I am writing this blog post from a bed in Baylor Grapevine’s Labor and Delivery. Before you get scared, NO I’m not in labor.
I am now 26 weeks pregnant. As part of my monthly visits I had some blood work drawn.They were doing the a Glucose test, Potassium Test, Iron Test, and to check my Rh Antibodies. (I am blood type A- and maybe need a shot to keep my body from fighting the babies)
I was not concerned about any of these tests because I felt fine and had no reason to think anything was wrong. I woke up this morning and laid around on the couch doing nothing like normal. My phone rang and it was Dr. Coulter-Smith’s office. They called to tell me my Potassium levels were low and I was very Anemic. I said okay, so what now?
Let me back up a bit. When I was pregnant with Jordan 7 years ago my Potassium levels went VERY low. It got to the point I couldn’t stand. My muscles were shutting down. I was admitted to the hospital then and given large doses of Potassium. I was only there one night and sent home with direct orders to eat a banana a day for the remainder of my pregnancy.
When the Dr. called me this morning I got very upset. It wasn’t that I was upset that my blood levels were low…I was upset because I had to come to the hospital for treatment. My Potassium level was 3.1 and they want it at 3.8. To me that doesn’t sound that low but the Dr. didn’t like it. She told me to come in for IV Potassium and hopefully it would only take a few hours to get my levels up. When we got here we were informed that the hospital had changed their policy and that they could not give me an IV that I would have to take 2 doses of Orally and then have my blood checked again. We got to the hospital around 1:30 and at 4:40 I finally received my first dose. I had to wait 2 hours for the second dose and then wait 2 more hours to have my blood levels checked again. It is not 8:40pm. The tech should be in here in about 15 minutes to check my blood and hopefully it will be high enough to go home with a supplement.
Dr. Couther-Smith was just in here and said that she will be happy with 3.5 or 3.6. I told her I had no symptoms of this. My heart has been racing but I thought that was just from anxiety. She told me that I need to come in every week to have my levels checked and that we are going to watch this very closely. She said I am only the third or 4th patient she has ever had with this condition. It is something that she doesn’t understand. Once Baby clown is born she might transfer me to a specialist to have my renal system checked for a problem. It could explain the fast heart rate problem!
So now we wait la while onger for the blood test results. I am fighting my anxiety every second I sit here but as long as it is keeping myself and baby clown healthy its worth it!
On a positive note. Our baby boy is doing great. He is growing just like he should. His heart rate is perfect and he has had no side effects from all the issues going on with me. I will be sent home with yet another pill to take. This will make 7! I appreciate all the prayers and phone calls. I spend a majority of the time in the hospital today on the phone and wow does that help pass the time. I will blog again once we are home. I am having a hard time concentrating and this probably makes no sense at all!
Here is a pic of me today.