Roslyn's story

My story is this.

My doctor who is suppose to be the best tested me for toxaemia at 35 weeks because I gained a lot of weight and was puffy. The test showed I had a little protein in my urine, but other than that she said I did not have toxaemia. She was worried about the size of my son. SO I did 3hour glucose test and 24hour urine. That came back normal. She said I was fine.

My BP throughout the entire pregnancy was around 130/85 she said that BP is expected to increase during pregnancy. Before pregnancy my BP was normal, never had any problems. I had none of the other symptoms of toxaemia; vision, headaches. I was just puffy and she told me to lie down as often as I could. Well at 361/2 -37weeks I woke up one morning and looked like I had been in a prize fight. My eyes were nearly swollen shut and my feet and ankles looked like I had elephantiasis. I called the doctor on call at the hospital because my doctor never seemed available. He asked me if I had a headache and if my vision was blurred or I saw spots. I did not, only swollen.

He told me to lie down and see if the swelling goes down. Needless to say I only waited 30minutes to an hour and the swelling never went down. I began to worry, so I told my husband to put my bags in the car and lets go to the hospital. When I got there they took my BP, which was 189/110. They said I had toxaemia and had to deliver immediately to bring the BP down. I had the Mag drip and they induced labour. My husband called our families. I had an epidural, which was extremely painful because of all the swelling. The epidural did not work, because the pelvic checks to see how far I was dilated hurt like hell and the catheter hurt like hell.

They finally gave me Demerol which work wonders. I gave birth to my son who was 7lbs4oz @ 37 weeks. I stayed in the hospital for a week because my BP did not go down and the tried various medications to get it stable before they released me to go home.

I am currently taking norvasc to control my BP. They did a liver study while I was in the hospital and my liver enzymes were high and RBC count low. I retook the blood test after 2weeks from being released from the hospital. The RBC's back up and liver enzymes went down. I was angry with my doctor who I never saw the entire time during delivery nor my stay in the hospital. My doctor finally came and saw me after I called her office several times in anger because no one would or could answer my questions. upon release my questions still were not completely answered therefor I sought information from the internet. I still have a lot of questions.

Roslyn