But....I EAT oatmeal!

As pregnant people go, I really have been fortunate.

I didn't have weird cravings. My feet never got swollen *until now!*. And I didn't start really showing until I was almost 7 months pregnant. I also gained very little weight, which made it easier on my entire body. Chris probably will debunk my thoughts on being "the ideal preggo". He seems to only remember me crying because he got me a small diet coke instead of a medium, and screaming because the girls at the drive-in forgot to give me honey mustard for my chicken tenders.

He also firmly believes he is a saint for sleeping next to me. He swears I take over the entire bed and kick him in the back nightly. Now basic math clearly proves me innocent being that I weigh a good 100 lbs less than him, and even pregnant am a much smaller person than he is. I also don't think my legs are long enough to reach his back to kick him.

I guess we'll just have to give the poor guy some grace, because I really have been tough to deal with the past three weeks.

At the beginning of my pregnancy I craved oatmeal, and still do. I normally eat it for breakfast or a snack everyday. I don't watch much TV, but I always saw the Quaker Oats commercials and assumed that I was being super healthy by eating "a bowl a day". I even thought I deserved some sort of little medal or perhaps a trophy for craving such a healthy snack. I haven't received either, but I've still got a couple weeks left, so I feel hopeful.

On Valentines day at 31 weeks, all my oatmeal ideas seemed to go to the wayside. While most couples were enjoying a romantic dinner and I'm sure a little Marvin Gaye playing on the radio, I was diagnosed with pregnancy hypertension and felt just awful, due to my blood pressure being super high.

As I was being checked into Baptist Desoto for high blood pressure, the nurse handed me a light blue hospital gown. Terrible color. I'm a winter. I look better in cobalt blue. I gingerly held the gown with two fingers and she explained I needed to put on the gown and sit in the hospital bed so she could hook up a heart rate monitor on my tummy for the baby, and get a BP cuff on my arm to monitor my pressure. After briskly informing me of all this, she began to walk out the door, to my cries of "But I EAT OATMEAL!!!!!!"

I guess I never watched the ENTIRE Quaker Oats commercial, because a bowl of oatmeal a day does NOT make you blood pressure stable. It's for high cholesterol. Dang it.

Needless to say, after two days, I was told to go home, be on bed rest, and collect a 24 hr urine test. Anyone want to know what's slightly less romantic than spending Valentines in a light blue hospital gown and your husband never telling you everyone can see your booty when you get up? Collecting a 24 hr urine test. I'm a very modest person, and I grew up thinking that there always needed to be SOME secrets between me and my husband. Yeah... That and the oatmeal theory didn't quite pan out.

Fortunately for me, little Benny, and Chris's sanity, my blood pressure returned to normal after a couple weeks, I was allowed to increase my activity level, and Baby Ben's growth continued to be healthy.

Everything was going swell until yesterday.

When people ask how I've been feeling lately now that I'm at the tail end of the pregnancy, I say one word. "Old" I really have been feeling old. My back hurts. I miss my ankles.

And I'm carrying a baby who is already certified with a black belt in karate chopping. Ouch.

I thought all this was normal however, until my regular check up with my OBGYN.

The nurse took my bp and her eye brows shot up "Oh my...It's REALLY high" she murmured.

I groaned inwardly and went to get Momma. The nurse put us in a room and soon after my doctor walked in. "Hey Mary Kathryn! are you in bed resting?" She said a little too perky for my taste. "Um....no?" I replied. "Well you're officially back on bed rest! And you're going back to the hospital today because your blood pressure is way too high"

So back we went. Yay.

They took more blood, took my blood pressure so many times I think I lost feeling in my left bicep, and did an ultra-sound to check out Benny's activity.

As usual my little ADHD baby did not disappoint. He was rolling around, jabbing, punching, and wiggling to the beat of his own music. As the nurse wheeled me back into my room, we came upon the family waiting room. Since I was sitting in a wheel chair I could only see the top of one person's hair. A lonely family member of someone's sitting and waiting.

But I knew that hair anywhere- I did a beauty pageant wave as we wheeled passed the waiting room. My Daddy waved back.

After a couple of hours my Doctor allowed me to be sent home. With strict orders to stay on bed rest. AND another 24 urine test to complete. The medical community sure knows how to suck the romance right out of any marriage :)