You're not 35 weeks!

Yes, I've heard that quite a few times during my pregnancy. You can't be that far along, you're so small! Believe me, since I have felt this baby kick both in ribs and punch me in the pelvic bone on numerous occasions, even at the same time, I am positive that I am this far along. Can't help it if he has room to stretch out. Heck, he's his father's son - he loves to stretch!

But never did I think I'd hear it from an ER nurse. OK - before everyone gets excited, no, there were no contractions. Quite the opposite, actually. Allergies, unfortunately, have not been my friend the last few days. So, I was not surprised when disgusting cough showed up. I was surprised when it got so tight that it felt like my throat was ripping to shreds. Then, at 2 am, I woke up gasping - not usual for me. So I sat there for a few minutes - Do I wake up Jay? Do I wait and see how I feel in the morning? Do I wake up Jay?

Then the mantra screamed in my head, "If you can't breathe, the baby can't breathe."

That kind of stopped me dead. Up until this point, I think I would have waited it out, but on Tuesday I was thrown a pregnancy curveball. I was put on bedrest. BEDREST. No working, no housecleaning, and at most, short trips to the store. You don't tell that to a girl that has only been at her job for 4 1/2 months, and is getting to the crazy time. You don't tell that to a girl who has finally had the nesting bug hit. My doctor's response, "Too bad. You're done."

So when the cough and lack of air getting to my lungs showed up with no relief from my inhaler, I decided to take the plunge and wake Jay. He was so great, telling me not to worry, it's easier to be safe than sorry. Off to the hospital we went. Albany is so pretty at 2:30am, even with the drunks hanging around the bars on Lark.

We walked right into ER, was taken to a triage room. The tech took my blood pressure - 155/106. I actually laughed at that - shouldn't I be dead or something with a bp like that? Then, a room inside to wait for a doctor. After waiting for about 1/2 an hour and listening to some drunk say he didn't fuckin' need to be there, that everyone was a fag and he was calling his lawyer, a nurse came in to get my info. She read the info from the intake desk, looked at me, and said with reproach, "You're 35 weeks? You can't be." Thanks. Thanks alot. Then come the comments about the swollen legs and high blood pressure. "You may want to mention that to your doctor" Um, yeah, did I not just say that I was put on bedrest the other day?

So, one thing leads to another. Lungs are clear (yay), but bp, is still not good, and suddenly, there is protein in my urine. Fun. Off to L& D I go. In a stretcher. All the nurses and doctors staring at me when I walk in. I said Hi. What else was I supposed to do?

All in all, my experience was very good. My nurse, Michelle, was so sweet. She basically downplayed the protein-in-urine thing (It's not all that uncommon to have blood in your urine at this point, which will show up as protein. Who knew?) and that my bloodwork came back quite normal. She called my Munchkin "gorgeous" when referring to his movements. And then she told me snoring and drooling were completely normal, and would definitely be gone after the baby was here. Too cool.

I was finally able to leave at 8:30 am on Sunday. As nice as everyone one, and as reassuring as hearing my baby's heart beat nice and strong, I couldn't wait to get home. Best of all, there was no pre-eclampsia. So my legs are still fat, and my bp keeps going wonky for no real reason. I can hang on for 32 more days (or more) until Munchkin decides to make an appearance. Whatever he wants. As long as he's OK.