Jug-o-pee

After a protein-in-my-urine scare at my 12 week check-up on Friday, I got sent home with a huge jug labeled "24 Hour Urine Collection Kit" and "Biohazard" to fill over the weekend. That was fun to bring home on the bus. Because I had pre-eclampsia (pregnancy induced hypertension) during the last few days of my pregnancy with Julian, probably related to polyhydramnios (excess amniotic fluid), my doctor is being extra cautious. Protein in the urine this early is likely a fluke, thus the need for a 24 hour sample to rule out anything scary. Even knowing that she is just being cautious, and this is why I am seeing a high risk OB, it is still scary. Tomorrow will be my third visit to the hospital in a week and I am only 13 weeks. Maybe I should love the attention, and it will all hopefully be worth it in the end, but its tough to have this pregnancy treated like a serious medical condition, compared with my blissfully ignorant pregnancy with Julian. On a positive note, I did get to hear the baby's heartbeat on the Doppler on Friday, which was surprisingly easy to find and was in the 150s. I'm going to ask the nurse to listen again tomorrow when I drop off my jug-o-pee.