Does this sound like the start of pre-eclampsia??

Hi,

Just wanted to run down the symtoms (symptoms) i've been having since about 19 weeks pregnant and hoping that someone with experience with pre-eclampsia can help me out.  Since 19 weeks i've been having pretty major swelling mainly in my legs. Now at 30 weeks it's starting to move down to my ankles and feet.  It's worse when i work all day and usually by morning after sleeping all night it's mostly gone.  Lately also i've been having really weird blood pressure readings...some days it's perfectly fine while others days i have spikes of high pressure ie 160/90 or such.  It never stays high long and usually withing 20 minutes to a half hour at the most it's closer to normal again.  I also have white coat symdrome so i always get a high reading at the doctors which is why i monitor it home myself.  Other then that i feel ok...i'm very very tired and have been most of this pregnancy..baby is moving well. I'm just really worried.  I've never had any protein in my urine that my doctor told me about anyway. She did blood work a couple of days ago to check liver and kidney function and i haven't heard from her yet so i'm hoping it was ok.  At 24 weeks my white blood cell count was elevated..is this a sign of pre-eclampsia? I'm just so confused and scared. I'm always checking my pressure because i'm paranoid it's going to spike really high and do damage to me or the baby. If anyone can give me some advice or tell me their experience with this i would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance

[tiredbuthappy]

if you had preeclampsia, your bp would not be returning to normal. Honestly, it sounds like typical pregnancy induced hypertension, along with you stressing about it a lot. You would have protein in your urine, and I am sure your doctor would've called you if your blood work was bad. My dr called me the moment he got my bloodwork back and it showed preeclampsia.
Your swelling also sounds normal. It would not go down by morning if it were preeclampsia.

[BedfordGal]

Now a friend of mine did have pre-eclampsia and her blood pressure was all over the place...sometimes it was very very low and other times it would sky rocket..which is sort of what mine has been doing. What was your experience like when you had it? How did you feel? This pregnancy is just totally different then the last...i've been tired and worn out the whole time...i just feel like something is wrong.

[tiredbuthappy]

when I had preeclampsia, and when they were watching for it, my OB always had me rest on my left side if my pressure went up. Apparently, if it is preeclampsia, resting on your left side won't bring it down much, whereas if it's just hypertension, rest and/or being on your left side will make a significant difference. In fact, after I had the baby, while in the hospital, he had standing orders for my BP to be taken only while i was laying on my left side. Often, especially when you are pregnant, your position can affect your BP and give high or low readings.

My feet were HUGE and swollen. I have a picture of my feet with deep indentations from flipflops that I had taken off a half hour earlier. This is called pitting edema.  My hands were as well. I was sick, I had malaise. I had protein in urine.

You cannot prevent it, and worrying about it too much won't help either. Your dr will detect some early warning signs- mostly protein in urine. Unless it's affecting your kidneys and liver, it's just hypertension. My OB watched my very carefully this time around to make sure I didn't develop it. Despite my history, he wasn't really concerned when my BP was a little higher at times.

[BedfordGal]

Yeah laying down usually brings my pressure down conciderably but it doesn't take much to hike it up again.  I almost feel like i'm having panic attacks when it happens. If something even small happens to upset me my pressure goes wacky quickly and it takes alot of calming down and deep breathing to bring it back in normal range. I'm just scared this is doing damage to the baby but he's very active which is a good thing i guess.  Like is said my swelling is mostly in my legs..at the end of the working day i can barely bend my knees..they're so stiff with swelling. It's moved into my ankles and feet a bit but nothing significant yet. I've been off the last couple of days though and that has decreased my swelling quite a bit. I'm just going to have to try to relax..i'll be done work in two weeks so then i can just take it easy and it won't be so hard since i won't have to be on my feet all day. Anyway thanks for sharing your experience.