When life comes to a screeching halt...

Well, folks, this is one of those days that crying just comes and I have a lot to think about.  But, I'll start with the positives first!  At around 20 weeks, I started to feel really, really great!  My sickness held on for way too long, but thankfully, after 4 1/2 months, I felt better than ever, and was loving being pregnant.  Finding out that we were having a girl was really exciting and getting to see her on that 21 week sono was amazing.  I started to get so attached to her after I saw those images of her and we started calling her by name.  She moves around so much now, and I can tell that she is growing because I can feel her move way up by my ribs.  This part of pregnancy is just awesome!  We got to have another sono today and she is about 2 pounds and looks just perfect.  What a sweet thing!

However, the reason for the sono today was because we needed to make sure that she is growing good because my body is not handling this pregnancy very well.  On Tuesday, I had a routine appointment for 26 weeks and got to do the glucose test.  Thankfully, that turned out fine.  No gestational diabetes!  But, my blood pressure was high.  It was taken 4 times, but they got high readings each time.  That meant that I got to have more blood drawn and also got to do a 24 hour urine test to see if the high blood pressure was causing stress to my kidneys.  I had to wait until this morning to get the results back, but I knew what could happen if the results weren't positive.  My sister Abi had the exact same thing happen to her when she was 26 weeks along with Alex, as many of you probably remember, and she was put on bed rest for 3 months.  Needless to say, I have been a bit of a wreck for the past few days, trying to get as much done as possible.  Justin helped me get the house clean and I did my grocery shopping, and went to a few Christmas parties just to ease the stress. :)

Today, we got the news that I was spilling protein in my urine, which means that I have a mild case of preeclampsia.  My blood pressure was also 166/90... I won't get into the nitty gritty details of this because it's a little hard to explain, but it's dangerous because blood flow is reduced to my organs, including the placenta, which could restrict the baby's growth.  It also just puts a lot of stress on my organs in general and if it would get out of hand, would mean that the baby would need to come out, as this condition disappears shortly after the baby is born.  This is very early for this condition to show up, which is why it is so concerning because my baby still has a long time to 'bake' so that she can be a healthy newborn.

So, now we wait, and I rest.  I have another appointment on Tuesday with one of the doctors, since I will not longer be able to see the midwives.  We'll probably know more then, but we are hoping that we can at least make our trip out to Indiana for Christmas celebrations.  With Abi, they were hesitant to let her come to Morton from Bloomington, so it makes me nervous that we may be stuck at home.  That would be such a bummer!  Besides the holidays, I just realized how much I didn't get done because I thought I had plenty of time.  The baby's room isn't painted, I haven't registered, we haven't gotten the baby's furniture picked out, etc.  All of a sudden, I can't do any of that, which makes me sad.  I am allowed to be up to use the restroom, eat, and shower.  This could be a long 3 months.  Last night, I read in John 6, all about Jesus being the bread of life.  I didn't know for sure then that I would be on bed rest, but it was comforting to read about Jesus being all that we need.  Nothing else really matters in life, but even so, we could really use your prayers!