Blood pressure going up at 24 weeks

[bnicolef]

I finally got some results. Yesterday my husband called, explained everything to a nurse, and she was able to take that information and discuss it with a doctor. He said since my blood pressure wasn't staying high right now, he wouldn't consider it an emergency where he could fit me in, but I can get his next available appointment, but it is not until the end of April. He said to go to labor and delivery to get my labs redone.

So, we went to labor and delivery. I had an amazing nurse who seemed to know what she was doing, what she was looking for. She took my blood pressure (136/72) explained that she was going to recheck it every 15 minutes (first time it has been checked more than once!) And took blood for the lab work.
Unfortunately 30 seconds later my blood pressure went down to 77/36.
Of course my great nurse left, and I had the worst nurse ever. When they switched, my blood pressure had gotten back up to 99/46. Which, normally for me, the bottom number would only be a few points too low. She came in, said "Why are you here, your blood pressure is fine." I thought she was joking, and she went on to explain that my labs were fine. Then she turnedinto worst nurse ever when my husband and I asked questions.
When I explained that my blood pressure keeps going up, she said "people come in when there blood pressure is 210/110, do you want that?" Then when I asked for a number that I should be concerned about, she said 200/100. When I questioned that number, she would only say "So you want me to go get a doctor and we can delivrr your baby right now at 25 weeks? Is that what you want?" Then when I got upset she acted like I was mentally unstable.
We finally got a midwife in, and she sat down, answered every single question we have had over the last two weeks, and gave me what I feel is an acceptable care plan.
I am monitoring blood pressure at home. 140/90, I am to lay down, if it doesn't go down, I need to call. If it hits 150/100, I need to go in. If anything else changes, I need to call to go in. I am scheduled to go in before I leave for vacation, and then every two weeks after that as long as nothing changes. If they see the readings I am getting at home, they will reevaluate.
I also bought the dipsticks to check my urine for protein at home.

I don't feel 100% comfortable, but I am pretty sure it is the best I am going to get at the moment. I am going across the country for the Easter holiday, and I am making myself familiar with the hospitals, in the event something happens and I need to go. When I get back I think we will look into trying to get the opinion of a doctor who deals with high risk patients, even if we have to pay out of pocket.

[bnicolef]

Last night my blood pressure went: 142/77, 114/72, 133/84, 113/57. In about 45 minutes without me changing position.
Twenty minutes later I started having horrible kidney pain and dark, foul smelling urine, despite my drinking massive amounts of water.

The nurse threw a fit when I insisted on a urinalysis this morning because she says it is impossible to have a kidney infection when I had labs done two days ago. Of course I had just emptied my bladder while doing a non clean catch for her into a dirty styrofoam cup, so when I had to do a clean catch in the lab I doubt three drops was a sufficient sample.

Thankfully my blood pressure has been staying in the 130/70 area today.

I am going to wait as long as I can for the test results, but I may just end up going to the ER at the other hospital. My mother is coming over and I am going to try calling other offices to see what wait times are lke, and try talking to my insurance to see what my options are.

[alexis]

Those are really some dramatic swings in BP (77/36 - ouch!) did they have any explanation for it, or show any concern?

[bnicolef]

I didn't report my home readings, but they explained the drop to 77/36 from having my blood drawn. I've had Probably more than 300 needle sticks in the last two years, and the only time I've ever felt ill, is when it took over an hour to get an IV in. My veins are tiny, invisible, collapsing little things that cause nurses to question why they do their job lol.

Yesterday I ended up with terrible stabbing pain under my ribs and in my back. I was afraid it was my kidneys or something, and since they hadn't gotten back my urinalysis, I expected they could at least do an ultrasound to check out my gall bladder or make sure it wasn't like kidney stones or something. Well, I got turned away from ER, telling me I had to go to labor and delivery for any sort of abdominal pain. I kept telling them the midwife said it was ligament pain, but they said there was nothing they could do, since it could be contractions.

I should mention my annoying blood pressure. I checked it (expecting it to be super high) in the midst of a pain attack, it was 115/67. After a good chunk of time with no pain, I take it again right before I leave for the ER, it is 155/75. I tell my husband, hey, maybe they will see one of these super high numbers. I get to labor and delivery (maybe 30 minutes later.) My blood pressure is 99/44.

The nurse instantly says "ligament pain" as my diagnosis. I keep going on about my symptoms, and the midwife realizes that no, it isn't ligament pain, when I start crying as soon as she touches my rib area. She said that maybe I have a fatty liver?, so she orders more labs and an ultrasound. Both came back fine, so I am left to assume it's just my gall bladder.

My urinalysis came back "fine" today. I remember them treating me for a uti before, even though I didn't have any symptoms. I compared those results to the one just done. Before the only thing "off" was a wbc result of 2. Rbc and epithelial cells were both 0. This time the only things "off" were the wbc, rbc, and epithelial cells results were all 1. I am not even sure what any of those mean, but I'm pretty sure all three of those should be 0. So, I don't understand why they treated me last time when the result for one was 2, but this time the result is 1 and they don't treat me, even though I have symptoms? I wish I knew more about this sort of thing!

I also realized that I can only view urinalysis results, none of my blood work is on my online chart. I may go request those results on Monday, so I can see what they are.
I looked through all of my labs from my last pregnancy (that are available anyway) and realized they are not so good about "fine" actually meaning "fine." My last pregnancy I gained 100 pounds, all but 10 of those pounds after 26 weeks. My diet had a few sweets, but we are really healthy eaters. I couldn't walk without feeling like I was going to fall over (I barely left the bed, slept 16+ hours a day, my husband had to bathe me.) Labs after labs came back "fine" "fine" fine." When I look, I see protein and albumin well below normal range, my thyroid tests were all at the very lowest number in "normal" range, or just below it, and I kept having highest possible "normal" glucose test results (with one that only said "abnormal.")

Sorry for the ramble! I just worry when I feel like I have to play doctor for myself. I don't like it, because, I am not a doctor. I only know when my body is telling me something isn't right. I expect them to be able to interpret what that means, but to hear "it's nothing" or "you're fine" with no explanation or clear reason behind their diagnosis is the most frustrating thing. Then, to find out when I had the worst 10 months of my life and just kept hearing the words "fine," that no, not everything was as "fine" as they kept saying, and maybe I could have had some relief.

[MomTimesThree]

I'm so sorry things are so frustrating. I have no idea what any of the labs mean, but can totally empathize with the bp reading at it's lowest point when you'd actually like it to spike just so you can go to the person... TOLD YA SO!

[bnicolef]

I just realized that the blood work was on my online chart. I was expecting to see CBC labs at least. There was just a Lactate Dehydrogenase test and a Uric Acid test, both of which were in the normal range. I looked at my old CBC results, and between January 18th and 27th, my platelets went from 238 to 200. Both are still within the normal range, and the other values were the same or very close.
I am curious if anyone knows much about blood tests, whether platelet count normally goes up and down? I know some numbers change frequently, while others pretty much stay the same.