We got there, 5 hours later I was stable again and sent home.
Earlier that day, everything had seemed normal- well, as normal as it can be that late into your 3rd trimester. My mom and I were trying to “walk the baby out” wandering around the Provo mall when I was suddenly very puffy, and very very tired. The headache started settling in on the long drive home from Provo to Fairview. This was the worst headache I’d ever had. When my mom found my old BP cuff and I saw the needle jumping around above 150, I knew we’d have to go to the hospital right away.
Sanpete Valley hospital is little bigger than my doctor’s office, but the large maternity wing was quiet and inviting. Would I give birth to my baby in Mt. Pleasant? Would I have to have a c-section? Would they get a dr in time? Does anyone down here know how to do a c-section?
After round of IV medication, a BP under 125, and instructions to contact my primary and go back into a hospital if it went back up, we went home. Two hours later, a 1 am call to my dr, and a BP over 160/110, and we were throwing clothes into a duffle bag. I stood in the kitchen sobbing that I wasn’t ready (a perfect cocktail of anxiety, hormones, and lack of sleep).
A day and a half later, after 6 manual and automatic checks and rechecks, I was sitting in a padded gray chair at the dr’s office with a choice. We knew it would be painful and at a high c-section risk, but risking a seizure and my baby was never an option. We strolled out of the building and drove across the parking lot to the hospital entrance. I was ready. I was calm. I was prepared. 29 hours later, we were a family of 3.
