News on Allison

Some of you may or may not know what has been going on, so here is a bit of a recap.

Allison had some really bad swelling in her feet last week...like REALLY bad. She had an appointment last Wednesday with her doctor (standard every two weeks after 34 weeks until the baby is born appointment). When she went in, her blood pressure was a little high, so her doctor put her on bed rest until Monday to try and get her blood pressure down and to relieve the swelling. The initial fear was Allison had preeclampsia, but she didn't have high levels of protein in her urine. But the doctor wanted to play it safe.

We got a home blood pressure machine, and her blood pressure went down a little bit in that few day period, but we didn't know if it was enough to satisfy her doctor. Her swelling went almost completely away. I had to fly to Colorado Monday morning during her appointment (I am in Colorado now). So she went to the doctor by herself hoping that her blood pressure was low enough for her to resume her normal life. Well, it was still high, so her doctor admitted her to the hospital for a few days for observation. Her friend Robyn was there with her for most of the morning until Allison's mom got there, so thankfully Allison wasn't alone. I would have gotten a flight home, but the doctor said there wasn't really a need for me to come back since there wasn't anything I could do...and Allison had people there with her. They ran a gauntlet of tests and sonograms, but after everything...Allison and Jackson are fine. There is plenty of blood flow to the placenta and Allison doesn't have preeclampsia. They did say that Jackson is at 5 lbs. 9 ounces which sounds good for a baby at 35 weeks.

As of this morning, the plan is to induce at 38 weeks (or thereabouts...whenever Allison's doctor is on call). That would put Jackson coming the first part of November. The doctor wants to have him be born as soon as possible to alleviate the stress and high blood pressure he is putting on Allison so both mom and baby can be healthy. Allison was released from the hospital this morning and she is at home with her mom now. Allison is on bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy...and if she has high blood pressure the next time she sees her doctor (which is Monday) she will have to stay in the hospital until Jackson is born. So let's all pray that her blood pressure goes down.

Her mom is going back to Lufkin Thursday around lunch because Allison's sister Hannah, who is cheerleading co-captain, has a pep rally Thursday night before Homecoming. Speaking of which...Hannah made Homecoming Court. I am flying back Thursday night and I have taken off Friday, so I will be available to stay with Allison and take her to her appointment Monday morning. And since I will be in town between then and the first of November, I will have a front row seat to everything that is going on and I will be timlier in updating the blog letting everyone know what is going on.