36 weeks 4 days with early labor signs?

gromerlove

As of today I am 36 weeks 4 days along and all of the sudden I have a whole list of symptoms that make me think labor is near! I've had lower back pain last few days, been seeing stars or "flashing lights" multiple times a day, my right hand and right foot seems to swell up extremely bad but only at night ( horrible for my late night bathroom visits when it actually hurts to turn the door handle), my stomach is sore to the touch...weird. But it feels bruised when I press down in certain areas, I've had diarrhea all day today (TMI), and lastly I got my blood pressure checked at Walgreens and was told it was 135/95 and that was on the high end... So of course I called my doctors office. I'd rather be safe than sorry and hear that they'll just keep an eye on me. I wasn't supposed to go back in to see the doc until next week but the nurse called me back and told me to come in tomorrow morning. I'm getting pretty nervous now... I don't think he would wanna induce me this early, but I hear if it's preeclampsia that he definitely will. Ahh kinda scary! I know no mother wishes for a premie and the longer that baby can bake the better, so I'm really hoping all of these signs are more on the normal side and that my little one is healthy and A-okay! How many mothers have had the same symptoms a few weeks before going into labor? I'd love to hear your stories. EDD 12/19/14

gromerlove

Yeah that makes me extremely nervous now that you said that... My last appointment was at 33 weeks and I thought for sure he would tell me to come back in 2, but he said there was no reason and to come back in 4 weeks. When I was 37 weeks pregnant. I'm going to call the hospital now..

CandEChicago

Glad you are calling the hospital. Better safe than sorry.

nwsnowbunny

MissChristineMarie said:

ladythrice said:

misskilljoy said:

Oh, weird. I thought being seen every two weeks after 28 was just standard. Here we go every four until 28, then every two until 36, then every week until delivery. All in pregnancies with no weird stuff going on, of course.

That's how my OB office works too.

Yup yup. After my next appt, it's every week for me too!

Mine too, except I've been on every week since 34 (and this time I'm PgAL so I started out every two till 12 weeks).

amedbery

I've never heard of an office that doesn't start seeing you every 2 weeks at 28 weeks and then every week after 36. A lot could happen in a month that late in pregnancy - PE among them. OP, please go to the hospital and consider your options on your MD. No one ever got hurt going to the doctor for a false alarm, but you can't say the same for people who should have gone but didn't.

ebilbao

Good that you're seeing the doc. A BP of 135/95 isn't that bad, but you should def be monitored just in case, especially in light of your abdominal pain.

Sweetsix06

@gromerlove I was thinking of you. Any updates since you called the hospital?

gromerlove

Thank you all so much for all the feedback! I still don't understand why my doctor wanted to wait four weeks to see me, but I finally saw him again today and now I feel a little better. My doctor ended up writing me a prescription for Procardia 30mg XL for my blood pressure, bed rest and lots of fluids (of course) for the next week. My next appointment is on Monday and he wants me to report back to him with my blood pressure levels for this whole week.. And then we will go from there. Today it was 142/92. I've never heard of Procardia so of course I've been googling away on that, but I'm sure my doctor wouldn't give me anything that would harm the baby. Have any of you ladies heard of or taken this due to high blood pressure?

Shortstack06

@gromerlove and @misskilljoy the abdominal pain that she describes, sounds similar to the diastasis recti that another of our lovely bumpies told me about. The muscles in the center of your stomach feel like you have a pulled muscle or the baby kicked you hard enough to bruise and can be sensitive to the touch.  These muscles according to the nurse I talked to can separate up to two inches during pregnancy, that may be why her doctor isn't as concerned about that symptom.

Shortstack06

Yeah I have no idea, that was the only explanation I could think of. But I am not high risk, nor do I have elevated blood pressure so those other symptoms for me would raise a flag if it was a sudden appearance. I think seeing spots/burst of light is also a symptom of being anemic. There are so many factors that an internet stranger/non-doctor can't diagnose but it is alarming for a doctor to ignore them all when combined.

nottarbt

Procardia is also known generically as Nifedipine and is one of the three medications that doctors can safely prescribe for high BP during pregnancy.  At least, that's what all the OBs at the hospital told me.  I'm on Nifedipine as well as the other two, which are labetalol and methyldopa.  I have chronic hypertension as well as pregnancy-induced hypertension since about 28 weeks (220/111 at first hospital admission), and have been struggling with this.  My doctors are watching me very closely for preeclampsia systems, running lots of urine and blood tests, etc.  135/95 would be on the low end for me, but I think the doctors will care more about what's normal for you.  If it makes you feel any better though, when I asked the high risk OBs who I saw in the hospital about what possible harm the high BP could cause my baby, they all said that as long as my BP stayed under 160/110, there would likely be no harm.  Higher than that and the baby's growth may be inhibited.  As for you and possible preeclampsia, I would expect them to take a 24-hour urine sample from you to make sure you're not spilling protein in your urine.  I can't understand how they would send you home without doing that.  

Hope you are feeling better!  

gromerlove

@misskilljoy they didn't do any blood work for my other symptoms I hear over and over again how great this doctor is and he was referred to me from 4 different military spouses here and yet every time I hear what's supposed to happen, my doctor does the opposite. It's really starting to aggravate me! But he did tell me that my swollen hand and seeing stars were both a sign of high blood pressure. And that he is going to check my urine again on Monday along with my day to day BP recordings and go from there based off of if I am developing pre-e or not.. And that my stomach being sore to the touch was kinda like what @Shortstack06 said...I could be bruised from the inside? And that since the pain isn't on my right side up by my ribs that it isn't a sign of pre-e? And also that my diarrhea is just a late pregnancy symptom, and many women start to get this a couple of weeks before going into labor.
I'm glad to hear that Procardia/Nifedipine is common for doctors to prescribe..that's like the first thing I've heard that this doctor may be doing right. Urgh. Thanks so much again ladies!! I really appreciate everyone's feedback/comments!

ColeyCannoli

gromerlove said:

@misskilljoy they didn't do any blood work for my other symptoms I hear over and over again how great this doctor is and he was referred to me from 4 different military spouses here and yet every time I hear what's supposed to happen, my doctor does the opposite. It's really starting to aggravate me! But he did tell me that my swollen hand and seeing stars were both a sign of high blood pressure. And that he is going to check my urine again on Monday along with my day to day BP recordings and go from there based off of if I am developing pre-e or not.. And that my stomach being sore to the touch was kinda like what @Shortstack06 said...I could be bruised from the inside? And that since the pain isn't on my right side up by my ribs that it isn't a sign of pre-e? And also that my diarrhea is just a late pregnancy symptom, and many women start to get this a couple of weeks before going into labor.
I'm glad to hear that Procardia/Nifedipine is common for doctors to prescribe..that's like the first thing I've heard that this doctor may be doing right. Urgh. Thanks so much again ladies!! I really appreciate everyone's feedback/comments!

Swelling and seeing spots are possible signs of very high blood pressure or pre-eclampsia but most mild pre-e is asymptomatic. My doctors haven't even suggested drugs for blood pressure even though I've been consistently around 140s/90s (I'm normally in the 110s/60s) and I have also seen spots (though not constantly) and have had some hand/face swelling.
I doubt the drug will hurt but I'm concerned that he didn't do blood work or a 24hr urine catch or anything else before drugs but I guess he's going by a different set of procedures than my docs.

Hopefully you feel better soon.