Feel Like I'm on a Roller Coaster

[sparkedjenn]

I was diagnosed with pre-e and induced with my son at 37 weeks 2 years ago. Honestly, it wasn't a huge deal since he was term by the time I started noticing symptoms (severe nausea and vomiting that landed me in the ER at 5:00 am), it just happened. I'm thinking I'm not so lucky this time... Sorry if this is long!

The last week and a half has been crazy for me. I'll be 34 weeks tomorrow. Since I had pre-e with my first, my OB was sure to remind me of what to be on the lookout for and asked me to take my bp at the first sign of swelling or feeling off. No problems at all until 32+2, I gained 4 pounds overnight, noticed my fingers starting to swell, and ended up spiking a bp of 160/100 at work. (Had been 120's/80's consistently.) By the time I got to the OB's office and sat in the waiting room for a while before seeing the nurse, it was back down to almost normal, and my urine showed only trace protein. The on-call OB (luckily not my regular dr) made me feel like a complete idiot. He did order a 24-hour urine and some labs. I saw my regular OB the next day, and bloodwork looked good, but my urine protein was slightly elevated (422 mg), so she says we'll watch it closely and to call to be seen if I reach 160/100 again, but otherwise, just take my BP twice a day and take it easy.

I'm seeing mostly 120's/low 80's. The swelling went away. I did spike up to 153/94 once last week, but only for a short period of time, then right back down to 137/85. Over the weekend, I started noticing periods of feeling like I'm in a fog and trouble focusing my eyes quickly, then some dark spots, then a mild headache that hangs around. But my bp wasn't high, so I didn't call. Honestly, I really second-guessed myself... thinking it was just my imagination or that I'd read too much about pre-e and was getting paranoid and anxious. And afraid that I'd get the same jerk on-call OB who'd make me feel stupid again. I'm still second-guessing myself.

Then last night, I got into an argument with my husband over something stupid and ended up spiking up to 178/110. When it didn't go back down after 15 minutes of cooling off, I went to the ER. By the time I got there, it was down to 162/96, and after a few hours of observation in L&D, it was down to 125/55! (I don't remember having a diastolic of 55 before in my entire life....) Labs were good, urine protein dip was negative. So I got to go home. But I cried all night. This whole thing is just so out of my control, and it doesn't make sense. Why the crazy spikes? Why do I feel like crap and have that nagging feeling that something is not right when all signs show that this is (so far) a mild case of pre-e? Am I so anxious about this that my anxiety is what is causing the spikes? Please tell me I'm not the only one who's felt this way!