Doctor's Appointments

Okay so I've started going to the doctor every two weeks now. My last appointment was on the 4th of September. As I have reported in previous blogs my pregnancy has PERFECT to date. Except for a little bit of swelling of my ankles (due to being big pregnant in the heat of the summer) everything has gone swimmingly. Well on the 4th I didn't expect any different. This would be my last appointment before she would start "checking" me, and so I figured it to be rather uneventful, as had every appointment since my 20 week appt. Well, I was wrong. It started with the usual, pee in the cup, get your weight, go to your room, lay down, listen to the heart heart get your blood pressure and wait for the doctor to come in. She comes in asks if everything has been going okay, what questions you have up to this point, feels around on your belly a little bit, and you're good to go. It usually takes all of about 15 minutes total. This one however threw me for a loop. I did all the first things, (cup, weight, heartbeat) then it came to the blood pressure. My nurse took it and took the cuff off and said, have you been having blood pressure problems?? I said, "no". Course I'm thinking "how the heck should I know? it's not like I check it all the time, and I haven't felt any different at all......" but all I said was no. She said, well, it's really high for you so lay down on your left side for awhile and the doctor will be with you. So the doctor comes in asks all the usual questions, and then leaves. My nurse comes back and says, okay, you have to do some more blood work and we're going to need you to do a 24 hour urine collection. Go to the lab and they will tell you what to do. Now blood work I understand, but I'm not 100% sure what is meant by 24 hour urine collection, course I can draw my own conclusions, but you see what I'm getting at here....... The lab tech draws my blood, and then she hands me a blue bag. She says in the bag is a bowl for you to catch your urine in, and there is also a brown jug for you to pour it in when your done. Mind you, I am processing what she is saying, but I thinking do you people seriously expect people to do this? Then she goes on to say, you have to get every urination into the jug. Oh yeah, the jug must be kept in the refrigerator, and when you bring your jug back up here, it has to be kept cold. I'm am to start this on a Sunday and bring it back first thing Monday morning. So I have to miss church Sunday because in case I have to pee I can't be to far from home cause it has to go in the "jug". It's not like I can just tote my jug with me to church........ HAH. I tell Will before I start this, okay the brown jug in the fridge is not juice, please be aware of that. So I sit around all day Sunday just waiting to pee in my jug..... oh how eventful that was. The most exciting part was peeing in the middle of the night trying to make sure you get it in the bowl then having to go to the kitchen and pour it in your jug before you can go back to bed. All the while I thinking, I really hope nothing is wrong (in case you didn't know, these are tests that they make you do when they think you have pre-eclampsia, which can lead to strokes, kidney failure, death to the mom or baby or both if it is left untreated, so it is rather serious, as I'm trying to make jokes about it), but at the same time I kind of hope that they find something is wrong because then all this trouble I'm going through is all for naught......ugh! So Monday morning, my 24 hours is up, and I get ready, get my jug of pee, go to my grandma's get her ice chest, fill it with ice, put my jug safely in the chest so it can't tip over and it is being kept nice and cold. I return it to my Dr.'s office and am told that I will be notified of the results. So I'm thinking (I do alot of that) that this could be potentially serious, so they'll probably be in a hurry........... I did not get any results until Friday. Everything with my jug of pee came back fine, all is normal, so I went through all of that for nothing! Tomorrow is my 2nd appointment in 2 weeks. After this I start going back every week that means that it is getting ever so close! I can't wait. I'll post again after my first experience of "getting checked" and let you know if anything else is going on..... (Don't worry, I won't get to graphic!)