25 weeks.

To say this last week was uneventful would be the understatement of the century. Last Friday I woke up from my nap and had an awful pain in my chest. I thought it was heartburn so I took some maalox and drank a big glass of milk hoping to relieve the pain. It didn't work. We had plans with good friends of ours to go to the movies on a double date and I was not about to let some 'heart burn' ruin the fun. By the time we got to the theater the pain had worsened. We got our seats and I was able to sit through the movie with a little bit of discomfort, but I was bound and determined to enjoy my time out. When we were leaving the theater I realized my hands and feet were really swollen and I was getting really dizzy. All the symptoms put together raised a ton of red flags because I had severe pre-eclampsia with my first pregnancy and I've been warned that if I get it again it will come on really quickly. On the drive home the pain in my chest started to go away, but I was still swollen, dizzy, now with a headache. My friends mother in law happened to be in town and she is a post-pardum nurse. She advised me to lay on my left side for 30-60 minutes and see if it helped with anything. It did help and I went right to sleep without any problems. Unfortunately, the next morning I woke up not feeling great so I called the triage nurse on call to ask if I should come in to get checked out or if she thought I was okay enough to just rest... of course they said come in. We packed some snacks and toys for Elijah just in case we were there a while. I was seen pretty quickly and they took some blood and urine to be tested. Before the results came back they and said that as far as they were concerned I looked great and just needed to go home and rest, but we did need to wait to see what the lab work said before making any final decisions. When they came back just about 20 minutes later their moods had changed. I knew I was going to have to stay... Protein had showed up in my urine which is a good indication that pre-eclampsia is setting in. They wanted me to stay over night to get a 24 hour urine collection so they would be able to have a better idea if I really was pre-eclamptic or not. Let me just say, it is VERY VERY boring sitting in a hospital bed for over 24 hours! I actually wasn't on any type of restriction. I could come and go as I pleased... I just couldn't leave the hospital. Justin and Elijah hung out with me until a little after dinner time. They headed home and I watched a few movies and went to bed. I didn't sleep well at all that night. Between uncomfortably flat pillows, a fan that only had one speed--high, and lights from the nurses stations blinding me it was a useless effort. I was able to spend quite a bit of time reading my Bible and praying. As much as I hated being alone it was a sweet time with Jesus.

Thankfully the next late afternoon I was discharged on a clean bill of health. Justin was very happy to bring me home (he didn't handle me being there as well as I thought he would and when he was there with me he was pretty much bored out of his mind!) My protein levels are at 264 and in order to be diagnosed pre-eclamptic they need to be at 300 or above. We are praying that my levels don't rise and that I can stay out of the hospital for the rest of the time. We still have so much to do before these guys come. Their nursery isn't even started. Thankfully my mom is coming next week and she will be able to help me organize and prioritize everything.