. It could just be that Baby A is just our laid-back baby (like Geoff) and Baby B is our "on-the-go" baby (like me). I'm sure I will continue to have regular NST's now since I still do not feel them move as much. Of course I am worried -- I don't want anything to be wrong, and they have reassured me that it really isn't anything to worry about, but you know me...

So, we will go again on Monday and see what they say. At least I know that tomorrow I will be 32 weeks, and if something happens that requires me to deliver them before 34 weeks, they will be fine -- with a little extra care from the hospital staff. I am happy to be getting so close, but all of this uncertainty of when and where and how the "big day" will come is making me crazy!