I am on day 4 of a nasty headache. I am not overall prone to headaches so this is concerning in my 37th week of pregnancy. We used Noah’s blood pressure cuff and got a reading of 134/77. That is not generally speaking high but I am usually between 105 and 120. I called the OBs office and they asked me to come in for testing. Sure, fine.

First question: “Have you taken Tylenol?” First answer: “So I have fibromyalgia and over the counter medications ceased being effective years ago.”

That was received with full respect.

I got hooked up to monitors so they could check on the baby and on my blood pressure. I spent 3 hours just hanging out so they could see how it’s going. They took blood and urine samples.

I’m fine.

When I was leaving I had a great chat with the nurse. She was a really nice lady. She asked me if the blood pressure cuff at home s electric and I said it was. She asked if it has been calibrated lately and I said definitely not. She told me not to use it again because these devices are famous for getting out of whack and once the medical team have a number they have to show concern.

Totes legit.

The nurse and I had a long chat about my labor plans. She was super nice and gave good advice. She was frank about the fact that some of the nurses on staff are going to push me in directions that make their job easier not my labor easier. She told me that it would probably be wise to have my husband prepared to advocate for me. I shared with her that I spent some time articulately screaming at my nurse during my first labor when I got bad advice about pushing and she grinned. She said I’ll do fine. She said she was really happy to hear that my birth plan is, “Let’s see what happens and consult with professionals in the moment because who the fuck knows what the right plan is.” She said with that attitude (and an open mind towards medication) I am very likely to leave feeling satisfied with my experience.

I need to go find my advance health care directive and bring it to my appointment with my OB tomorrow so it can be scanned and added to my permanent medical record. Sounds great. I paid for one. Might as well use the fucker.

I notified our labor support people that I was doing this testing but it probably would go nowhere and then I checked in when I left the hospital saying I was right, no one’s day will be interrupted.

The nurse and I chatted a lot about having kids with ADHD and dyslexia. That was fun. Her kid is in college now so it’s a whole new ball game.

She was super cool about my marijuana usage. She noted that it was on my chart and totally fine. She kind of hinted around asking if I was using extra to deal with the headache and I said, “I am trying to reduce my usage, which is causing my general pain levels to go up, because once the baby comes I have to be on a lower dosage for a while to increase my alertness. It’s a rough balancing act.” She nodded and said that sounds great.

All in all, an uneventful peaceful trip to the hospital for some necessary checks. Everything is fine. I’m very likely to wait another two weeks.

Now if only I could get rid of this god damn headache.