High Risk Pregnancy Pt1

All I wanted when I found out we were having a baby was to have a healthy baby. I did everything I could to make sure she was taken care of. I started prenatal and other vitamins to help support my body while she grew. Many things were like most others when having a baby and some were way different than I expected. To begin with I was finally able to manage my kidney disease and ulcerative colitis without having constant pain followed by flare ups leading to lots of additional medication.

For those that don’t know what ulcerative colitis is I will give you a quick summary. So your colon processes most of your food and helps to make your stool solid and prepare it to exit your body. Mine isn’t functioning correctly and my body’s immune system views it as a foreign invader. My body is constantly making antibodies to attack and destroy my colon. Due to this issue my colon is constantly under attack and has constant ulcers within it causing pain, digestion issues and sometimes pain going to the bathroom. I was diagnosed when I was 9. At the same time I was also diagnosed with chronic kidney failure that has no name. The kidney problem is secondary to high blood pressure. These caused issues during my pregnancy. Mainly my blood pressure condition as it made controlling my risk of pre-eclampsia difficult.

Once I found out I was pregnant I rushed to get into my OBGYN. This was in order to get off harmful medication and make sure I was on the right vitamins. Once they confirmed my pregnancy they set me up with a high risk specialist to see in addition to seeing my OB. I was told to follow closely with a cardiologist or nephrologist, which I already had to adjust my medication to help counter act complication as my baby grew. The OB started me on aspirin, folate, B6, calcium and prenatal. The prenatals that I tried kept my number stable. The ones I liked the most during pregnancy were the Vitafusion gummies for prenatal care . My nephrologist had me stop one of my medications and double up on my metoprolol ER by taking one in the AM and one in the PM. Starting that same week I was required to record my blood pressure to share ever 2 months with both doctors.

I was also required to have constant tests on my kidney function and my blood cell count. I was nauseous my whole pregnancy and struggled to eat anything besides what I was craving. Many of those craves were for chocolate of any kind. I didn’t struggle with the urge to puke, but I couldn’t eat much. Many things would make me want to puke just by the smell. Eggs were the first to go and I could tell you want my fiancé was eating by the smell. It was a pretty neat trick. The first trimester was smooth for the most part, but the gaining weight part. At first I lost 10 lbs and then started gaining a lb or two every 2 weeks. I struggled to eat enough. Most things made me sick so I only ate what I could keep down. At 14 weeks I was sent to have a spinal tap done to confirm my MS diagnosis so my doctor could prepare my medication to start once I had Olivia. That wasn’t an easy to experience at 14 weeks pregnant. That experience caused me to have Braxton hicks contractions for 2 hours afterwards. Luckily they passed and I didn’t have any bleeding due to the stress.

At 20 weeks they noticed Olivia might have a developmental heart issue and needed to be addressed by a pediatrician cardiologist. They scheduled us out to 24 weeks to have that done. I wasn’t sure what they involved, but I was willing to do what I had to in order to make sure my baby got the care she needed. It turns out they just needed to do a different ultrasound and check out the heart concerns found by the high risk doctor. The pediatrician cardiologist determined that it wasn’t something to be concerned with unless it started to cause issues after birth. This wasn’t so much a painful process just time consuming and had me stressing out over what they were going to say.

In addition to the extra scans and doctor visits I had to attend. I was informed that due to having B- blood I had to have shots to help keep my body from rejecting my baby who was B+ blood. My OBGYN told me my goal was to make it to 32 weeks and they could deliver her at the hospital closer to my house. The second trimester was full back pain and swelling in my feet. I didn’t have much to deal with my job as I was allowed to work from home 3 days a week. Going into the office 2 days a week was a struggle the closer to my due date I got. I tried to stay on top of my doctor appointments and at the time seeing a high risk doctor who started doing monthly Ultrasounds paired with activity and heart monitoring. This part was great because I go to see my little girl grow before my eyes. The doctors needed to measure the organs and keep an eye on her growth. She was slow growing, but the doctors weren’t concerned.