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I became pregnant with our 3rd child in Oct. of 2000 at the age of

Posted On Tuesday, August 13, 2002  by Kerry
I became pregnant with our 3rd child in Oct. of 2000 at the age of 38. This was a planned pregancy and I was in very good health. Our new babt was due July 20, ans our other 2 children were 6 and 9 at the time. I had an uneventful pregnancy with the exception of an early onset of very painful vericose veins in the right leg.

I turned 39 in March of 2001 and was still feeling well with the exception of the veins. By April, I began experiencing swelling in my ankles and feet, and the swelling quickly became severe in that it really didn't dissipate with rest, and I couldn't wear any other shoes but very loose sandals. Having never had this happen before I was alarmed, but there was no other swelling and my blood pressure was fine and there was no protein in my urine.

I had my 37 week check up on a Friday, and with the exception of the swelling, all was well. On Saturday I seemed to notice a decrease in the baby's movement and when the movement continued to decrease I called the doctor on Sunday morning and she had me come in to labor and delivery to be checked. At that point my blood pressure was high (after having just been perfectly fine 2 days before) but there was no protein and the baby looked fine. After spending the day there I was sent home with warning signs to look for (but pre-eclampsia was not mentioned), and told to come back on Tuesday for a non-stress test.

I felt fine and wasn't too alarmed (wasn't as alarmed as I should have been). Went back on Tuesday and the baby still looked good, but my pressure was even higher, there was protein in my urine, and my reflexes were fast. The doctor wanted to admit me to be induced right then and there, but I convinced her to let me go home to get my stuff. She let me go, but with a strict warning to be back in no more than an hour. At that point I was starting to get the feeling that something serious was going on.

I arrived back at the hospital in an hour and was put on mag sulfate (not pleasant) and told that that was to prevent seizures (then I got really scared). The induction was begun. I thought that being induced meant that delivery would happen that day, but as it turned out, it took till Friday. During those 3 days my blood pressure continued to rise, as did my protein count, and my reflexes became very rapid. I was very uncomfortable and scared. I had a few false starts with labor (lots of induction methods were tried) and finally went into real and productive labor over night on Thursday. I think that if I hadn't gone into labor then, they would have done a C-section on Friday, due to my worsening health. Fortunately, there was never a moment during any of this that the baby seemed to be threatened.

I had an epidural Friday morning and labor proceded very rapidly. It was actually the best labor and delivery of my 3. John Riley (we call him Riley) was born at 1:03 P.M. on July 6th after only 3 pushes. He was born at 38 weeks and was 7 lbs. 13 oz. and 20" long. His Apgars were 8 and 9. Despite having some tremors, due to the meds I was on, he was miraculously perfect.

Riley is now 13 months old and is a wonderful baby. My high blood pressure did not go away after delivery, as was hoped. In fact, one day post partum it climbed as high as 160/110 (before all this started I tended to run 110/65). I was put on blood pressure medicine before being discharged, and it was thought I would be off of it by 6 weeks post partum. That never happened. I feel fine but I just have this instinctual feeling that my body chemistry was altered by this disease remained altered after delivery, and still something is not right. However, knowing now what I know about the disease, we feel incredibly blessed that things turned out as well as they did! Thanks for listening.
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