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Thankful I Decided To Go To the Er That Night

May 06, 2025 By Marybeth Stenhouse

Thankful I Decided To Go To the Er That Night

I was scheduled for a c-section at 39+2 due to her being IUGR. I had no complications during pregnancy, normal bp the whole time. I was discharged at 2 days pp, with a blood pressure of 140/87. 3 days pp I had excessive bleeding so i went to the ER. They assessed me, and I was not septic, or having retained product. All their labs looked normal, except my BP was high. (160/95) They wanted to hold me to test for pre-eclampsia, so I stayed in the ER for a few hours. They retested me and my BP had jumped to 197/92, they gave me procardia, and suddenly my heart rate jumped up to 200. They quickly ran tests and it ended up coming back down on its own. I was admitted to L&D to stay, the first night had to be without my baby, as I was put on a mag drip and couldn't care for her. She stayed with me the next night. I stayed 3 days, and was sent home with bp around 140/90 on 100mg of labatalol 2x per day, and anxiety medication. I went for a checkup a week later and my bp was still 140/90, so they upped it to 200mg twice a day. I'm now 6 months pp and still dealing with higher bp, but it seems to be coming down. The whole experience was so traumatic, and I didn't realize it until I noticed I was getting anxiety every time we'd go to the hospital. I knew postpartum pre-eclampsia was possible, but I heard it was rare and because I had no symptoms I almost missed it because I wasn't taking my bp at home! I'm glad I happened to go to the ER that night because who knows what could have happened! I'm happy there are pages like this I think they are so helpful and needed!