Friday, June 27, 2008

16 Week Doctor Visit: Some Firsts

Thursday I had my 16 week doctor visit. There were some firsts during this visit
  • The first time my blood pressure has ever been up in my entire life. It was just slightly elevated (I think the number was 146/86). The doctor was not concerned about it at all since it has never been high only low so I am not concerned yet. We did go by a very cheap blood pressure machine tonight since I have been having bad headaches recently.
  • Secondly, it was the first time they could not find one of my babies heart beats. But again, I was not concerned because I had just felt him that morning. There was an old ultrasound machine in the room so she just started it and I got to see my little baby. He looked great! His little arms and legs moved all around and his heart beat was 140. I am referring to the baby as a boy because usually 140 heart beats means boy and usually 160 heart beats means a girl. It can change a lot but the heart beat usually stabilizes around 16 weeks or so. I will not know for sure that it is a boy till July 20th. She could not tell on the old ultrasound machine what the sex of the baby was. We are so excited! I cannot wait to meet this precious gift from God.
Have any of you had any blood pressure issues during your pregnancy? I do not think there is anything you can do when your blood pressure is high during your pregnancy. I read somewhere that it can just have to do with the baby and his blood flow with the placenta and all. Have yall heard this?

5 comments:

Lauren said...

Hey Emily, I'm a friend of Drew Jones and found your blog through his a while back. I'm 14 weeks pregnant right now and had an early visit due to upcoming travels. It was the first time they've even used the doppler on me and she almost gave up until she found the heartbeat at the last second. I had total peace about it, but the tech had a very concerned look on her face. My bloodpressure was very low and hasn't gone up yet. I think it may be more common not to find the baby with machinery that one may realize. I've already had 3 ultrasounds and the doctor has had to look around for baby each time.

Emily Wallace said...

Lauren-
Great to hear from you. Our due date must be close! I will have to check out your blog. Thanks for the encouragement and I now know that not finding the baby's heart is very common. Thanks again!

Anonymous said...

Hey Emily, I had high blood pressure towards the end of my pregnancy with Gordon, and the advice my doctors gave me was stay away from salty foods (which is easier said than done). That's really it. Hopefully at your next dr. apt yours will be back to normal. Did you have a lot of swelling with Jackson? Anyways, congrats on this pregnancy!
Sharon

Emily Wallace said...

Sharon!

It is great to hear from you. We need to catch up! I will try to send you an e-mail sometime soon. I do not even know when your baby is due! Thanks so much for the advice about staying away from salty foods!

I do not know if you would call it swelling or me just gaining way to much weight with Jackson. I did have high blood sugar levels at one point with Jackson but they got under control. I really think my blood pressure was up because I was hungry (did not eat a good breakfast) and because they took my blood pressure with a machine and not manually. While giving birth to Jackson I about threw the blood pressure machine across the room because it kept on pinching me really badly, so I think I was a little anxious and mad that they were taking it with a machine and not manually. We bought a blood pressure machine ( a really cheap one though) and my blood pressure has been normal even when I have had my bad headaches. Thanks so much girl and hope to talk to you soon...it has been way too long!

Anna said...

Hey Emily! I am going to facebook you a message with more detail but blood pressure issues are fairly common in pregancy and you were very smart to get a machine to monitor them at home! Keep a list of them to take to your doctor visits and keep a journal of your headaches, how often you get them, how severe they are and if they go away :)