Blood pressure, nausea, cramps: how was your weekend?

We had a bit of a scare today. As I was leaving the office today Melanie called to tell me that at her regular OB appointment, she’d had high blood pressure and combined with the swelling in her feet that she’s been suffering, they wanted her to go right over to the hospital for some tests.

Thankfully, Isabella was with my sister where she was having a great time with her four cousins and my sister said she could watch Bella as long as we needed and so I headed right to the hospital to meet Melanie there. The worry was that there might be toxemia or some other kind of hypertension that would require strict bed rest.

So after several blood pressure tests and a blood test and three hours (of course, they’d said two hours), we were given the all clear and sent home.

Incidentally, if you are among our friends and family who want up-to-the minute reports on Melanie and Sophia’s progress, you would do well to either sign up on Twitter and follow my twitter feed at “bettnet” or keep an eye on the Twitter widget on the upper right side of this page. Since I can “tweet” from my phone, I’ll be putting the latest news there first. (You can also receive “tweets” as text messages if you really want to be up-to-the minute and ultra-nerdy cool, i.e. my mother-in-law.)

The past couple of days have been real doozies. Yesterday, which was to be a very productive day off from work, turned out not to be. I was laid low by some stomach bug. I got up early with a plan to wash all the dirty pots and pans and dishes we’d acquired from our big Sunday dinner, but got about halfway through when I needed to sit down. The rest of the day included lying on the couch watching “Mythbusters” and letting Isabella try to shove crackers into my mouth while I was dozing.

That is, until I tried to get up off the couch. That’s when the day’s other ailment struck: the worst Charlie-horse cramps in my thighs that I’ve ever had. I was literally disabled with pain for about 15 minutes. I couldn’t move or do anything except grit my teeth to keep from crying out. I think it was a combination of dehydration and immobility, although I’ve had horrible cramps a few times in recent months. Probably need to be eating more bananas. All I know is that those muscles are still sore from the cramps.

Meanwhile, Melanie was fluttering through the house, preparing the nest for the new arrival, cleaning floors and counters and the bathroom and the stove and the bedroom and… well, it’s no wonder her blood pressure was so high today. So now she has orders to take it easy and we’re all home again safe and sound.

Isabella is in bed (after crying herself to sleep; the poor thing had her schedule disrupted so) and Melanie and I are blogging about our days. How’s that for a 21st-century tableaux?

And so we continue waiting for Sophia, knowing neither the day nor the hour when she will deign to make her entrance. But her presence is already felt.