Pregnancy Drama: Preeclampsia Scare

Yesterday got a little crazy for us over here.

It actually started on Wednesday.  The whole day, every time I got out of bed and walked around for 7 minutes, my feet, legs, and knees would swell up.  It was really painful to walk on swollen feet and my knees hurt when I bent them.  It took me FOREVER to load the dishwasher.  So I spent most of the day in bed.

Then my hands started swelling up, which hurt.  They looked like sausages and I couldn't bend them.  I missed out on the Pine Wood Derby at Cub Scouts.

When I went to bed that night, the swelling hadn't gone down so I put a pillow under my feet and spent the night going from side to side trying to keep at least one hand from being painfully swollen.  I couldn't do both because I can't lay on my back.

The next morning, I was still pretty swollen and not going to lie...a little miserable.  I got a big glass of water to try and get the swelling to go down because I heard that edema can be caused be dehydration and it had been particularly warm lately.

My mom got on Skype and asked how I was doing.  I told her about the swelling and how painful it was.

She told me that that didn't sound normal.  That she had been swollen and puffy for some of her pregnancies but not to the point that she couldn't bend her knees or get her hands to not look like sausages.

She told me to call my doctor.

I said no and went to look up an article online to prove to her that everything was fine.

I found an article that told me that it sounded like preeclampsia....which was not the reassuring article that I was hoping for.  

In fact, did you know that the symptoms can come on suddenly anytime after week 20 or a pregnancy but most of them start once you pass week 37?

Did you know that you are more likely to get preeclampsia with your first child?

Did you know that most of the outward symptoms seem a lot like regulate pregnancy complaints?

In mild cases, it just causes high blood pressure that can last for a few months after pregnancy. But left untreated, it can cause the separation of the placenta from the uterus prematurely, rupturing of the liver, and stroke (very rarely does in end in death...which I TRIED to explain to Aaron later).

My mom again told me to call my doctor.  So I did....even thought this pregnancy seems like it was having too much drama for my liking.

I talked with the doctor on call since my doctor was out of town.  He said that the swelling didn't sound normal and combined with other symptoms that I was having, he wanted me to come into the clinic for a quick urine test.

I called Aaron and told him that I was just going in to the clinic to talk with them about the swelling.  I didn't want to freak him out for no reason.  Even with telling him that, he was like, "Okay, that makes up my mind.  I'm not going to help out with this field trip tomorrow (he was going on a field trip to Lagoon with some 5th graders for a Lego robotics competition).  I need to stay close to home in case something happens."

At the clinic, they took my blood pressure.  The number to stay under was 140/90.  THANK YOU WEBMD!  And I got 138/87....so....good.....only high normal but not considered "high blood pressure"....yet.   Probably from being stressed about dealing with all of this.

They took a urine sample and I sat in the lab waiting room for the results.  The lab nurse got the results and told me that she needed to talk to the doctor really fast and would be right back.

5 minutes later she came back in. 

"The doctor wants you to head over to the hospital right now."

"I'm sorry.  He wants me to do what?"

"Whatever hospital you were planning on delivering at, you should go now."

"For how long?"

"Well, they are going to monitor you for a little while and see how things are.  Depending on what they find, you might have to be induced so bring your bag."

"Right now?"

"As soon as possible."

Dazed and more irritated than scared, I headed home to get stuff in order in case I didn't make it home that night.  I called Aaron and told him what was going on.  Luckily my plan of keeping him in the dark until the end of the work day, had worked.  He was about to come home anyway.

"Aaron, I have to head over to the hospital right now to be monitored.  It might be preeclampsia."

"What is preeclampsia?"

"Remember that thing that Lady Sybil had in Downton Abbey?"

"WHAT?!?!"

"It isn't that."

"Katrina!"

"That's eclampsia but this is like the mild baby sister."

"You have that?"

"They want me to be monitored at the hospital for a little bit...but if it is preeclampsia, I might have to have the baby tonight."

He wasn't pleased.  I wasn't either...because this was not my birth plan...my natural birth was going out the window.

I headed to Labor and Delivery.  They knew that I was coming and had already gotten a room ready.  They took me into a delivery suite.

The nurse told me that someone would be coming in to talk to me about the induction procedure and the timetable for delivery in my condition.  I was a bit taken aback because I thought that it wasn't 100% confirmed yet.

I asked, "Weren't they going to monitor me first?  I don't want to be induced right now."

"Didn't the doctor tell you that we were going to induce tonight?"

"I was told that they were going to monitor me first to see if they had to."

"The protein in your urine was high.  You probably have preeclampsia and we need to induce you."

"But I thought that he said I would just be monitored to see how bad it is."

"Okay, come with me.  We'll give him a call."

THANK GOODNESS after talking with the doctor on the phone, we realized that it had been a miscommunication and he hadn't confirmed preeclampsia but wanted them to run more tests first.

They put me in the triage room to be monitored.  They hooked up sensors to my belly.  One of the baby and one for any contractions that I might have (even thought I told them that that would yield nothing).  Blood pressure cuff to keep taking my blood pressure intermittently through the whole thing.  And they took some blood samples....and left me alone in my curtained off room.

Luckily 10 minutes later, I heard my husband's voice.  And he had brought up a pillow and my bag of snacks.  I'm going to tell you this right now.  Someone told me that you want to bring your own pillows when you are in labor and I thought that that seemed like a ton of extra stuff to carry....but it is TOTALLY worth it.

After over an hour of being monitored, my blood tests came back and my liver was A-okay!  We got to leave!!!  

I have to go back in to be assessed in a couple days and they want me to keep an eye out for any more symptoms but I'm so glad that I got to go home last night and try and wait till this baby comes on his own.

But I will say this.  Preeclampsia is not a joke.  Even if you don't have it, if you think you have it, GET TESTED.  I'm so grateful that I have a mom and husband who worry about me and make sure that I make good decisions for my body.