Pre-eclampsia, did you get it again?

[Betheney]

Mine dropped after delivery with both kids. It was like 111/67 after my son was born. When I went to the doctor this week, it was 156/112. My blood pressure is so unstable.

With my daughter, they chose to do a c-section at 29 weeks because my blood pressure was going back up, she had iugr and the placenta was starting to detach.

They had to induce slowly with my son. I had a Foley catheter inserted to help dilate. Then they tried breaking my water (a day and a half later). That didn't work to put me into labour either so they used meds but started on a really low dose and increased at a slow speed.

Thankfully my induction at 33 weeks was smooth sailing. Insert cervadil at 7pm hoping to break waters at 7am. Turns out it was all I needed and gave birth at 3am without the drip or anything. The first 24hrs after birth my BP was horrific every single one my diastolic was 110-112 where as pre-birth it only spiked to that occasionally, but after that initial 24hrs it was back to normal so really not too bad at all recovery and getting back to normal wise.

How scary with your daughter. I've always been profoundly terrified of having placental abruption. If you're in hospital I know an EMCS has a great chance of saving the baby but if your at home and it suddenly happens it could be so dire! Something that's always worried me. I was never overly worried about HELP and other things because I know I was so heavily monitored and bloods taken so regularly that anything like that would be picked up immediately. But placentas detaching is just so scary.

So many hospitals are really anti-VBAC and especially an induced VBAC. So its fantastic you were gicwn the option. How do you feel about it all? Glad you were able to have a natural delivery? . My first pregnancy was picture perfect so my second pregnancy I just kept reminding myself that I'm so lucky to of had that first pregnancy, so lucky to of enjoyed it to full term without meds or hospital admissions or the worry of mine and the babies well being.

Oh wow that is such a high post delivery BP. So do you have chronic blood pressure problems outside pregnancy usually? To last so long in your second pregnancy is fantastic!!! How is he going by the way? How is breastfeeding? Is he sleeping?

 

[mari881]

my doctor clearly started freaking out as soon as bp numbers started looking higher than normal. I was told to expect my bp to just get higher and scared me completely. I'm glad to see that people are still able to make it further into pregnancy with elevated pressure. All this has made me so anxious! I'm finally 24 weeks so, the further I get, the better I feel. My next appointment is Wed evening for bp check, urine and my GD test. I just hope to have a decent reading in the office. Oh, and I also have white coat syndrome so bad! Or I should say bp cuff syndrome! As soon as they come near me with that thing my pulse races, I freak out, and my bp elevates!

 

[rbourre]

Mine dropped after delivery with both kids. It was like 111/67 after my son was born. When I went to the doctor this week, it was 156/112. My blood pressure is so unstable.

With my daughter, they chose to do a c-section at 29 weeks because my blood pressure was going back up, she had iugr and the placenta was starting to detach.

They had to induce slowly with my son. I had a Foley catheter inserted to help dilate. Then they tried breaking my water (a day and a half later). That didn't work to put me into labour either so they used meds but started on a really low dose and increased at a slow speed.

Thankfully my induction at 33 weeks was smooth sailing. Insert cervadil at 7pm hoping to break waters at 7am. Turns out it was all I needed and gave birth at 3am without the drip or anything. The first 24hrs after birth my BP was horrific every single one my diastolic was 110-112 where as pre-birth it only spiked to that occasionally, but after that initial 24hrs it was back to normal so really not too bad at all recovery and getting back to normal wise.

How scary with your daughter. I've always been profoundly terrified of having placental abruption. If you're in hospital I know an EMCS has a great chance of saving the baby but if your at home and it suddenly happens it could be so dire! Something that's always worried me. I was never overly worried about HELP and other things because I know I was so heavily monitored and bloods taken so regularly that anything like that would be picked up immediately. But placentas detaching is just so scary.

So many hospitals are really anti-VBAC and especially an induced VBAC. So its fantastic you were gicwn the option. How do you feel about it all? Glad you were able to have a natural delivery? . My first pregnancy was picture perfect so my second pregnancy I just kept reminding myself that I'm so lucky to of had that first pregnancy, so lucky to of enjoyed it to full term without meds or hospital admissions or the worry of mine and the babies well being.

Oh wow that is such a high post delivery BP. So do you have chronic blood pressure problems outside pregnancy usually? To last so long in your second pregnancy is fantastic!!! How is he going by the way? How is breastfeeding? Is he sleeping?

I wish my induction had been easy. I had the Foley catheter, they broke my water, I walked around and then they had to start meds to make contractions start. Baby's heart beat dropped with every contraction so they had to stop meds and restart it a while later at a really low dose again. It took about 13.5 hours total and an hour of pushing before they used forceps/episiotomy to get him out.

My hospital has the highest vbac rate in the whole province. My doctor was very pro vbac and didn't want me to have another c-section. It was great though, so much easier than a c-section. I couldn't imagine recovering from a c-section with a 2 year old. My 2 year old is soooo active so it would have been really hard.

I never had BP problems until I developed pre-eclampsia. After delivery with my daughter, my BP went right back down but then it went up again and I was on meds until I got pregnant again. The doctor took me off of them because my BP was fine. I'm back on them now and assume I will be for the rest of my life, just like my mom. She got high BP with her pregnancy with me and still has it 28 years later.

He's doing really good. He lost about 4.5 ounces after he was born and when we went to the doctor at 11 days old, he had gained a pound. Breastfeeding is going really well but he's a little piggy. He loves to eat and eat most of the day which makes taking care of a 2 year old a little more difficult. He went through a few days where he kept me awake most of the night. He'd poop, then eat, then poop again, then have the hiccups which cause him to spit up, then he'd want to eat again, then poop again. It took 3-4 hours to get him back to sleep. The last 2 nights have been great. Last night, he slept for 4.5 hours straight and then another 3 hours after that. It was so nice.

 

[Betheney]

It's great to hear he's feeding so well! Lots and lots of booby. I remember those early days where I basically just fed the baby midnight to midnight. Those last 2 nights have been great for a 2 week old!!! What a lucky mummy. That's so fantastic to hear your hospital is so pro-VBAC. I'm sorry your labour was hard work tho birthing a baby is bloody tough!!! My first labour was really really long and tough and just down right painful! Lol. I think 1st time labours are always a bit of work, you've never done it before after all. My induction went well because I'd obviously given birth previously and only 2 years prior. Apparently my hospital has a specialised vbac clinic for women who want them but I was unaware of this till recently (having no C-secrions myself). I understand your apprehension over surgery recovery when you have other children to care for. I was continually told my induction would probably fail because I was only 33 weeks and the idea of trying to care for my daughter and somehow get to the hospital to see my son would of been near impossible. I had so many sleepless nights in the hospital worrying about it. I must of talkes to 100 different professionals about my chancea of a successfull induction. Thankfully in the end it was perfect. Because my "induction" wasn't suppose to start until 7am I was alone on the maternity ward to labour and progress all on my own in peace with zero monitoring only to finally call the doctor and the baby arrived 10mins later.




I found some interesting information. I was trying to find the statistics for epidurals for my hospital but instead stumbled across their official guidelines as to how to handle PE.
https://www.imagesup.net/?di=614142943819

As far as I can see that's how my care was handled. Is also interesting to see that they really don't give a shit about the systolic number. There's only that page on PE the other pages are on other complications. But I'm going to try and find the blue link at the bottom of the page, that specific hyperlink wouldn't work off the pdf.

Just realised this is how they deal with it all post partum. Still interesting tho...

 

[ttc126]

Betheny that's interesting! At my hospital they don't care about systolic either. Which is why I'm slightly concerned my diastolic has gone from 50s to high 70s the past couple of weeks. I know that's totally onthe normal range, but with the headaches I've had and the slight abnormalities in my blood tests I can't help but think I'm heading for preeclampsia again....

 

[Betheney]

Betheny that's interesting! At my hospital they don't care about systolic either. Which is why I'm slightly concerned my diastolic has gone from 50s to high 70s the past couple of weeks. I know that's totally onthe normal range, but with the headaches I've had and the slight abnormalities in my blood tests I can't help but think I'm heading for preeclampsia again....

I really hope that's not the case.

I've always had such horrendous headaches my whole pregnancy. When I was in hospital with PE they would ask if I have headaches and I'd say "yep, got one now, 24hrs a day 7 days a week" but then explain that my first non PE pregnancy was similar. I was always stressed that I just don't know which one is a PE headache and which one isn't.

The good news at least is right now you dont have PE! So we can breathe a sigh of relief there and just cross our fingera extra tight that circumstantially everything just looks a lil funny right now for you but it's all just a coincidence and you'll be right as rain in no time

I know it can be hard for people like yoi who usually have low BPs. Somw websites state that anything with a diastolic above 90 is PE and/or a rise in at least 30 from your normal diastolic BP. But I've also read that a rise in a diastolic by 30 from your regular BP a lot of places say is NOT diagnostic but something that should be kept an eye on. So I know women with low BPs like yours frequently gey stuck in this unknown danger place all depending on how your specific doctor diagnoses PE. I had a random 187 diastolic not long ago and it's only 7 above my normal diastolic but I couldn't hel0 but think it's also darn close to the "high" range

I understand your paranoia tho. The further I get in this pregnancy the more and more my thoughts are consumed with the worry of getting PE..ive found myself being particularly worried today and don't have a check up for 2 weeks. I texted a friend asking if she's in the area (her parents live near me) and in the off chance her BP machine is at her parents. But unfortunately it's not. I think in might go to a walk in clinic tomorrow just for a BP check. 4 weeks between check ups has me so paranoid.

 

[ttc126]

I'm right there with you! Completely understand the paranoia as I'm going through the exact same thing!

I think that's a good idea to go get checked. It will definitely not hurt anything I do think 4 weeks is a long time between. I almost cried with relief when my dr said we could just start the two week visits early. But even then I'm the idiot who apparently can't even go two weeks in between!

I hope you're ok and we're both just being overly cautious.

 

[Anniebobs]

Haven't been in here in a while but am still here!

Mari that sounds really unprofessional of your doctor to scare you into thinking you might be starting with pre-e or gestational hypertension, those numbers are good!! Especially if you get white coat syndrome as well!

Betheney that links really interesting, our hospital must handle it the same way. I had a constant headache (that I'd moaned about for weeks), upper rib pain and a diastolic above 100 when I was admitted. When the drugs didn't work they induced (first time labour but was very quick - was 1cm at 10pm but was having contractions so was given pethidine to help me sleep then woke up at 2:30 to my waters breaking and was at 10cm. She was born less than an hour later!) I was told pre-e inductions usually happen pretty quick.

This pregnancy my headaches returned a few weeks ago and my BP is up from where it normally is but nothing to worry about yet. I'm seeing the consultant again tomorrow and think I'll be getting weekly checks from here on and another growth scan in 2 weeks. I've got GD this time though which complicates things! But at least I won't go overdue, they tend to induce around 39 weeks so I've only 3 more weeks worrying that pre-e will return!

TTC I hope you're not starting with pre-e. I'd definitely recommend getting a BP machine it does put my mind at ease.

 

[Betheney]

Anniebobs! 35 weeks you're so close to the end! Just the home stretch now! I hope that BP behaves itself for this very short remainder of time

Our PE pregnancies do seem very similar. Doctors told me when I told them how stressed I was about bwing induced that PE womens bodies are so sick that it's more than eager to get rid of the placenta and so they can labour well. Definitely seems to be the case for you and me! They had my official labour at 1 hr and pushing at 1 min. Lol.

Your upper rib pain, did you have elevated liver enzymes to confirm it? I had horrific upper rib pain and it was on the right side. But all my liver tests came back fine... the doctors said it can't be my liver it must be heartburn and I trust their judgement but it seems so weird. I wonder if regularly I have very low liver enzymes and during PE they raised to high levels but still within "normal" I mean it just always seemed so unexplainable to me. Also if you pressed on my liver while it hurt I would get this gigantic wave of nausea, what was that about?. I know a woman in the bed next to me had a bloody nose a lot and the doctor told her it was because of her low platelets, however once my PE set in I had constant blood tinged snot and a bloody nose except i was never told anything more than "your platelets are fine" it makes me always wonder if my body was on its way to HELLP. I guess ir doesn't matter and it's all speculation at this point. I mean I don't want things to have been worse than they are. Last time I had no blood prior to PE for comparison for when I got PE. This time I had bloods at like 15weeks so had a good reference point should trouble arise.

In-laws visit in about 2 weeks. Gonna ask if I can borrow their fandangled BP machine for the next few months.

 

[Anniebobs]

Our births do seen very similar! My pre-e didn't happen until 36 weeks though so much less scary than yours I'm sure.

I was kept in for a week then induced and during that week they did all sorts of bloods and urine tests / collections. I wasn't really told any results and didn't know what they were looking for so didn't ask (was quite naive as it was happening) I was just told they were getting worse rather than better, even on the medication. I was more concerned about when I could go home and if my husband could bring the dog to the hospital so we could go for a walk! I had a lot of bloody noses during that pregnancy which is rare for me but I didn't realise that was a symptom of pre-e as well.

I've borrowed my BP machine off the in laws too, they come in handy for some things!

 

[Betheney]

Well I believe it's a symptom for low platelets as opposed to a symtpom of PE. You can have low platelets without PE. I've done a bit of research tho and can't really find anything that confirms bloody noses means low platelets but the Obstetrician talking to the lady next to me definitely said it.

I think I'm also exceptionally paranoid because in my PE pregnancy I'm not entirely sure when my BP went up. I got PE at 32weeks and my first recorded high BP was at 29 weeks but my last BP reading was like 20 weeks or something. So it could of gone up anytime really in that 9 weeks. So I'm stressed that if it goes up now at 22 weeks I don't really know if that's better or worse than last time. I know it makes little difference in the long run, but I feel like you girls understand just wanting to make the milestones where things went wrong in your last pregnancy.

- edit -

I ducked into my office for a quick BP check and it was 135/87 so still within a good range. I'd been running around and chasing the kids so I was about at flustered and worked up as I could get. Lol. Doctor was perfectly happu with that BP so I'm happy

 

[mari881]

Stupid white coat syndrome! Had my 2w f/u appointment yesterday and as soon as they took my bp it shot up to 150/90. I told her my heart was pounding because I was so anxious so she let me lie down and retook it like 3 minutes later and it was 130/72. Thank God! I don't have to come back for another 2 weeks! Have you guys found anything that helps with this? I know that if someone distracts me with unrelated questions, it tends to go down. Maybe I should bring my husband and daughter to my next appt to distract me?

 

[Betheney]

I don't know. When i go to have my BP taken i always have a moment of sheer panic and i can feel myself getting stressed and then my BP comes back fine.

The fact that yours can drop is great news tho! When i had PIH and then later PE they were permanently high.

I guess you could try just arriving early and relaxing in the waiting area, take something to keep you busy like your phone or a book. When you get in there maybe try chatting to the doctor about the weather or anything really.




As for me, well I was really anxious about PE lately, nothing had really triggered it, I'm just getting further on in my pregnancy which has me a bit stressed. I keep thinking how my BP is 130/80 which just feels so close to 140/90 and i read recently that at 24 weeks your BP in pregnancy naturally rises so i was feeling like any slight rise can put me into a high BP rsnge. Then i opened my old journal and my BP readings were so much higher than i remembered, at 29 weeks on Oct 22nd this is what i was showing the doctor and then the hospital
https://www.imagesup.net/?di=1014146740892
This might sound weird but i feel so much better now. I feel like PE is further away than i thought. A rise of 10 in my diastolic isn't going to worry anyone it's more a rise of 15-20 that will. In fact i wrote in my diary that the hospital was going to discharge me unmedicated if i could have 4 under 95 (they ended up 100-108) but still i just feel like 140/90 isn't the most dire situation i thought it was.

 

[sethsmummy]

Glad your feeling a.bit better about it Hun.. your numbers.now are definitely way better than then

 

[mari881]

your numbers make me feel better too I guess when I panic mine completely shoots up like crazy. The doctor did say they care about multiple measurements that are consistently high, 140/90 or higher. Oh well, I can just keep on going for another two weeks until the next panic

 

[ttc126]

How is everyone?

I got sent for monitoring again today at my regular ob appointment. They ran the preeclampsia blood tests and they were fine but I'm now doing a 24 hour urine. I've been vomiting, getting very nauseous, and horrendous heartburn. So just keeping an eye...

Wanting to hear updates from you all!

 

[sethsmummy]

oh no i hope its just a bad couple of days hun!

Iv my first growth scan today and meeting a new doctor/consultant or whoever it is. I have GD and am on metformin now to try control it. It sucks majorly. How are you doing apart from that hun? xxx

 

[Betheney]

Great to hear how you ladies aye going.

Seths mummy good luck at your scan!

Ttc126 - good bloods is great news!

My next appt is in 2 days! But I'm feeling positive. I'll be 23.5 weeks we'll go over my 21 week scan results and there was a mishap with my 12 weeks scan results, my DS risk was never printed on the report so my doctor didn't believe me when i told her. So they've rewritten and resubmitted them and so thr new copy of the report has the risk on them and so I'm happy now that my doctor will know because our risk is "high risk" and i just felt uncomfortable about my doctor not having that information.

 

[ttc126]

Sethsmummy, how was the scan??? I'm sorry about your diabetes You poor thing Hope the next few weeks pass quickly!

Betheny, I'm glad you got them to print your results! It's always better to have everything in black and white writing... Hope you have a good appointment

So doing this 24hr pee, i notice my pee is orange colored even though I have been drinking a lot. Do you ladies have that issue?

 

[sethsmummy]

scan went fab. hes measuring big but not too bad at the moment. i wasnt told a rough weight though

betheny - glad they got it sorted hun hopefully they will treat you appropriately now

ttc - my pee is only usually orange if i dont drink enough. 2 litres is the standard every day to get clear urine xx