At our 20 week appointment, she asked me about them and they were still happening. My heart rate isn't really speeding up, but the beat of my heart (which is the opposite as the beat of the pulse) gets really intense. It feels like it echoes in my chest and makes it hard to get a deep breath. I do one of those pathetic coughs that doesn't actually do anything but you can't help doing. The cough doesn't seem to help, but it's usually over within a minute. My doctor told me to start keeping track of when they happened, what I was doing, and what I had eaten to look for a cause.
Through the week last week, they got worse and worse. Thursday during school they started happening a lot, and got more intense. At one point it gave me mild tunnel vision, which freaked me out a little. I emailed my doctor about it and then left work early (although according to my contract, it would've been on time) and came home and laid down. They stopped happening so frequently, but I called the advice nurse. She asked me some questions that made me more worried, like was I alone, was there someone who could come over (Stephen was on his way home), what number they could call if they lost contact with me, etc. Real reassuring.
She asked if I was feeling the baby moving. I've felt a little bit, but not a lot. My OB said it may be another couple of weeks because of the placement of the placenta (the baby is kicking the placenta instead of me). She wasn't concerned, but this advice nurse was. She said they would send me to labor and delivery, which made no sense to me. I guess once you're past 20 weeks pregnant, they always send you there. I made an appointment for the next day since the episodes hadn't really been happening anyway.
At the appointment they checked my blood pressure (which is always low), watched my heart rate for a little while (stayed steady), and checked the baby by ultrasound. It was moving a lot and his/her heartbeat looked steady and strong. My OB said we could go do the EKG right then or do it on Monday. Since they seemed to be happening more during the week (possibly stress related?), we thought I'd be more likely to have an episode during the EKG if we did it during the week. So we have an appointment tomorrow at 9:30 for an hour long EKG and then they'll send me home with a portable heart monitor.
The doctor said it's possible that my blood pressure is dropping too low and my heart is working to bring it back up. Or I could have a heart defect I didn't know about (apparently it's common for them to manifest during pregnancy). I'm just hoping something shows up on the EKG so I don't seem crazy.
In happier news, we get to do our gender reveal ultrasound tomorrow at 2:00! And hopefully the baby cooperates! We will be telling our families with a pink or blue cake Monday night, the worship team Thursday, and our small group Friday. THEN, I'll post on here :-). Other than the weird heart stuff, I've been feeling pretty good. A little bit of round ligament pain and I wish I could feel movement more, but the doctor's explanation made sense.
Also good news, my brother and sister in law had their baby on Friday morning, a beautiful baby girl. It will be nice to have cousins close in age :-).
Stephen and our new niece
Me and my sister in law last week, on Easter
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