Leslie s story

I was pregnant with my first son, Andrew and was about 34 weeks along when my entire body blew up like a balloon from edema. I thought that it was just swelling since it was summertime and very warm. My doctor wasn't too concerned until my blood pressure began to shoot up.

At this time, I was still clueless. I had no idea what pre-eclampsia was. I was checked every other day for blood pressure until about the 36th week when some protein showed up in my urine. My doctor immediately sent me to the hospital to be induced. He said that I couldn't even wait for my husband to get home from work, or even make a 5 minute trip home to get my bag. I was very, very upset, still with no idea exactly what was happening to me.

Luckily, the baby and myself came through just fine after 6 hours of labor. My blood pressure dropped after delivery. My son was in neonatal intensive care for a week with low blood sugar and jaundice, plus a possible infection.

My next daughter, Meghan, had a very uneventful pregnancy. I had a lot of false labor with her, but that was about it.

With my pregnancy with my daughter Amanda, I again developed all the symptoms of pre-eclampsia, but this time I had done a lot of reading on the subject, and I was on the look-out for the symptoms. Once again at 34 weeks I gained 5 pounds in a week. My body began swelling up.

One week later my blood pressure shot up. I was monitoring it myself because I just knew with the swelling up I was on the same path as before. As soon as my pressure went up I called my OB. They didn't believe me. I insisted on having it taken at the doctor's office. Sure enough it was up from my early pregnancy reading of 90/50 to 130/80.

The doctor told me it was nothing. That pre-eclampsia rarely occurs after a first pregnancy. I was told to take it easy and rest often to bring down the blood pressure. He saw me again the following week, and my pressure was up to 140/90. I was scared, and I had been having some upper abdominal pains and major, major headaches. When I told him this, he said it was stress from being pregnant and having two young children at home. He gave me a prescription for Percocet for the pain.

This was Thursday, I had another appt. on Monday, and I figured I'd wait it out until then, still scared to death for both me and my baby. When Monday came I again did my own b.p. screening, still around 140/90, but the nurse at the office came up with 110/60... she said it was going down. I asked her to retake it, I thought she may have made a mistake. She refused. My doctor then said that everything was fine, my b.p. went down... must have been because of the headaches... yeah, right.

I had expected to be induced. I was a little over 37 weeks. I was very worried, so I, very ambivalently, took matters into my own hands. When I got home I drank some castor oil and orange juice. In about an hour I had terrible diarrhea, then I decided to take a bath. This was around 7:00 pm. Very light contractions started while I was in the tub. They then subsided. I finally went to bed at 10:00 thinking that it hadn't worked, but at 10:15 my water broke!

We got to the hospital at 11:30. The nurse took my blood pressure and it was 150/100! She looked at my swollen ankles and face and hands, and asked, "You're pre-eclamptic aren't you?" I told her that my doctor said I'm not, but I say I am. She agreed with me. It was listed on my chart. Amanda was born at 1:35 am. She had all the same problems as my son, low blood sugar, jaundice, and she also needed a one week hospital stay.

What I've found interesting is how similar Andrew and Amanda are in many ways, and how different Meghan is from them both. Also I'm blood type O+ and so is Meghan, Andrew and Amanda are type A. I wonder sometimes if this has anything to do with developing pre-eclampsia.

I am now pregnant with baby #4. I'm 15 weeks along and am still trying to learn more about pre-eclampsia. I switched OBs and am hoping my new one will listen to me more. Mommies know when their babies are in trouble. The doctors should listen.

Leslie