Congratulations on the birth of your baby!

Thanks, everyone! I did call and go in--they took my blood pressure and the doctor squeezed my calves to check for clots. My bp was, of course, pretty okay there (130/80-ish), and he said what you did, MomTimesThree, that now that I'm not pregnant anymore, they're not as concerned with 'slightly elevated' bp, which was good to know. I assumed they would've checked my urine, but they didn't and I didn't request it because I wasn't sure...I'm kind of kicking myself now. Oh well. I guess I'm mostly worried about the PPE, something no one else has mentioned, but I'll just keep a close tab on my symptoms and make a nuisance of myself if necessary. :)

Thanks again for the help, ladies. So nice to have people to turn to!

Congrats on a sweet baby boy! Glad the delivery went so well!

You are not really in the clear until 6 weeks postpartum, so keep checking your pressures (and maybe even regularly after that, if you can remember to!) and watching those symptoms. I personally, would also recommend calling and letting the doctor decide if you need to be seen or not. The swelling on one side also concerns me. Keep us posted!!

Hi There-

We had a bit of a similar experience. I'm only 3.5 weeks post partum and each case is so different so take with a grain of salt. We were scheduled for a BP check about 1.5 weeks PP. Like you during labor my BP was perfect... actually TOO low. And then was my new low of 130s/70s. After 2 days (right before discharge) I was back up to 150s/80s and the day after delivery was very swollen- but in both feet, I also had a constant headache that I chased with Tylenol.

Anyhoo, I was already medicated and after 3-4 days it started averaging in the 130s/70s and the spikes were less frequent, a week in the spikes were there again. Now 3.5 weeks PP, I'm no longer labile and my new normal is 130s/70s where as pre- pregnancy I was 11x/50s maybe 60s. My doctor said that I do need to give things a whole 6 weeks to see where things are and she also reminded me that although my hypertension is no fun, it's not "as serious" anymore since we're not worried about it hurting the baby anymore. It's obviously not good for me, but hearing that did allow me to breathe a sigh of relief- something I don't think I had done since we confirmed our pregnancy! Though she still did want me taking it and if it was crazy high or out of the ordinary for me, along with all the regular pre-e symptoms to call her.

I agree with the previous poster, that I would let your OB know of your symptoms- our team didn't just deliver us and then cut us loose until 6 weeks, she wanted to keep tabs and my guess is if any symptoms like you're describing were to come up.

I would call the OB in your shoes.

Does Tylenol help the headache at all?

With my second, I also had great pressures day of delivery and no magnesium IV. However my preeclampsia became worse postpartum before it got better. My pressures were high enough I needed to be medicated, and even on meds spiked a week postpartum.

What is worrying me is you mention one-sided swelling. I would want to talk to the doc and rule out things like a DVT or blood clot.

Hope this helps, please let us know what you find out.

ETA: & Congratulations on the birth of your little one!

Hi all!

I was diagnosed at 28 weeks with mild preeclampsia. I was one of the lucky ones who limped along until I was induced at 37+1 in order to avoid the slip into severe pe. My labor was about as ideal as possible: my blood pressure was fantastic the whole time, my blood sugar stayed stable, I was able to avoid the mag and the epidural, and delivered a completely healthy 7 pound 6 ounce boy who has taken to nursing like a pro.

The first thing I want to say is 'thank you' to everyone here. This site, this forum in particular, played a pivotal role in my ability to educate myself about preeclampsia and, therefore, to advocate for myself throughout this difficult and stressful process. I truly believe that I received better quality healthcare because of this education--mostly because I felt confident that I knew which providers to trust.

And now, because life can't be that simple, a question: Before pregnancy, my pressures were commonly 115-ish/65-ish. During pregnancy my pressures were very labile, ranging from my normal to scary highs like 172/95. Toward the end, I was hanging out at around 135-145/85 more often than not, and still occasionally popping an ugly high. My pressures were great during labor--the highest was 138/72 I think. While at the hospital for 48 hours postpartum, my pressures seemed to become almost normal, always about 115-120/75 (so the diastolic was still a little high for me, but not too bad). Yesterday (5 days postpartum) I noticed that my left foot was very swollen and is pitting. I had some swelling during the pregnancy, but this was the worst I'd had it in my feet. So, I took my blood pressure only to find that they are consistently high again. Between yesterday evening and today I've had a couple in the 150/90s and none below 130/80. I've also had a headache, but I've been chalking that up to an apparent urinary tract infection I ended up in the ER with a couple of days ago (it never ends, does it?).

This all seems very strange to me. Why would the blood pressures seem to resolve only to go up again? Is this common for postpartum or is this postpartum PE? I'm extremely curious as to why none of my crack medical team even mentioned symptoms I should be looking out for postpartum and when to call (not that you can answer that, but it is a question I have :) ). So, when is it I should call? I'm so sick of the doctor's office and the hospital right now that I'm terribly tempted to ignore it and hope it goes away, but don't want to be stupid either. Sigh.

Anyway, thanks for reading the novel I just wrote. I look forward to your words of wisdom.