Unless you have been through this yourself, you may not understand what is involved with pre-eclampsia. Most assume it is just about the blood pressure being too high, but there is much more involved.
I was diagnosed about two weeks (at 28 weeks) ago with it. I was considered mild at the time; however, it can change pretty quickly.
When you have two of the following, you can be diagnosed with mild pre-eclampsia:
- High blood pressure
- High amounts of protein in urine
- Water retention - more than is normal for pregnancy
It crosses over into severe pre-eclampsia when you have the following:
- The above symptoms
- Debilitating headaches that won't go away with Tylenol
- Blurred vision/spots in vision/light sensitivity with vision
- Pain in upper right abdomen
- Extreme fatique
- Shortness of breath
- Nausea/Vomiting
And this can quickly turn into eclampsia and/or HELLP syndrome. Eclampsia can turn into seizures. HELLP syndrome results in elevated liver enzymes and low platelet count.
Without treating it at the right time, this can lead to the breakdown of the placenta which then leads to oxygen and nutrient deficiency for the baby. And all of these can lead to the death of the mother and the baby. And the only real way to treat is delivering the baby and the placenta. Once that happens, my blood pressure, etc. should hopefully return back to normal within a week to six weeks. But if you have pre-eclampsia too early in pregnancy, hence the scary part about delivering a baby too early. Because now you have to deal with the concerns of delivering a very preemie baby.
So it's not a simple disease. It's pretty dang serious, and one of the leading causes of death during pregnancy.
So for me - living with it is almost a strategy. I am trying to keep my blood pressure down to avoid seizures and worse. But if that doesn't work, I will need to be at the hospital for round-the-clock care to ensure that me and Alexandria are okay. And if things were to go south, we have literally minutes to be saved but can be saved. If I have a seizure or something, being at home is not the best.
So we have decided that this Thursday at my OB appointment, if my BP isn't showing signs of improving, it will mean I need to suck it up and handle that management at the hospital until the baby is needing to be delivered. I currently have two appointments scheduled during the week - one to see the baby during an ultrasound and doppler to ensure there is enough fluid, the baby is still growing, etc. And then I have labs, blood pressure checks, etc with my OB to ensure that my body is doing okay.
Likely, at 34 weeks (March 7th), they will not want me to go past that point in the pregnancy to ensure that the baby and I are okay. The positives will likely outweigh the risk of continuing past 34 weeks. And at 34 weeks, preemie babies go on to do really great! Plus, from what I heard, girls do better as preemies than boys. All the doctors and nurses have told me that this is a common fact with preemie facts. They aren't sure why girls do better, but they do.
If we can't get that BP under control...well, things can change pretty fast! So that's why the urgency. That's why we sometimes are confused as to what to do.
And then at the same time, we believe God will give us guidance to make the right decisions.
So I hope that helps those who may not understand what is involved with pre-eclampsia. And we thank you for the prayers and support along the way.
