Sudden onset of pre-eclampsia

[mikaleen]

Leah Rose was born a week early, on June 19th.  I went to my regular checkup, I felt fine all day on Father's Day, but that night I started to feel strange.  I had terrible shoulder pain and Monday morning I woke up nauseous and had a really bad headache.  I took my blood pressure before the appt and it was 150/102.  It had been 110/62 the Friday before.  When I told them that in the office they took me right back, checked it again and I was put in a wheelchair and taken up to L&D.  I was 38w6d and the Dr. told me she wanted to induce me that day, she didn't want to wait, so at 7pm we started pitocin.  She said I was already in early labor and was 2cm and 70% so I may have been calling her in the middle of the night anyway.  She felt I would only need the smallest dose of the pitocin to kickstart things.  I was upset because I remember the pitocin from my first and how bad the contractions were, and I really didn't want an epidural, I had such problem with recovery.  I was so much better after my second birth with no epidural.  It really did take a low dose, and at 2:11 am Leah was born.  I dilated from 4-10 in 20 minutes so by the time I asked for meds in the IV I was at 9, which was good because I really didn't want it and I couldn't have it at that point.  My body hates being pregnant so much it just spits the babies right out. =)  After all the monitoring because they were worried she was too small, she was my biggest of 3 at 6lb 7oz.  I was able to get up and walk 30 minutes later.
We have to monitor my BP for a while, it was good enough I didn't have to be sent home on meds, which was nice, but it's still high for me.  I don't know how long it takes to get back to normal, but I've read anywhere from 2 weeks to a few months.  Hopefully sooner than later.

If something doesn't feel right, call your Dr, even if you were just there!  Things can change so fast, it was overnight for me, no risk factors, no indications of any issues...everything had been perfect until then.  I didn't even have any swelling when the weather cooled off, only when it was really hot.  Don't just chalk it up to pregnancy discomforts, it could be more.

[mikaleen]

Congratulations!  My BP is still high for me, but not terrible.  I have to take it 3 times a day and log it until my 6 wk checkup.  I talked to my regular Dr. today who used to handle OB and he said generally it should be back to baseline by 6 weeks.  He worries if it's still high  2 months post partum.

I hope you are feeling better and getting back to normal!

[Helenk38]

Omg, I got per-eclampsia right at labor too.
Thanks goodness we all make it thru it ok.
I got contractions that finally got to 5 mins apart after the whole day of long and short contractions.
Went to the hospital and was told I'm at 5cm and going to have my baby. Then they check my blood pressure and I was super high, no idea where that came from because I just went to my 40 wks check up and everything was fine. And I was offer epidural and doc strongly recommend it because otherwise we might need go the c-section route. It help lowering my blood pressure and then I stop dilating around 7cm.
So end up getting pitocin too, so much for my drug free labor. And to top it off, my epidural run out while I was at 3min apart contractions and my doc was in the middle of a c section! So I got the full bloom late active labor contractions, let's just said I was begging for the epidural. Finally got my med refill after a good 15 mins. My buautiful baby girl was born not long after. Did I mention this is my first? Lol :)
My blood pressure is still high even after they discharge me so hopefully it will get back to normal again. So funny how we are both going thru the same thing around the same time.
Congrats on your baby and here's to a speedy recovery for the both of us :)

[VaniDavila]

Sorry you developed pre-eclampsia. I know it's so horrible knowing that you have it. My mom developed it after she gave birth to my sister and she got very sick. She ended up with organ failure and she was in the hospital for about 2 weeks. Thankfully they got you under control and it was detected on time. Congrats and enjoy your bundle of joy =)