Pregnancy scare

As of last weekend I'm at 37 weeks.

Last time around, I hit 37 weeks around Christmastime and we were in Arbon with my family. A blizzard hit and the big joke was that I was going to go into labor and that my mom and sister-in-law, Amber, would have to deliver my baby. I went back to Utah on Sunday, and early the next week had my 37 week appointment where I was found to have dangerously high blood pressure and ended up having an emergency c-section that very day.

Last weekend we were again in Arbon for harvest (though this time I was prepared and knew which hospital I could go to if need be!). Jake kept saying he was worried about my blood pressure being high when I went in for my 37 week appointment on Tuesday, and that he didn't want to repeat the entire cycle from last time. Well, my blood pressure was fantastic! No worries, right?

Wrong!

Monday afternoon I'd been reviewing some labor and delivery information and the thought suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks: I'd never been given my RhoGAM shot at 28 weeks, and since I'm Rh Negative and Jake is A positive, that can potentially cause major problems for this baby and future babies we might have. As I read on WebMD and babycenter.com, hoping to find a little peace, I was only more scared.

As I've mentioned, this has been a very difficult pregnancy in many, many ways, and one of the worst times was right around 28 weeks, or I know I would have caught it. But even with the many doctors and midwives that I've seen this time around, no one has ever mentioned or double-checked this issue.

Needless to say, I didn't sleep much on Monday night.

At my appointment on Tuesday morning, the nurse didn't even attempt to mask her apparent shock and horror at the news. We discovered that what should have happened was that when I took my glucose screening I should have gone to the hospital and had it there at the same time. (Luckily, the doctor who made the mistake is leaving the group and moving across the country in a few weeks anyway.)

The midwife sent me to the hospital for an immediate blood test and screening to see if my body had started producing antigen-D, which would be the signal that my blood had mixed with the baby's and that the antibodies were already in my system. That's what we didn't want to have happened. I asked what I would do if it had, and she paused for a moment before saying somberly, "We'll wait and only cross that bridge if we have to." Great.

Miracles happen, and I didn't have any traces of antigen-D. I can't tell you how relieved I was! I got a RhoGAM and all is well. No dying or deformed baby, no emergency delivery, no fears for future pregnancies. Truly, someone was watching out for us, and we escaped disaster by a narrow margin.

I'll tell you one thing--I'll never again allow a doctor to forget that important detail!