Second OB Appointment

Started off with the anatomy scan and guess what... it's a girl! Okay, so that is not as exciting as it could have been, you know, if we hadn't already found out gender from the chromosome screening and all. Everything looked fine with the baby and she is measuring right on target, which is good, considering that already, at one day shy of 19 weeks, Angie's blood pressure is elevated.

As most of you know, the beginning of the end of my pregnancy with Fletcher started with elevated blood pressure, so not surprisingly, this news makes me a little nervous. Angie's OB explained to me that Angie has a history of borderline-high bp anyway, so this is most likely more indicative of chronic hypertension (which is no surprise given our family history) and is not a sign of preeclampsia. Chronic hypertension is not without its risks to a pregnancy, but it is much more manageable than preeclampsia. Even so, he has prescribed her a very low dose of pregnancy-compatible blood pressure medication and also advised her to take a daily calcium supplement. He also asked her to check her blood pressure at home a couple of times a day and to make her next appointment for two weeks from today, instead of the usual four.

Angie insists that her high bp is due to the fact that she has gained more than a little weight since we started the fertility treatments (lupron is known to increase appetite, and she was on it for four or five months off and on before the cycle) and that the doctor is just being overly cautious with everything because I am making him paranoid with all of my questions and comments. But you know what, better safe than sorry. Even though I would have to pay her paycheck if she gets put on bedrest and can't work, I would gladly do that to insure she makes it well into the third trimester of this pregnancy. I just pray it doesn't come to that.