My tiny veins roll like crazy, so I feel your pain. I agree with alviarin's suggestion that staying well hydrated helps tremendously. I also try to eat some extra salt the day before if I remember. I was actually much easier to stick while I was pregnant, except while I was on the mag. That was horrible.
My record before pregnancy was nine sticks for a blood donation and five for an IV. They usually get me on the first or second time now that I know which veins work well for blood draws and IVs. I let a nurse talk me into trying a new one last week, and I left with three bruises for one stupid IV. You can manage it if you remember which veins generally work, which probably means you have to get IVs or blood draws unreasonably often. I also ask them not to try to stick me if they aren't really good and not to go fishing if they miss. If your veins are also small, you can ask for a pediatric butterfly needle during blood draws, and I think there is a smaller needle that they can use for IVs. My veins blow out when they use the big ones, but some nurses need to see that first hand to believe it.

Good luck with your BPs!

Alvarin- exactly! After all those nurses I had the first two days, that last day while I was weaning off the mag sulfate, I had an older nurse (who was soooo comforting as well as good at her job). She went for a vein the others wouldn't even try and got it easily first time. Said it was deep, but a good vein.

I actually checked out of the hospital when I wouldn't have minded getting another evening of rest just because the nurses refused to take out the IV until I was dressed and about to go out the door! They were so nervous about trying to put one back in if I stayed. Which is pretty dumb.. if something went wrong and I came back, it'd be the same issue, right? I was so sick of that IV by then.

One of the reasons why, if I make it to Christmas, I'm asking for a doula this time. :D I think my MIL would be willing to make that her gift.

I've never had "rolling veins" but when I had severe preeclampsia and they were trying to put IVs in the veins kept collapsing, ouch! At the time the nurses said they see that a lot with pre-e patients.

With my second I wasn't as sick though and they put the IV in no problem.

I've had some phlebotomists complain my veins were "deep" or "small" in my arm when drawing blood, but after dozens of blood draws I've come to the conclusion they just aren't as smooth or experienced as some of their co-workers. Also me staying well hydrated before blood draws helps too. This might be different from what you are experiencing but I thought I would mention it just in case!

Nurses and techs call it a rolling vein when your vein moves while they're poking you. Sometimes they can keep pushing after it and get it anyway, but a lot of the time they just have to try again.

I also tend to need two tries for them to get an IV in, because of the fiddly part where they're setting the little tube before pulling out the needle part.

I'm not sure what rolling veins are but I do know that when I lost my baby and was in the hospital it took forever for them to insert the iv and to draw blood. Just a month ago when I went for more blood work I was pricked 5 times before they were able to get two viles of blood. After I lost the baby the doctors looked for clotting disorders but I tested normal for everything. Not sure what this means for me but I'm presently newly pregnant with my second and I meet with the doctor tomorrow to discuss our plan of action. I know I will be put on lda and heparin shots due to the way my blood acts when I'm poked as well since there was a lot of calcification on the autopsy done on my placenta from the stillbirth.

Hello, posting an introductory post.

I had pre-e with my first pregnancy. I had some bad nausea at the end of the first trimester (right when you're supposed to be getting better) and protein early, but they both cleared up at about the same time a couple of months later (they even did a 24 hour to make sure the protein levels were okay, and they were). Then, when I was 8 months along, my blood pressure started creeping up. They put me on bed rest when the protein came back at around 35 weeks. Induced at 37 weeks with mag sulfate. Baby was 5 lb, 7.6 oz, so a little small but a strong, healthy boy. Throughout all the NSTs and ultrasounds, he was always great even when I was feeling lousy. He's now 2 years old and a very snuggly, healthy little guy.

I lost a lot of weight through some improvements in my diet and breastfeeding, so I felt pretty good about this pregnancy. I was healthy and my blood pressure was normal when I went to the ob for my annual in March. And it started out okay, but at 8 weeks I ended up in the hospital because my blood pressure spiked horribly. I had gone to an urgent care clinic with pain in my left arm and nausea and just felt awful. They confirmed my heart was okay, then shipped me off to my ob, who sent me to ER to get the blood pressure under control. After two trips to the ER that weekend (2nd due to nausea and headache, which they told me to come back if I had them), they admitted me to the hospital and gave me a kidney ultrasound to make sure my kidneys were okay since the blood pressure was terrible (200s over 120s!) and I had lots of proteinuria. I also got to see my baby way early and see the heartbeat since they wanted to double-check the gestational age (right on target). The kidneys were normal - no obvious signs of damage.

So, now I'm getting seen by both my regular OB and the local MFM. They trade off so I'm having appointments about every 2 weeks. I had an ultrasound at 11 weeks to check EVERYTHING with the MFM. They said everything looked normal except my uterine arteries were borderline, so I'm taking a baby aspirin daily.

As of last week, I'm up to 600 mg of Labetalol (200 mg 3/day), which has finally dragged my blood pressure down to 128/90 at my last checkup. Not great, but MUCH better. The proteinuria cleared up when the blood pressure went down. I'm at 13 weeks tomorrow (due 2/5/13) and feeling pretty hopeful, now. Lots of prayer and fingers crossed that it'll just be hypertension and no pre-e this time. My nausea went away at the "normal" time, this time, instead of getting worse, and my fatigue has improved along with the blood pressure. I've been trying to fit in a little walking or similar exercise every day I can, since that seems to help the blood pressure, and I've been cutting out salt as much as I can.

All my doctors have been really on the ball. Even my primary care (who I saw early on in the process) is eager to keep up on my status so that when the OB and MFM are done at around 6 weeks PP, she can take over and know right where I'm at.

I do have a question.. any of you ladies have issues with rolling veins when nurses try to draw blood? The worst part of being induced was that the L&D nurses were used to pregnant women with great big veins, while mine tend to be smaller and roll. I ended up getting stuck three different times for some of the blood draws that they do, and when you're on the mag sulfate, they draw often. :(