I had my first daughter 10 years ago. I was 18 and had a normal pregnancy up until my checkup at 38/39 weeks. I had been swelling since my last appt and had gained approx 18 pounds in my last week. I went to my appt and the doctor took one look at me and sent me to L&D to be induced. I don't remember if my blood pressure was up or not, I just went to L&D and was induced, having my beautiful 7 lb 10 oz baby girl about 14 hours later. I had major swelling after delivery also, but was never put on medication or anything like that. When I asked what had happened I was told I had developed pre-eclampsia.
Fast foward 10 years and 2 more beautiful daughters later. Both my second and third pregnancies were uncomplicated, with my babies being born between 38 and 39 weeks. I am now 35 weeks 3 days with my first baby boy, and my last baby. I went in for a normal routine appt last week at 34 weeks and my blood pressure was 140/91. I usually run 100-110/60-70. I heard my doctor ask the ma, is this really her blood pressure? He came in, did heart tones, etc, then had me lay down on my left side in a dark room for approx 15 minutes. They came back in to check my bp at that time, while I was laying, and it was 102/62. He came in and told me that I needed to stop working and go on bedrest lying on my left side most of the time. He drew lab work and had me take a jug home for a urine collection. He had them take another blood pressure after I finished getting my blood drawn and it was back up to 142/86. This was all on Wed. and he scheduled another appt for yesterday, Tues. Since about Thursday or Friday I have been feeling really out of it, just fuzzy, if that makes since. I started having pain in my upper right quadrant, just very sporadic, early Mon morning, like 1 am. I went to l&d, where they did lab work and released me, saying everything was fine. I went to my appt yesterday and had a very reassuring NST, but still have been feeling funny. I keep regular track of my b/p (like 10-12 times per day
) and it has been 120-160/70-100, just depending on what I'm doing at the time. I turned in all my readings and started talking to the doctor. He said everything came back good with my labs at the hospital, just an increase of uric acid. Then as he was talking the ma brought in the other labs he had drawn last week and my urine test. He looked at them and said it was weird,my liver enzymes from Wed were elevated, but the ones from the hospital mon morning were okay. And he said my urine came back with elevated protein. He wouldn't tell me the number, but I looked over his shoulder and it was 454. He also told me he could see swelling in my face and hands, which I have noticed also. So after telling me to rest, I started to walk away to schedule my appt next week. He then called me back and said you know, with your blood pressures, I should probably put you on a blood pressure medication. So he wrote an Rx for Procardia XL, which I took my first pill last night before bed. When I got up my b/p was 129/93. I sent my oldest kids off to school and went back to bed. I got up around 10 with my youngest daughter, made her pb and j sandwich for lunch, sat down and took my blood pressure. It was 140/91. This is no different than what it has been lately. Should I expect the Procardia to work the first day or does it take a while to build up? Any other thoughts on my situation. I'm scared to death that this is going to progress, especially since it seems my doctor wants me to stay pregnant until I'm at least 38 weeks or further. Any thoughts would be appreciated... Sorry for the book!!!