When I was 37w4d pregnant…

On this day, exactly one year ago, I went into the hospital for the second time that week. But this was the time that I would stay until I had a baby in my arms. I was 37 weeks and 4 days pregnant.

I was admitted on this day last year to do a 24-hour urinalysis. At my previous OB appointment two days prior, they found a small amount of protein in my urine – it wasn’t a lot, then, but I was also swelling a great deal and my blood pressure was running high (although it had been perfect the entire pregnancy)…. so with all of that, I was sent to the hospital for some monitoring. After a few hours I was released without doing any kind of urinalysis at that time – mistake on their part – and was given a follow-up appointment with my OB for that Wednesday. Immediately after my appointment on that Wednesday I had to return to the hospital to do the 24-hour urinalysis. I wasn’t allowed to do it at home because of the urgency of the results and the fetal monitoring they wanted to do.

Without going into much more detail, since I’ve already written about here, I will always remember August 25th as the day that I went into the hospital for a simple 24-hour urine collection (expecting to be released the next day) - and not leaving until 4 days later with a beautiful baby girl in my arms.