Platelet Count kept decreasing day by day after 38

[expert@preeclampsia.org]

My wife is 37weeks now and she routinely went in for the checkup and her BP was 150/90 and she was asked to go into the hospital and she was told that she has Pre-eclampsia. Now she is in the hospital and she is doing good. Her BP ranges in 125/70 to 142/90 and the only other symptom she has is little swollen feet. She had the swollen feet for the last month and half. The baby is doing great. She had the urine tests including the 24hour test done and we were told +1 on dipstick and normal on 24hr test.

The doctors kept saying we need to deliver the baby. We wanted to wait till it either becomes medically necessary or atleast she reaches 39th week. My wife is in the hospital and is staying in the hospital till the baby is delivered. She is constantly being monitored every 4 hours for her BP and teh baby's heart rate, etc. Since we kept insisting we wanted to wait, lately the doctor said that her platelet counts is going down. In the last 4 days, her count went from 172 to 163 to (no test done) to 147. They are going to test it again tomorrow.

Here is my question. Should the platelet count be kept dropping on the average of 8 like that? If so, how much longer can we wait based only on this count to make a decision assuming all other conditions remains the same? We have read that any count above 100 is safe for baby and mom. Are we making a sound decision by deciding to wait ro go with the doctors suggestion and deliver the baby even though it does not seem necessary to deliver immediately instead of letting the baby grow naturally.

Any help is much appreciated. We are just looking for a second opinion and we understand whatever you tell us is just advise and is not a medical diagnosis.

[expert@preeclampsia.org]

Your wife has preeclampsia. It is likely to worsen over the coming days. If she was preterm, one could probably gain important time for the baby to develop. But your wife is term, and there is very little to gain for the baby by remaining pregnant.

There are risks to remaining pregnant. Preeclampsia does not usually worsen in a slow steady fashion. Suddenly, overnight, your wife could become very ill. Her platelet count is already falling. While the baby looks good on the monitor today, the intra-uterine environment could worsen quickly. The progression of the disease is unpredictable.

The only risk to "getting delivered" depends on the favorability of her cervix for induction of labor. If unfavorable, it could take a long time. On the other hand, if you wait until she is very ill, her platelet count may be too low to get an epidural; there may not be enough time to conduct an induction of labor.