False Alarm!

On New Year's Day we had a major false alarm. I was woken up with contractions that were getting stronger and closer together. After 3 hours the contractions were about 4 minutes apart so Brian called Labor and Delivery. They asked me a bunch of questions and said to come on in. I decided to take a shower while Brian packed the bag. All of a sudden in the middle of taking a shower the contractions just stopped. We were really disappointed because we want to see Savannah, but the more time she is in there the better.

Last week we had another ultrasound at the hospital. The doctor is concerned about the Savannah's size and that her abdomen is a little underdeveloped. After the ultrasound we went to the doctor's office and they said that Savannah is almost 6 lbs. She is in the 30th percentile for being 36 weeks. When I heard this I was a little worried, but the doctor said they are only concerned with babies that are less than the 5th percentile. She said that Savannah looks perfect!

At the doctor's appointment I officially hit 30 lbs mark for weight gain (4 lbs were gained just since the last appointment... staying at my parent's house for the holidays is like having an all you can eat buffet). Also, my blood pressure is strangely high at 145/78. Usually my blood pressure had been 116/58 so this was really weird. They tested it one more time before we left the office and it was 137/75. Our doctor said that if it doesn't go down by next week's appointment that she is forcing me to stop working.

The last strange thing that happened at the doctor's is that my blood work is really bad (it has been the entire pregnancy). I have an iron deficiency, a B12 deficiency, some other deficiency's and now I have a Vitamin A deficiency. The doctor looked puzzled. She had never seen a Vitamin A deficiency before. Brian and I googled Vitamin A deficiency and found, "Vitamin A deficiency is common in developing countries but rarely seen in developed countries". Here is the map of the world showing the countries that have Vitamin A deficiency... The United States is not one of them. In 2000 the United Nations made a commitment to stamp out Vitamin A deficiency in the world. Apparently Vitamin A deficiency cause: Night blindness; reduced hair growth in children; loss of appetite; dry, rough skin; lowered resistance to infection; dry eyes. It is very important for babies to get Vitamin A so they can develop a good immune system. So, I am am told to eat a lot of... liver, sweet potatoes, carrots, mangoes, spinach, cantaloupe, dried apricots, milk, egg yolks, and mozzarella cheese. Something else that is interesting is that it is a good thing I don't drink alcohol because a combination of Iron deficiency, Vitamin A deficiency and Alcohol is deadly!