Hiccups

I think Lily is starting to get hiccups sometimes. It's a cute feeling (so far) to have this little person hiccupping away inside of my tummy :) I can't wait to see her in person (though I hope it's not too soon).

I think I'm going to try and quit working after this weekend. I'm starting to get really nervous of my customers and to worry a whole lot more about accidents while I am driving. That, in conjunction with my worries about my rising blood pressure, makes it a good plan to quit early.

My mom just reminded me that if I continue working through next week (4th of July weekend) that I could make a lot of money. I smile at that :) perhaps I would make a lot of money (perhaps not, though) but what I remember most about working the 4th of July and New Years is that while in most places people shoot off fireworks, in many neighborhoods of the city they shoot of guns instead. I made the mistake of working on New Years and ended up in the city around midnight... I was terribly frightened by all the crazy people shooting pistols and rifles off from their porches (don't they know those bullets come down somewhere?) and I talked to a couple of cab drivers who got bullet holes in their cabs that night. It seems that cabs are easy targets :). So even if it actually would be safe (yah right) I fear I would be so scared that it would be a really bad night for me anyway :)

I swing between wondering how I will ever find the time to get everything ready by October and wondering how I will deal with the boredom of not working for so long :) I hope that I will find myself sufficiently occupied and also able to feel prepared for Lily's appearance. Mostly I wonder if not working will make Eric's absence even harder. He's been in Santa Clara for more than a month now and it feels like an eternity already. He might come visit sometime in July :) I hope that is the case and that I'm busy enough with getting ready that the time flows by quickly.

Scrapbooking?

I have, thus far, avoided the scrapbooking frenzy of so many of the women in my family. One of them, though, gave me a cute idea for a scrapbook cover for Lily that has tempted me enough to seriously consider going for it.

Added to that is the fact that after looking through all of the available baby books at Borders, I was completely unable to find anything I really liked (I'm being picky). So I'm thinking if I do it myself I can include what I want to... Eric's suggestion: go for it, maybe keep it small.

So I now have a scrapbook and some supplies. What I need is to make copies (and prints) of some photos and the ultrasounds. Once I get something going I'll post it up here to show off my results :)

Getting a Bit Nervous

On friday afternoon I started feeling intermittent tightening in my abdomen and was advised by my Dr. to go to the ER to be checked out. While I was there my blood pressure was 134/82 (which is pretty high for me, normally about 105/70). The dr. there said I was likely having contractions (though this early in pregnancy it is difficult to record them on the monitor) and gave me some medication to make them stop, I was also pretty dehydrated so they made me drink lots of water.

Today I went to my dr's office for a follow up exam and my BP was even higher, 139/89, when I got there. He had me remeasured before going home and it was down to 128/84 so he said not to worry, though we have to watch my BP in case of preeclampsia.

Yeah right, don't worry :) Of course I came home and looked up everything I could find about high blood pressure in pregnancy and preeclampsia (PE). What I have found is that a sudden jump in BP of 20+ is a cause for concern and that PE is a very scary thing.

Apparently there is no way to prevent PE and the only way to cure it is to deliver the baby. If I were to develop it at this point (23 weeks along) I will most likely be put on bedrest, likely at the hospital, and hope to be able to make it until we're further along and Lily has better odds.

Well, worrying is good for raising BP even higher :) but how can I not? most women have lower than normal bp in the second trimester and I usually have low bp in general. High blood pressure is not great even if it doesn't turn into PE, it reduces the nutrients and oxygen to Lily...

My doctor doesn't seem concerned, though, so I guess I should feel better about it. I'm not usually a worrier but... this is scary. It feels like anything could happen, that Lily could be in trouble and I won't even know it.

I feel silly for worrying like this. I think I will buy a home BP kit so I can put my mind at ease (At least I'll feel like I'm doing something to keep us safe).