Baby P Goes to the ER

Let me start by assuaging the fears you blog readers are having due to the title of this post: EVERYTHING TURNED OUT JUST FINE!

It all started Tuesday afternoon. I started having some abdominal pain. It was a dull ache on the upper right side. A very different pain than anything I had felt before. Now, pregnancy is full of new and unusual things, and with your first it's hard to know what is "normal." I, trying to not stress, figured I would just ride it out. However, a few hours later, the pain was worse. By this time, my doctor's office was closed. They do offer an after-hours service that you can call and get advice from nurses. So I called, described my symptoms and listened to the advice: take some Tylenol, lay on your right side, and drink fluids. I did all of these things and went to bed hoping I would wake up feeling better. About 1am I woke up in even more pain. A concerning amount of pain. So, I called back the after-hours service to get some more advice. The nurse's advice? Go to the ER now and get checked out. Adbominal pain that is becoming more severe is a BIG red flag during pregnancy.

After waking Michael up, we were off (and I have to say, that is the fastest I have ever seen that little Prius drive). Luckily, there is a Swedish Hospital ER very close to our house, since the other hosptials that will take my insurance are a ways away. Once there, the very nice nurse got us set up in a room and proceeded to take blood. I was apparently serverly dehydrated (I have the bruises from the multiple attempts to insert an IV on both my hands to prove it...). The doctor ordered up an ultrasound to check on pretty much every internal organ below my stomach.

They checked all of my organs, but the exciting part was that we got to see Baby P again! I did not have a great view of the machine, but Michael carefully watched everything. He reported that Baby P was definitely bigger (almost double the length he/she was last time). He was also able to notice some features, the nose in particular. Baby P was again very active - moving and wiggling around to make sure he/she was known (I sure hope Baby P is not such a wiggler when he/she gets bigger). The awesome ultrasound tech told us, in his Russian accent, that the baby was just fine. The heart beat was normal and there didn't appear to be any problems. Whew!!! That right there was my biggest worry. That the baby wouldn't be fine. The first trimester is a delicate time, when chances of miscarriages are much higher, and we are not quite out of that first trimester yet, so it is always a worry in the back of your mind.

Anyways...they weren't able to find anything specific wrong. If things got worse, they said my appendix might be a concern. They also said the dehydration could be causing some problems. And although they did not mention it, many friends and family felt that it was probably growing pains. I'm glad that nothing was wrong, that Baby P is looking good, and I am feeling so much better. Hopefully, it will be smooth sailing from here!!