My Morning in Triage
Well that was interesting. I went in for my weekly doctor appointment this morning and wound up spending 3.5 hours in triage before finally being sent home. My blood pressure was high and my urine tested positive for protein which are two key signs of preeclampsia. I’ve also had swelling in my hands and feet for weeks. Typically the swelling comes on quickly and there’s a large weight gain when caused by preeclampsia and mine has been gradual so my doctor wasn’t 100% sure about it.
The hospital is in the building next to my doctor’s office so I walked over (outside because the weather was so nice today!) to triage and checked in. I had to do another urine test on an empty bladder and change into a gown. They hooked me up to monitors for blood pressure, baby’s heart rate, baby’s movement and contractions; and they drew some blood. Then all I could do was sit and wait for the test results.
About an hour and a half later, I got the lab results. Everything looked good except there was still some protein in my urine. Because everything else looked so healthy and my blood pressure had dropped in the time I was there, they wanted to do one more urine test… with a catheter! Yikes! Turns out it wasn’t so bad. It hurt a little but for the most part I laughed. I have no idea why it made me laugh but it did. The nurse said that’s the first time anyone has ever laughed while having a catheter inserted. Anyway, that test was clean – no protein – so they checked with the on call doctor and decided to send me home.
The monitoring showed the baby is doing fine and I’m having contractions even though I’m not feeling them. They’re not all that strong yet though. The doctor also said I’m 2cm dilated and I think I heard her say to a nurse that I’m 70% effaced. I don’t know who else she would have been talking about because she had just examined me so I think that’s right. I’m hoping I can get through my last day of work tomorrow and then that kid is free to join us any time! The sooner, the better!
Today’s experience was good for me. I got to see what happens when I get to triage so I’ll be prepared for the real thing. I also got a chance to mentally prepare myself for the delivery to not go according to my birth plan. Had they induced, everything would have been thrown out of whack. I had to rethink the entire plan on my walk from the doctor’s office to triage – call Brian, call work, make sure someone can pick up my unfinished work where I left off, where did I leave off with my work?, tell Brian what to pack in my hospital bag (I still haven’t pack it), will I get to eat something?, I’ll have to have an epidural if I get pitocin – it was not how I thought it would go. By the time I got to triage though, I had let go of the picture I had in my head and was ready to go with the flow. The nurses even commented that they were surprised it was my first baby because I was so calm. I was in good hands though. What was there to worry about?