Another new and confused Canadian

[alessels]

Hello Girls,

I live in Calgary, AB.
I am 34 weeks with our first whom is due on April 6th.

My last visits was awful, blood pressure was 150/97, then 140/93, swelling has been dramatic, lots of headaches, blurred vision, traces of protein in the urine, extremely fatigue as well.
Doc sent me to get some blood work done immediately at Labor and Delivery, blood work came back fine, after lying down for 3 hours my blood pressure went down, then they sent me home.

I am at home, but I don't feel good, I don't want to go to the hospital again because they will keep me there for 5 hours, then send me home again.
What could be possibly happening? I can't even see my ankle bones, I am so puffy.

Anyone has any experience with this?

Thanks for listening, I was hopping to find a Canadian group here.

XO,

Adri

[missgamecock]

Please go to the hospital. I know sitting around for 5 hours is a lot, btdt myself many times! However, it is better if something bad is coming on. My pe played hide and seek from 24 weeks on. Then I got admitted at 35 1/2 weeks. My dh left at 9pm and I was fine. By 12:30 am I was deathly ill. Your symptoms really concern me and it is better to get checked out then to mourning a baby. Not trying to scare you here, but you really need to go.

[jen44]

Hi Adri,

I'm in Vancouver. Welcome! I second what Sabrina says. With the symptoms you mention having so far, it can go from fine to EMERGENCY within a few hours and many women complain of just what you say in that "I just don't feel good" and it can be serious. I think you need to get in to get checked just to be sure. Please update soon! I'll be thinking of you...

Jennifer

[alessels]

Hi Jennifer and Sabrina,

Thanks for responding.
I feel like I have been at the hospital way too many times and they keep telling me that I am fine.
Before Thursday I was there on Sunday again because of the headaches, then the Monday prior to that because my swelling was dramatic.
I am sure you know how frustrating it is when you feel like crap and they keep telling that you are fine and you just need to stay off your feet.
They told me that because I only have traces of protein in my urine, blood work came back fine and my blood pressure does go down with bed rest, then I am fine.

Can you please share your stories with me?
I am so new to this.

Thanks again,

Adri

[alessels]

Hi Girls,

As I keep on thinking about this.
I will take your advise and go back to the hospital.
Assuming I will be home tomorrow, I will let you know how it goes.

Thanks,

Adri

[missgamecock]

Thank you! Just to let you know with Sara, which was PIH, I kept calling my ob he was SICK of me. He didn't tell me that but I am sure he shook his head when he saw my number pop up on his pager. Saw him on Thursday, called him on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Same advice, increase meds, ice pack for head, Tylenol, and don't move a muscle. Called him on Monday. They brought me in for a NST. She was fine, go home do the above and don't move a muscle till that peri appt. Went to peri the next day, Sara had decels and I looked really sick. Sent to the hospital for an emergency induction. No ripening or nothing, just straight pit that was increased every 15 minutes till I delivered. If the pit had not of been effective, emergency csection.

With my first I had periods where I didn't feel good, ex. at 34 weeks I thought I had the stomach flu. Dr misdiagnosed me and said I had indigestion. Gave me malox mixed with Lidocaine and sent me on my way. Miltary drs were having a fit because I had gained 20+ pounds in a month, was swollen, had high bp, protein in the urine, headaches, and vision problems. I chalked it up to normal pregnancy stuff, they were saying PE. I was like so what if I have a little protein and stuff. Anyway, went in for an appt with my ob, she admitted me for observation. She then LEFT and went on vacation and never checked on me. I spent my time being passed around between the oncall docs. No one was telling me anything. I was supposed to be there for observation and be out on Monday. I already had a 2 day old baby by then.

The second day I was there a dr that could speak english came in and said we are terminating this pregnancy. WHAT?????? The liasion called and said I had very high bp, high protein, high liver enzymes and that my blood tests were extremely bad. But I didn't feel so bad. They moved me immediately to a L&D room and then started to try and ripen the cervix. Dh left at 9pm. At 12:00 am I had a really really bad headache and hit the call button and asked for Tylenol. Next thing I knew nurses, drs, and midwives came flying into my room. They started doing neuro checks, reflex checks, drawing blood, etc. They all left the room for a minute and then came back in and said I was very sick and that I needed another iv line put in. I already had one so this would be one in each arm. This was for more meds and the mag. Then they told me I would have to have an epidural before labor started. Cool!!!

I had checks throughout the night, nothing going on with my cervix. Like FT. Knox. Then they decided that I could not have a csection because I would hemmorage or have a seizure/stroke on the table. They could only do the csection if I crashed further or the baby became distressed. Kirsten was fine the entire time, it was me who was ill. Anyway they tried one last thing which was excruciating and I will never ever agree to again (manual ripening). That worked. They gave the epidural before they started the labor. Then Kirsten was born 7 hours later. I stayed on mag for two days after that. So it can come on very quickly and seriously and you need to stay on top of your symptoms. Oh, no mag with Sara thank goodness. But I would have gotten it if I had protein on the day that I delivered per my ob whether I liked it or not.

Let us know how it goes...

[jen44]

I'm so glad you are going back to get checked out again, I can imagine it must be frustrating but better SAFE than SORRY, I say. I assume when you read this you are home and have been given some direction on what to do. I hope things are OK.

My story is a little different. I developed high blood pressure early on in my pregnancy, around 18 weeks I think. I was put on BP meds when my BP hit 140/90. I continued to see the regular OBGYN until I was about 28 weeks when the OBGYN didn't think he could handle my care with enough certainly, which I appreciated. He sent me to a High Risk doctor who evaluated me and by this time I was on both bedrest and quite a few BP meds and each week I would add another one because it would work for a few days and then it would rise again.

I remember going for my 32 week check up and I just felt really "bad". I was horribly swollen (just like how you describe) couldn't see my ankles or wear shoes of any kind. I couldn't close my fists my fingers were so swollen. My face was swollen too. I had NO protein at all and no blurred vision or headaches, so basically it was just PIH. When I went for that 32 week check up, the doctor took one look at me, took my BP a few times (didn't give me the reading, it must have been really bad) and sent me to the hospital, don't pass go, don't collect $200. I was admitted immediately and spent the next four weeks there under strict bedrest and lots of meds.

The day I turned 36 weeks, I was induced with the gel twice, spent 24 hours in labour but didn't progress at all so I had a c-section the next day. By that time I was on 25 pills of medication per day and my blood pressure was 185/110 the day I delivered. It was severe. I never had any protein or blurred vision, however my doctors were really worried about seizures so they didn't want to wait any longer.

Luka was born a healthy 6lbs, 6oz. and he stayed in my room with me that night. We went home 3 days later and my BP resolved itself within two weeks. The swelling got worse after delivery, but within about two weeks it was gone as well.

[fiona]

Coming to this late - but very glad you're getting checked out. Please be aware that the urine dipsticks are very unreliable: the best test for protein is a 24hr urine .

Let us know how you get on.

[alessels]

Hello again,
Thank you so much for sharing your stories, this is really scary.

Here's an update of what happened:
Got to the hospital, they put me on the Baby monitor, asked me to lie down on my right side, I was there for about an hour before they checked my blood pressure.
Finally it was done and the numbers were 149/87 which is not that bad, then as usual it came down.
Then I had to wait for the Doctor to discharge me, again: I was told that I am fine; go home, get some rest and stay off your feet.

This is so Frustrating, this headache doesn't go away, I told her that I am afraid I overdosed in Tylenol and I still have a headache.
I feel like an idiot again because it seems that it's all in my head.

Anyway, thanks again for listening.
I guess I just need to stay off my feet like I have been, wait and see.

Hope everyone is having a good day.

Adri

[cassie05]

HI and welcome, dont let the doctors dismiss your pains or symptoms, dont ever be worried about being a pain. Like the others have said pe can go from ok, to bad, to worse in a matter of hours. ALot of people never realize anything is wrong and think they are just experienceing normal pregnancy issues. Sadly some moms and their babies do die from pe. As for my story with my son, I had really bad upper right quadrant pain around 24 weeks, went to an L&D that was close by, my bp was high and no one ever checked my urine, the doc said I had heartburn. A week or two later the pain was still horrible, I finally called into my local hospital and saw a family practice doctor, again high bp, no urine check, he said my ribs were inflamed. I had been dealing with swelling, headaches and blurry vision for awhile. I started to moniter my own bp at home and once the #s were above 140/90 I finally called into L&D and was told to come in ASAP. I was diagnosed with mild pe and symptoms of HELLP, and was hospitalized. THe next day I was sent home on complete bedrest. I went in many times that week to have labs drawn, turn in 24 hour urines and such. FInally a random doc said I needed to come in the next day to begin steriod injections to mature my sons lungs just in case he came early. I went in for my last shot and was admitted and started on magnesium sulfate to prevent siezures, the next morning I was transfered to another hospital an hour away. My son was born that night at 27 weeks 4 days. In a nutshell, i was dying and so was my son. Had the doctors not been taking me seriously my son and I would not be here today.
Tell them to have you do a 24 hour urine, basically you pee in a big jug for 24 hours to get an accuarte # of the protien you are spilling, the office dips are NOT always accurate, mine never are. Please if you have to, go to L&D every day, dotn let them ignore you. Push them, you are the only one who can speak for you and your baby.