Pre-eclampsia

December 4th, 2006

So.. some new developments for anyone we didn’t contact by phone. Last week I went back and had by blood pressure checked again and urine screened for protein with a more sensitive test. It turns out I do have pre-eclampsia. Luckily it is only mild right now. Thursday morning, the nurse I see at student health called and said I should go to labor and delivery to get checked out because I did have some protein in my urine (the second factor to get you diagnosed with preclampsia). I’d just gotten to the lab, so I logged off my computer and walked over. I called Corey along the way, and let him know I was going but that he didn’t need to come with me since he’d already missed work enough that week. I got to labor and devilvery (my building is right behind UNC hospitals) and checked in and they made me don a stylish hospital gown and took blood and urine. I got hooked up to a blood pressure cuff that would take my BP every 15 minutes, and it was a little high ~145/95 when I first got there. Then a first year resident came in and told me I had pre-eclampsia and that they were going to admit me for a day or two. While she was talking to me, my BP was measured again, and it had gone up slightly to ~155/102 (it was kind of an unfair reading!). I called corey and told him what was going on, and he headed over to meet me. They came in and did an ultrasound to check and make sure the little guy is okay, checking blood flood through the umblical cord. Then they said they were giving me some steroids to mature the lungs in case of a preterm delivery, and I got a shot in the butt, to be followed by a second one 24hrs later. After a while, they wheeled me up to a room on the maternity floor (all the while with me in a gown, cringing that I might run into someone I know). Ever since then, I’ve been in bed sitting here in the hospital since Thursday. My BP was a little high the first day ang night, but it went down at night and seemed to get better with bedrest, which is the idea. So now I’m on strict bedrest for the rest of the pregnancy, which hopefully will last until 37 weeks.




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