Sign up for The Bump!
Get weekly updates on baby and your body. Start by selecting which of these best describes you!
October 2016 Moms
moquat
member
Pre-eclampsia anyone?
moquat
member
FTM here just diagnosed with pre-eclampsia at 34 weeks. We were in a midwife practice but risked out due to the diagnosis, switching over to OB. Anyone else in this boat?
I am a teacher and was planning on going back to teach, but I can't go back to work now. Not officially on bed rest, but trying to take it easy and make it to 37 weeks. We are asleep in the middle of renovating our kitchen, were hoping to have a little more time to get it done but baby could come really at any time. Just hurried up and bought a car seat, diapers, baby bath, all of the essentials to be prepared.
I am a teacher and was planning on going back to teach, but I can't go back to work now. Not officially on bed rest, but trying to take it easy and make it to 37 weeks. We are asleep in the middle of renovating our kitchen, were hoping to have a little more time to get it done but baby could come really at any time. Just hurried up and bought a car seat, diapers, baby bath, all of the essentials to be prepared.
Re: Pre-eclampsia anyone?
TLDR; I'm being watched carefully for pre-e although no symptoms yet. My doc will induce me at either 37 or 38 weeks, depending on how things go.
For both you and @jennielu what were your blood pressure numbers? My experience with dd was that as soon as you have the elevated blood pressure and the protein- you have it. End of story. HOWEVER, my last obgyn's office had 7 Drs and no one agreed on my care. I had a very mild case (like just over the line bp wise) and one dr insisted I be induced at 37 weeks. We scheduled the induction, went in and the delivering dr that day said no way, it was medically unnecessary to induce at 37 weeks and sent me home. I went back to obgyn's office, saw a different dr (actually one of the partners of that office) and she concurred. I did need to be induced but at 39 weeks.
If if your blood pressure is really high, 37 weeks is the cut off but if you're like me. I would let them know you want to wait until 39 weeks. I was mad but in the end, happy that I didn't 'rob' my dd of 2 more weeks to grow inside.
I was put on bed rest the last month (right after official diagnoses) but it really was only a 'no more work, try not to be on your feet a lot' kind of thing.
I know it's super frustrating when you can't get straight answers from you Drs so I hope both of you get the care you need in these last few weeks.
My BP had been completely normal (even low at times) during my entire pregnancy until Monday when I went in for a checkup and my BP was 150/90. The practice I was going to was a free-standing birth center, so the midwife sent me to their cooperating hospital 15 minutes away for a non-stress test, urine and bloods. BP remained high for the hour or two I was there (though did go down to around 135/85 at times) but baby looked great on the monitor. They never told me the result of the urine test but my bloods looked good. They sent me home with a dx of gestational hypertension, a 24 hr pee test and told me to stop working.
Returned to the hospital with SO MUCH PEE yesterday, got hooked up to the monitors again and did an ultrasound. BP was still high. Urine protein just above the cutoff (383 mg/24 hr, their cutoff is 300). So they said I have mild pre-eclamplsia, can't work, and need NSTs 2x per week and one office visit per week unless things start going south. They seem pretty set on delivering at 37 weeks. No sign of IUGR; lil guy is right at the 45th percentile. Granted, he was measuring a week or two ahead for the whole pregnancy and my husband is a giant, so he certainly may have slowed down relative to his own hugeness.
I did dos have the twice weekly nst's too. Which besides just being a pain because my Drs office was 45 minutes away, I actually liked. It was kind of relaxing hanging out there in comfy chairs, eating ice and watching the baby. It sounds like you are a lot like how I was with the mild form. It's amazing how different Drs have different opinions (even in the same practice). When I went off of work (I was bank teller at the time) my bp dropped 20 points by the next appt so I am a firm believer that it helps. When I went in to deliver, I had to wear blood pressure cuffs on my legs to keep circulation up. But luckily since my bp wasn't too high, I didn't have to have magnesium. It did start to climb when it was coming time to push, but luckily she came out quickly. If she hadn't, I would have had to have a c-section.
none of that is to make you nervous, but that was my experience in a similar situation. Take it easy these next few weeks!!
my stuff in my bag and he did a horrible job lol.
Good luck and I hope you make it to your goal.
Also, Preeclampsia.org has an interesting write up on how effective is bed rest at preventing escalating pre-e that's worth a read and a discussion with your doctor.
Mommy to Elizabeth (6/18/09), preemie at 34 weeks
Team Blue!
Just got back from an NST. Baby looks great though he was avoiding the monitor like the plague. As for me: after 2 weeks of not working and taking it easy (albeit through a kitchen renovation with an extremely sped up timeline due to this baby dropping 3 weeks earlier than expected!) my BP and urine were both totally normal. I asked the OB on call if there was any chance that I could push off delivery, he basically said nope. Not worth the risk of the pre-e suddenly getting worse when baby's lungs are probably ready for prime time, though he did say that it was a relatively new standard of care to induce at 37 weeks for pre-e (within the last 2 years).
And we have an induction date! Going into the hospital in exactly 1 week.
How is everyone else doing??
I also passed our first NST today AND my BP was still down. No induction scheduled yet. I'm hoping for 39 weeks but that's me being optimistic
So I guess my takeaway is to NOT freak out because it IS possible to get to the end with signs of pre-e ... NSTs and other frequent monitoring can be a giant pain in the ass after a while, but it is good to keep a close eye on things because they can change quickly.
As for this pregnancy, my doc said the chance of pre-e declines significantly after baby #1. However, he recommended starting a baby aspirin regime before we even started TTC, so I've been on that ever since. He said it was safe for me and baby, however, I would discuss it with your doctor before starting something new this late in the game.
@mommathoner thanks for sharing your experiences!
In terms of meds people mentioned, I'm clueless about the BP meds but was taking baby aspirin since the beginning of this pregnancy and my dr just stopped that this week, but it was supposed to help the placenta's blood flow or something that they think relates to what causes pre-e. I know it sounds like duh and maybe I have worried P brain, but just wanted to reach out and say definitely check with your doctors and don't start taking it unless they say, even if it sounds like it could prevent pre-e, because they usually want you on it earlier and off any blood thinners whatever amount of time before potentially giving birth. Hoping everyone is hanging in here
As someone else posted I was also put on the dreaded magnesium IV while in the hospital. They continued the magnesium IV for 24 hours after delivery to prevent seizures (that is what "eclampsia" is). I initially was diagnosed with mild preeclampsia at 34 weeks or so but when I was admitted to hospital at 35 weeks it was changed to the severe range. So if you continue to have "mild pree" I would assume you could wait for 37 weeks to deliver and wouldn't need the magnesium. The magnesium puts you in a giant fog and you feel drunk/high.
Baby is doing amazing and as long as everything stays the same he will be coming home on Saturday!! We took a little bit to get him to breastfeed well but the past two days he has done a wonderful job. A few days ago he had an issue with his heart rate dropping while feeding with one of the nurses. Their policy is to monitor baby for 5 days after that event to confirm it doesn't happen again. They completed a car seat challenge on him today that he also passed. (They put baby in car seat for 90 minutes and monitor his breathing, etc. This seems like a common/mandatory test for babies in NICU).
Other notes- I never had really any swelling, and pretty much no headaches. Those are other pree symptoms. I had high pressures (they kept slowly climbing) and protein in urine after 24 hour urine collection. But I never had protein in urine during quick office checks. I have my own blood pressure cuff at home that I used to check pressures myself.
I hope that answers some questions and gives a little more background. Let me know if I can help with other questions. I will try to check back in.