New here. With a question...

[dshodges]

Just as an intro, I had PE and GD with my first, she's 4 now. Labor was induced at 36 weeks, and took FOREVER! She did very well, and other than a little blood sugar problem right at first (she measured at 15 with a heel prick), she was perfect. No NICU, no nothin'. Beautiful baby, if I do say so myself!

Now onto #2. I'm at 31 weeks, and just had to stop work for the rest of the pregnancy. Not really great financially, as you all know, but best for everyone involved. I just had a +1 protein on Friday, with mild swelling, and BP went from right around 120's/80's to 164/104. I did have a very stressful day at work, right before going in for the appt, but I realize this is still pretty ugly for a BP reading. Dr. put me on Aldomet 250, 3X a day, I go in for an US on Tuesday that he will read on Wed. and call me about that morning, and then I see him again on Fri. and will have a NST that morning. All in all, I think he's taking great care of us. He mentioned things to watch for, and things to do in the meantime, and I wanted to ask you ladies about them since they are not worthy of a a call to the Dr in my opinion... Here goes...

1. He wants me to do kick counts. His way is to do it in the AM and again in the PM, look at the clock and see how long it takes to feel 10 seperate movements. My question here: Do I pick the same time each day, like 8AM, and count then, or do I just decide from out of nowhere that I want to start right then? She (the baby) moves ALOT, and sometimes it takes only a couple of minutes to get to 10 kicks! If I pick a time like that, she'll "score" high all the time.

2. I have been reading that something to look for and take note of is a pain in the upper right quadrant of the chest. What is causing this pain? I don't have it, but someone told me it was the gallbladder. I don't know what the gallbladder has to do with PE, but if that is what is causing the pain, mine has been removed, so I won't have to worry about it. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance. I've been looking through the posts here, and you folks know a lot of great things! I hope to learn a lot from you!

Donna
EDD 2/24/02

[catherine]

Hi Donna, welcome to the forum. You are right, it sounds like you have an OB who is pretty on top of things.

The kick counts, be consistant. If you do them after eating or having a sugary snack then they'll be easy to count. Once you get into a pattern, you'll notice if something changes. Anytime you feel that it has been a while since you felt your baby move.. do it again. I know that if you have a big mover then it seems so little to count 10. I used to have to do it for 30 minutes twice a day and occasionally I'd get up to 40 or 50 in that time!!!

The pain that everyone warns against is referred liver pain which accompanies HELLP, a very unpleasant variant of preeclampsia. Yes, it can be confused with gall bladder pain and some women have (initially) confused it with heartburn. It localizes in the upper right quadrant of your abdomen, though some people have also felt pain in their back along the bra strap region. It hurts worse than anything and the pain does not relent. If you get it, you will know [xx(].

One word of caution, you are paying your OB to take good care of you and that IMHO includes answering any and all of your questions. Please don't hesitate to call him or his service if you are worried about how you are feeling. Now that you are on bedrest (TRAAAPPPPed) you should feel free to share with folks who are stuck there with you or have good tips to share about survival.



Catherine (37)
DH, Dave (40)
Finn (6)
Lucy (2)
Chloe (7/2/03)

[aimeejane]

Hi, Donna...I'm glad to hear your doc is taking such good care of you.

First, yes, the liver/kidney pain is very important to look for.

My doc says that kick counts have to be done very precisely to be worth anything. You must lie very still for 30 minutes, with no tv or anything else to distract you, eyes closed, paying attention only to the movements. His advice to me, since he knew I was very attuned to how often my baby moved, was to just pay attention...and note if it had been longer than usual since I'd felt a kick.

Most importantly, Catherine's right! Call your doctor if ANYTHING seems amiss! Even if you can't explain just what's wrong, you need to be checked. Your instincts can tell you when something's going on...you just need to listen to them!

Good luck!

Aimee - 28
Dh - 29
Ds Nicky - 3/24/00 (28 wks - eclampsia)
Ds Kalen - 7/10/03 (36 weeks - preeclampsia)