Low blood pressure= monitoring at L & D

I have been feeling a little off this week, periods of nausea, headaches, etc, and I just chalked it up to the change in weather and more gloriousness of the 3rd trimester, but Wednesday I was just feeling like crap in the afternoon. We have a blood pressure machine at my work, so I went ahead and checked what mine was- 85/53. Pretty dang low, but I always have low bp and I didn't really have anything to compare it to because I don't pay attention when they take it at my appointments- they just tell me it looks good and I go on my merry way. However, coupled with the way I was feeling, I went ahead and called my dr. The nurse asked me to eat more protein, continue drinking lots of water, and monitor it the next day, which I did. The next morning it was 109/72- totally normal. Mid morning it went down to 96/63- still pretty normal for me, and I was getting ready to go eat some lunch, so I was sure it would shoot back up. Well, after lunch it was down to 85/57. Called my dr again, and the nurse told me to head to Labor and Delivery for monitoring, since it appeared to be dropping, despite my having just ate, and drinking water all morning.

Now, the logical side of my brain KNEW that this didn't mean E would be coming anytime soon, but at the same time, it freaked me out. I'm only 33 weeks, my bags aren't packed, the carseat is not installed, and I was on day 3 hair (I only wash my hair every 3 days on average, and my hope is to wash it the day we go in to deliver so I don't have to wash it again while we're at the hospital. Yes, it's dumb, but that's what was running through my mind.

A friend of mine from work took me in and kept me company, which I was so thankful for, because I ended up on the monitor for 3.5 hours.

I don't know if that's the normal time you spend being monitored, but once we figured out everything seemed to be fine it felt like time was dragging. I think it took so long because they were waiting for the on call dr to come check me out, but she never did, and eventually they just had my dr check my blood pressure readings from her office and dismissed me, with instructions to continue eating more protein, more frequently, and drinking lots of water.

I guess during my time of being monitored they had picked up on some contractions (which I haven't even been feeling) and so while I was there they had me guzzle down a bunch of water. At this point we were pretty bored, hence the mini photoshoot...

Moral of the story- I have low bp. It's normal for it to fluctuate throughout the day, and if you have low bp, when it fluctuates to the low side, it's going to make you feel cruddy. Standing up too quickly could make me pass out, etc. Other than making me feel like crap, it's not doing Emersyn any harm, as she was still having a dance party in my uterus the whole time we were at the hospital, and her heartrate was a-ok. So, to try to bring it up during the day (mid afternoon seems to be when mine drops), I have a jar of peanut butter standing by, but the nurse said it may not be anything I'm doing or not doing (since I was doing everything right to keep it level and it was still bouncing around), and that's just my normal. There's a lot of info out there on high blood pressure and pregnancy, but not much about low, as I discovered with my bff Google, so I thought I'd fill you all in on what my experience was.

And here's hoping I still get to go in to the hospital to actually deliver on day 1 hair haha:)