Another new and confused Canadian

[alessels]

Hi Cassie,
Thanks for sharing your story.
Wow, after listening to you guys I realize how really scary this is.
I am really WOWED by these stories.

I did buy a blood pressure monitor today, so I have been monitoring at home.
Blood pressure has been fine because I am moderately bed ridden, but my headaches are still here.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Adri

[missgamecock]

Also keep a log of the time and pressures and how they were taken (sitting or laying down). I also had to log in my meds as well which was a pain. I worked more on bedrest with Sara than I did in real life. It was a full time job keeping track of all of that.

Like Cass says, you have to be proactive in your care. I am having issues now that my obgyn is dealing with. Not pe or pih but GYN. But I have had to make sure that they took me seriously and I guess he does now because he tells me to CALL him if anything is wrong. Someone once told me that they get a ton of women with the same complaints. So when they get one where something really is wrong, they may overlook it at first as normal because if it really was that bad you would be calling. It is YOUR job to make them understand. Sometimes you have to push and push and be a pain in the butt. I know it is easier said than done. Because I have posted lately about my issues and everyone is like CALL the dr and let him know. Same thing for you. If anything changes, call. Now I really feel like the pot calling the kettle black, lol.

[fiona]

Not to alarm you, but the headache we are really concerned with here is not necessarily connected to BP. It can be a sign of swelling in the brain - which, of course, is very serious.

If you have taken Tylenol and you still have a persistent headache, then more investigation needs to be taken. Also, it's all very well to have you lie down before taking your BP, but it should be taken sitting up: please keep a record of your BPs to show to your Dr.

When is your next appointment? I would be asking for baseline tests: 24 hr urine, blood panels....

And, as the others have said, if you are at all worried or feel worse, please get checked out again.

[lorelei]

I agree with the other ladies. Better to be safe than sorry. You are so close. Don't feel like an idiot. Things can progress so rapidly and the effects can be devastating. I was on bedrest for 13 weeks in my first pregnancy and literally I was "fine" one morning and that afternoon my bp shot up and wouldn't come down under 180/120 and I remember very very little about giving birth to my baby. Please take care of yourself and keep us posted.

[alessels]

Thank you so much Ladies for your advise and concern.
I am really glad that I found this site.

I did call the Hospital recently and complained about my headache (AGAIN).
She said that looking at my chart everything looks fine, I may be getting migraine for some reason.
Blood pressure has been fine, so it's not a concern for me to go in.

I agree with you Fiona, taking my blood pressure when I have been lying down for an hour doesn't really give me a piece of mind.
I live in Canada and believe our Healthcare system is different here, I used to live in US and paid a fortunate for my health plan, but it was in a way nicer that I was taken more seriously by Doctors. Here in Canada everyone gets the same care, it's not horrible, but very different for sure.
My OBGYN for instance only sees patients on Thursdays, so I have to wait till Thursday to see her, I can go to Labor and Delivery, but then I am there for 5 hours.
One of the reasons I finally got the blood pressure monitor is so I can monitor it here, call them when I am concerned.
They always tell me to go in if I want to, but I rather not, if I can avoid it.
They did give me some urine Dip sticks, but I can't read them, I tried to search on the internet, but didn't find anything.

Sabrina, what is chronic HTN? Sorry for my ignorance, I am so new to all of this.
I assume you are pregnant again, right?
What is going on?

Fiona, what is a baseline test?

Lori, were you having issues with your BP when you were at 13 weeks?

Do women get PE in other pregnancies too, even if it is with the same partner?
I heard that it is common in first pregnancies.

Thanks again Ladies for your help and support.
Reading your stories and advise have been very helpful, I haven't been feeling like I am crazy so much like before.

Cheers,

Adri

[cassie05]

Chronic HTN is chronic hypertension, some of the women who get pe already have high blood pressure, then there are people like me who have normal blood pressure. The baseline tests are to get accuarate # of what your body is doing so it can be compared if the pe is to get worse. For me I had a baseline 24 hour urine collection at about 14 weeks this pregnancy. I also had labs drawn to check my liver and kidney function, all these tests are so my docs can keep an eye on what reaction my body has as I get further along. Yes women can get pe at any time, any pregnancy, regardless of the partner. Alot of women only get pe in their first pregnancy and never have a problem again, then there are women who get is in every pregnancy, sometimes more or less severe and it can happen sooner or later than the previous pregnancy. There are also women who get it in some pregnancies but not others. My Mother in law for example had pe in her 5th pregnancy (which so happened to be when she was pregnant with my hubby) and had never had a problem prior to that. There are so many unknowns with pe, we can never predict how things will go. You really do need to do a 24 hour urine, like we said before the dips are NOT always accurate, they arent accurate when they do them on me, you need to have an actual # for the protien being spilled. If your headache doesnt go away then go in again, demand a 24 hour urine and labs be drawn, dont wait til its too late. Some women go on to have siezures or worse because of what pe has done to them and like i said before it can have really bad effects on baby too. Please be careful....5 hours is nothing when it comes to your and your babies life.

[alessels]

Thanks Cassie for the info.
You are right 5 hours is not a lot when it comes to saving your life and the Baby's as well.

I really do hope that you will have a stress free pregnancy this time around.
My Goodness, it seems like you have been through a lot.

XO,

Adri

[fiona]

Adri,

I have had two pregnancies in Britain and one in Canada - similar systems, but very different to the US. My Canadian OB was amazing, and I can't praise him high enough - but I know I was on a slightly different track with him because I was high risk.

There are a couple of things that concern me about your post:

1) the headache - as I said BP is not necessarily the only indicator that something is wrong. Are you prone to migraines? Are you eating and drinking enough?

2) In my non-medical opinion, you shouldn't be doing your own protein dipsticks. As I said, it's a woefully unreliable way of measuring protein.

Baseline tests are done in order to establish what your level of protein is and how your liver is functioning - as your pregnancy progresses, these are repeated to measure if you are getting worse.

Pre-eclampsia is officially diagnosed by two separate readings of 140/90 plus protein in excess of 300.

The only caveat to the BP is whether you normally have high BP outside of pregnancy - in which case you'll be allowed to run higher than women with normally low BP.

If you don't need to be seen before Thursday, I would urge you to have a very frank discussion with your OB and ask for the 24hr urine and blood work.

But if the headache persists, I would just go into L&D - and don't phone first.

[lorelei]

To answer your question, in my first pregnancy I developed preeclampsia (p/e) at 24 weeks and was put on bedrest and spent 13 weeks on bedrest until I delivered. In my 2nd pregnancy my bp started acting up early on and I was medicated and they just kept upping the dosage until neither medicine nor bedrest was working...thank goodness I was right at 37 weeks when that happened.

I certainly agree w/Cassie & Fiona...Go in and be checked sooner than Thursday. At this point your pressures aren't so great and the only way to get a true protein reading is that 24 hour urine. Things can progress so quickly for some women.

[missgamecock]

I went on meds with Sara at 17 weeks. I got pregnant and it just kept going up and up and up. I am still on a low dose of medicine. With my first (she was born in Belgium and I think the health care is similar to Britain and Canada as it is a social insurance system), my ob did not take it seriously. However, since we were US military, I was also followed by US military OB's who just checked to make sure the Belgian ob's were doing what they were supposed to, answer questions, etc. It was the military drs that were having a fit saying that I needed to be in the hospital. They even went so far as to be secretly testing my urine in their office on their own because they were so concerned. Unfortunately those tests are not in my medical chart to document when I started spilling the protein. There was some military rule that they were not supposed to do that and my dr went and swiped test strips from the lab one day so she could test me. I know it sounds stupid. My belgian ob didn't take it seriously until the military drs started to apply pressure on her, were sending me to the hospital every 5 mins for NST (my belgian ob NEVER even ordered one), and having me get checked out every 5 minutes. Yes it was a pain and I thought again. The hospital was an hour away. I went through this thing where they would be like why are you here. I would say the military drs sent me here for a NST and I have high bp and protein in the urine. They would test the urine, give me a NST, and then send me home on bedrest (which I ignored because I thought it was a big waste of my time). Finally my ob admitted me when it was obvious something was wrong, vision loss, upper quandrant pain (she then told me oh that's your liver), high bp, and protein. So always go get checked. I mean even with Sara, I didn't do what I was supposed to do. I should have been into l&d a lot more than I was. I even had the MW tell me at 32 weeks that I had better be calling them if even the littlest thing was wrong and not to be calling that office because I didn't want to go to Children's. My ob did the same thing. He was like call call call call, I'll decide if it is nothing. BUT I was BAD. Cause I only called if my bp was seriously high or something was really wrong. Don't be like me. You don't need that stress. If you have to go to l&d a thousand times it is absolutely worth it. You shouldn't be worried about what they think. I think the next time I get pregnant, my ob is going to have my number memorized because I will be calling for certain things. I realize now how dangerous the disease is. I didn't realize that till the day Sara was born. I had read about babies dying (but in my head they were early and that was why). There have been full term babies that have died too. When Sara had decels on the NST that day and decels during labor. That is when I realized that even almost full term babies can die. Take care of yourself and be proactive!