Another Day...Another Doctors Visit

With another day coming and going today, another doctors visit was upon us. As Aydan's arrival draws closer, we are at the doctors office so much, it almost feels as if its our home away from home. With Shannon's recent hypertension diagnosis, we know that every doctors visit will probably be eventful, and today was no exception.

When we got into the office, Shannon went through the normal procedures, and once again her blood pressure was abnormally high. For the second trip in a row, they sent her into one of their rooms, made her lay on her side, shut all the lights off, and told her to relax. Like clock-work, three minutes later all was back to normal.

Despite the fact that her blood pressure had returned to its normal level, the doctor still wanted her stick around for some observation, so they took us to another room and hooked Shannon up to a heart monitor and contraction monitor for the baby. The doctor was interested in tracking Aydan's heartbeat, and in particular what it was doing after he made a movement.

With Aydan strapped up to the heart monitor, Shannon was given an electronic plunger (it looked like the button they give to Jeopardy contestants). Every time he moved, Shannon was to hit the button, making a mark on the print-out and helping track the heartbeat.

After about five minutes Aydan hadn't yet moved, so the nurse came in with the "Baby Alarm." The Baby Alarm was a device that vibrated and made noise gently on Shannon's belly, waking the baby up, and making him move. After the alarm, Aydan wouldn't stop moving.

After a few more minutes, the doctor came back in, and said everything looked good with the baby, but that he wanted her to come back in Wednesday morning for some blood work and then again Thursday for the results.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Prior to Shannon's hypertension diagnosis last Monday, things at the doctors office had been pretty smooth. Most times we were in and out of there within minutes, sometimes seconds. At times it would seem like we were whisked in and out almost too fast. Despite all of recent developments, its been nice to see the reaction of her doctors. They have been concerned, supportive, and most importantly helpful. I know that when the time comes (and its coming very, very soon) we will all be ready.

Keep us in your prayers,
AW