Monday, January 16, 2012

Please Pee In This Hat.

TMI Warning: This post contains details about pregnancy that you may consider to be too much information. Don't say I didn't warn you!

We had our third prenatal appointment last week. For the most part, everything is going well. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat (!) and all the test results for the baby have been really good so far. The OB was also able to give me some specific recommendations of who to see to help me with my SI joint issue - including physical therapists and chiropractors who are skilled in dealing with pregnant women. So that made me feel pretty hopeful. 

Unfortunately, it seems my blood pressure at this appointment and the previous one were a tiny bit too high for the OB's liking. And, since I have actually had trouble with my blood pressure in the past (though mostly when I was on prednisone) the OB is a little bit concerned about the possibility of preeclampsia. She doesn't think I have preeclampsia (yet), but to be on the safe side they are having me do what they call a baseline test for preeclampsia.

So that's what I'm doing today. The test delightfully involves collecting all my pee for 24 hours in a giant jug. They give you this hat to pee in, and the hat has a spout to help you pour into the jug. Then you're supposed to keep the jug in the fridge until you have a 24 hour sample (so don't come over to my house looking for something to drink today). I still haven't decided what I'm going to do about sleeping tonight - since the fridge is downstairs and my bed is upstairs an I ordinarily have to pee 3 or 5 or 9 times in the middle of the night. Then tomorrow morning I take the jug-o-pee to the lab and get some bloodwork done too.

As far as I understand, they are looking for protein in my urine, which is a bad sign. In the meantime, I'm trying not to let myself read too much about preeclampsia, because the OB says this is just a precaution and I really don't want to freak myself out unnecessarily (especially since I've already had a couple of really intense anxiety dreams recently - and I haven't had those since 2008). So for the time being I'm just trying to get through this test (which pretty much means I can't leave the house today since I have to pee so often) and be grateful that my doctors are being cautious.

4 comments:

J said...

If it makes you feel any better, I had to poop in a hat once. Chris was at least kind enough to leave me to my shame alone, having already driven me to the ER. Despite repeatedly saying I had JUST COME FROM A REFUGEE CAMP where I was there to work on enteric diseases, the stupid Emory ER doctor didn't even run a full panel, so I don't even know exactly what made me so sick. Hope there's no apple juice in your fridge!

~Mariah~ said...

J: I also had to poop in a cup once. That was significantly more traumatizing than peeing in the hat. Though peeing in the hat did confirm my suspicion that pregnancy makes you pee CONSTANTLY. I decided to count, and I peed 19 times in 24 hours. OMG.

Mirela said...

Wow, that's a lot of peeing:) I hope that your tests will be perfect. If for whatever reason (I'm sure that's not the case) it is preenclapsia, contact me. My cousin had two separate pregnancies while she had that condition and I could try to put you in contact. Ultimately, she had two beautiful and healthy babies but had to be very closely monitored.

~Mariah~ said...

MIRELA: Thanks so much. I really appreciate the offer! ~;o) In the meantime I'm just going to keep my fingers crossed that everything will be fine.