r/preeclampsia

Hi all, i’m currently 27+6 with my first pregnancy. A few days ago I was told to go to L&D triage where they treated me for a blood pressure of 158/99. My labs were clean, but there’s a lot of discussion about inducing me around 37 weeks. I’m worried about my current job, as it is high stress. I’m wondering if any one has experience and when people stopped working in situations like these. I unfortunately work in a place that’s not very welcoming of my pregnancy and highly unlikely to be kind about accommodations (obviously it is illegal to not provide them, but it adds to the stress when they have an attitude about it). My sister and mom both had preeclampsia with their pregnancies and I was diagnosed with gestational HTN way early - around 13 weeks. Any advice on how others handled this would be great.

At 17 weeks pregnant I was told that I had GD the reason why they tested was because I was at the earliest stage of pre-diabetes. Typically it’s only my fasting numbers that have been high. I am also being monitored for preeclampsia due to my age and high blood pressure in my history.

20 weeks I had to get an rescue cerclage. The goal is for me to try to get to 24 weeks at the earliest. Praying that my cerclage will hold on until that point.

Wondering how GD affects a very preemie baby. I know the typical is you have a big baby and potentially a baby who will have diabetes in their future. Are the risks the same for those who had premium babies and GD?

The last week has been an absolute whirlwind. Back in December we got pregnant with my first (her second) child. I'm M37, she's F34.

In her previous pregnancy she developed pre eclampsia and her daughter (my wonderful little 7 year old Step Daughter) was born at 34 weeks, so we knew it was a possibility.

The pregnancy started normally, she was diligent, took the medication she needed, was cautious with her diet and exercise and everything was looking great.

Then about 3 weeks ago, her blood pressure started spiking so they put her on medication. It started with labetalol and then nifidipine, with a few dose changes over time and for a while that was manageable.

Our baby was supposed to be due in the first week of September. My wife has been diligent in tracking her blood pressure at home and been great with her meds but that didn't matter.

Monday night after her medication I asked her to check her BP. 170 over 110, we checked it three times, it did not come down.

I took her into the hospital and came home to look after my step daughter. The next day I spent all day with her in hospital and the doctors came round and told us that her protein levels and BP did not look good, expect the baby early

Wednesday morning at 4am I get a call, I have to come in. I get there and they are prepping her for surgery.

I adorn the scrubs and follow her into the theatre, I sit with her as they poke her spine and pull the baby out, it's a god awful experience for her.

I am pulled over to watch as they resus my tiny little boy in the next room and glance across and my wife as they suture her up.

He was born at 30 weeks and weighed 1005g.

I follow a team of amazing healthcare professionals in the NICU as they get my little boy into an incubator and start running his lines and getting him setup.

I see when he goes into cardiac arrest on the first day and they jump in to save him

He's now been out over 48 hours and this morning they moved him from intubation to a CPAP machine and he's breathing on his own. He opened his eyes earlier and he's fidgeting a lot.

I want to take a moment to celebrate and thank all of the Sisters, neonatal doctors and every single member of the NHS involved not only with saving my baby boy but with everyone who works tirelessly and thanklessly to give preemie kids a good chance at life.

It's a long road ahead but my little one is doing great. My wife is also up and walking but not surprised there, she loves a challenge and she's definitely the stronger one in this relationship.

Hi all, so I had my 2nd experience with postpartum preeclampsia with severe features in April (happened with my first and second pregnancy). I gave birth April 8th, then developed postpartum preeclampsia. I was on Procardia for about 5 weeks, and then my blood pressure appeared to normalize off my meds and I stopped checking my blood pressure.

I went to urgent care for a rash today, and much to my surprise, my BP was 150/100. I was shocked. Normally my blood pressure is borderline low. Has anyone else had their blood pressure go back to normal and then jump right back up again?

This is so devastating for me. I thought I was past this.

I had pre-e that developed into HELLP in my first pregnancy at 37w5d. I’m pregnant again and I’m in baby aspirin and taking BPs at home every day. I’m 23.5 weeks now. My average has always been on the low side, never creeping up.

I felt off last night and early this morning decided to take my BP and it had spiked to 127/105 and then 140/100 a few minutes later. Talked to my OB and we both agreed triage. All labs were completely normal and my BPs were around 120/80 in the unit. This is still high for me.

Has anyone else had a BP spike out of nowhere but normal labs? They sent me home and were concerned but want me to keep monitoring at home.

I’m clearly traumatized from my first birth (I’m in therapy) but something caused this significant spike, and it’s not just anxiety. Poor sleep? The heat wave? Indigestion? I’m so lost and feel like a ticking time bomb.

Hi all, Im gunna be honest and say I havent been eating the mostly healthiest foods. But Im not ravenous either. I started off at 165 lbs 5ft6. I lost 25lbs before my pregnancy. But today im at 184.8 lbs and my last weigh in was 178.8 lbs about 12 days ago. I've been having headaches last few days and more nausea than I ever had in my 1st trimester. But my blood pressure is normal past few days. Under 125 systolic usually. Im getting a preclampsia screening on Monday. Not sure if they can find anything if my bp is normal. And I'm debating if I should lose money on not going to a concert in the states in a few weeks. Tickets are nonrefundable but I didnt purchase my flights yet. Any advice? Or experience with preeclampsia? Thank you ♡

Hello! Looking for info. I'm 9w3d in my first pregnancy with pre-existing Stage 1 hypertension for several years. It was normalized on olmesartan, which is not pregnancy safe. I switched to nifedipine 60mg ER and while it keeps my systolic pressure to 115-125, my diastolic before and during the first trimester has been 85-95, which is "call your doc" territory now that I’m pregnant. I did a 2nd visit to cardiology and they added labetalol 100mg 2x/day and I'm 12 days into a <2,300mg sodium diet now (from easily 5,000), which again puts my sys at 110-125 and keeps my diastolic around 85-90 - still too close.

The cardiologist put the fear of God into me - said my risk of preeclampsia is now a coin flip, "it's good I have a second embryo", prepare for a NICU baby, and I'm maxed out on the meds I can take right now. I've been hoping that the diet changes will let me get off one of these two drugs in the next 4 weeks so I have some room to grow into higher blood pressure, but I'm not sure it's going to be possible based on how it's working so far. My next cardiology follow-up is at 25 weeks, which is really long to wait.

One other thing - I'm 210lbs at 5'4, over 45, IVF, and this is a first pregnancy. Working to get to first OB appt in two weeks, and already in contact with MFM too (did a consult pre-FET).

One of my closest friends AND a cousin both had HELLP so I'm familiar with how risky this all can be.

A few questions:

- is this a reason for medical termination if I can't get this under control in the next 4-6 weeks, given all my risk factors? I'm not so willing to trade my life for a child or to be right at 90 for the next 6 months. I also have personal reasons why a very early NICU baby would be very difficult for me to manage (another family member I care for has significant challenges).

- if I do get my diastolic lower in the next couple weeks, say like to 80 generally, is the damage to the placenta etc already done so I'm still at the same risk?

- Is there a pre-eclampsia expert out there I could ask these things to? This may be my only shot, given my age.

Thanks so much for your thoughts.

I am having the hardest time with my diagnoses. I had fine BP all pregnancy then one day after discharge and an emergency c section I had a headache and stomach ache so I checked my BP it was 168/108 was rushed to emergency room and spent 3 days in the hospital on mag for 24 hours and then gave me 30mg of nifedipine and the doctor said I was responding well to the meds but everytime I measure my BP I’m still in the 130-140s over 90s. I asked to add another medication for my anxiety so they added a beta blocker twice a day but am still seeing high BP. Can anyone please help me with my anxiety? I got off all my meds for anxiety and now think I need to get back on them

Hello! I just recently gave birth to my baby by c-section following a diagnosis of HELLP syndrome. I had symptoms for a few weeks prior to them really worsening at the end of the pregnancy but didn’t recognize it because I was already severely ill with a virus and couldn’t differentiate what was happening to me. Baby was unaffected but it took me about a week in the hospital to recover afterward as I was stuck with high blood pressure and liver enzymes and some pretty bad anemia on top of the c-section. Nurses and doctors were not outright discouraging me from getting pregnant again ever, but the subliminal messaging was pretty clear and they all warned me it could be really dangerous to get pregnant again possibly for both me and baby, especially if it developed earlier on in the pregnancy.

However, I really want a second within the next few years. I’m just worried I could develop HELLP again. I’ve seen treatment is to take aspirin but I am contraindicated for NSAIDs… Did anyone NOT get it for their 2nd baby? If you did, what did you do? Just looking for general experiences!

Anyone got diagnosed with pre eclampsia after 37 weeks in their first pregnancy? How did the second and subsequent ones go?

Did it come around the same time?

Was it earlier or later?

Or did you have an uneventful pre-eclampisa free pregnancy?

I am 13 months postpartum from an emergency C-section due to preeclampsia and have a cardiologist appointment on Thursday. Going because I’m still having some BP problems. I’m so scared they’re going to tell I’m in heart failure or something!

Hi everyone,

I just took a pregnancy test today and found out I am pregnant. I have a 19 month old and ended up with severe preeclampsia and an emergency c section with him. I stayed a week in the hospital after birth because my liver numbers went haywire. The whole experience was extremely traumatic and left me with a lot of anxiety.

I feel I’m partially mentally healed (at least enough to want to do it again) but I don’t feel 100% mentally healed or over it. I’ve reached out to a therapist to try to get time to talk through it but realize it may take some time to actually get that on the books.

In the meantime since I’m feeling shell shocked today and becoming anxious, I’d love to hear words of wisdom from those who have gotten pregnancy after the first pregnancy involving preeclampsia.

I’d love to hear any happy stories, or even frameworks for thinking about your second pregnancy that helped you, or just anything you think would be helpful for me to focus on to stay calm.

Thank you!

The finale includes a patient with preeclampsia and possibly HELLP (I haven’t watched it).

Question for those who did watch it — do you think it resurfaced your own trauma in a way that allowed you to heal at all? Or is watching it just retriggering without benefit?

I’m in a hospital for other more benign reasons and it’s bringing up how much emotion and anxiety and residual fear I have about being in a hospital. Wondering what is the best way to work through it. Have others found effective ways to heal?

Would appreciate any input or clarification, as I feel like my OB only glossed over this.

At last check-up (28w), OB said I had "asymptomatic preeclampsia" based on my UPCR result taken at 24w. My UPCR is 0.36, urine protein is 68.00 mg/L (normal), and creatinine is 1.62 mmo/L (low). From my research, my understanding is UPCR is artificially elevated due to low creatinine, which is possibly due to over-hydration (which very much applies to me).

Besides this, the only other concern is that my BP raises during consultation, but not even to significantly high levels (e.g., 120/90, 130/80). I've just been a nervous pregnant woman so consultations make me anxious, but BP readings at home are all consistently low. Also no other symptoms present that could be indicative of pre-e. Please help me understand!

TW: 20 week pregnancy loss

Husband and I had an anatomy scan at 20 weeks yesterday and everything was fine, however, we were told to go to the level 3 hospital. And just like that, we were told the cervix was short and the baby wouldn’t make it so we needed to make quick decisions on my health and the baby. Background, we have been trying for years to have a baby and we are in our late 30’s. This was our first pregnancy. It was fine- labs were fine, I was fine, no sudden symptoms. And this happens. Within less than 24 hours, I had to get induced and deliver and go to the OR to remove the placenta.

We are so lucky that our nurse is also specialized in infant loss and grief and that’s helped and validated us. She brought us a book and resources. I know we need to heal through time and we plan on that but I so traumatized over what happened last night. I’m close to my 40’s and just scared. I know baby is in a better place and even with the worst case scenario of all this, we were grateful to have everything just work out bc we know it could’ve been worse. It’s just so hard.

I am missing my little girl so much and I hope she knows how much we love her and didn’t want for this to happen. My husband got a chance to see her after and said she was absolutely perfect. I miss not having my belly and her not being there but also there’s comfort knowing shes with God and our loved ones. Bc it was my first time pregnant I sometimes wondered if i took everything for granted? My husband and i love her so much and remembering always talking to her and already doing so many family things. I wonder if it’s bc we didn’t share that she was an ivf baby (we wanted to keep it private). Im also learning that this is unfortunately common.

Hi Mom who had pre-eclampsia or gestational hypertension can you please share your experience how to lowest your BP after labour? Or it just went away by itself? TIA

I am 25 weeks pregnant. Whenever I visit my gynecologist’s office, my blood pressure is usually around 140/90. I feel very anxious and scared during the appointment. After about 15 minutes, it usually drops to around 130/80.
At home, my blood pressure is consistently normal, usually around 125/75 or 123/78.
My doctor wants me to wear a 24-hour blood pressure monitor. She also prescribed nifedipine, but it makes me feel very sick and gives me headaches.
I also had a preeclampsia screening test, and the results were normal.
Does anyone have any thoughts or similar experiences?

I’m week 34+4 days pregnant and I started noticing that my platelets were dropping. On 8th June it was 90k then 18th June it became 70k and then by 21st June it became 77k. I’m being tested for so many test like H pylori and smear test all which came out good. I got my liver enzyme checked too in which my AST was 34 but ALT was 67 so honestly I’m really scared that am I heading towards preclampsia. My Bp today morning came as 135/92 then evening as 145/96 but I really wanted my baby to come by atleast after 36 weeks. Anyone going through like this or went with something like that. Can you guide
I have gyanec appointment tomo and maybe she will tell for urine test to check for protein in urine. I just hope it’s all good.

For back story my wife is 34+5 weeks pregnant with her first. We went to our 20 week ultrasound, everything looked great, baby sitting in the 77th percentile, things were routine. We went for another ultrasound at 32 weeks and the baby had dropped to the 49th percentile, so significant, but not to the extent anyone was super worried. Fast forward to our OGBYN appointment the following week (33weeks) and my wife had a high (ish) blood pressure reading, and the doctor had decided to send us to another ultrasound appointment at 34 weeks (it will be happening tomorrow). At this appointment our OB also decided that it would be a good idea to monitor blood pressures at home. The subsequent days to follow between our 33+6 days check up with the OB to now at 34+5 weeks we have been to the labour and delivery unit 2 times, both for high blood pressure and decreased fetal movements. My wife’s blood pressure was consistently reading over 140/90 up into 150/100s. She was started on labetalol 100mg t.i.d and then at the second trip to labour and delivery upped to 200mg t.i.d. On that first trip to labour and delivery she was officially diagnosed with preeclampsia. She is already having urate come back high in blood work, along with a protein/creatinine ratio in the 90s and fetal growth factor in blood work was at 26. My question is, is this how fast this always progresses?! The 200mg t.i.d seems to be holding her blood pressure decently, and she isn’t having other symptoms of preeclampsia yet.. I’m just trying not to sit over here stressed 24/7 about her and the baby. Love them both too much to see anything happen to either. Looking for any and all experiences with preeclampsia.

Some background on me: I had my first child 6 years ago, which ended at 31 weeks because of sudden on set preeclampsia with severe features including peripartum cardiomyopathy. Thankfully she’s healthy now and thriving!

Moving forward to today, I’m pregnant with our second and was doing extremely well until about a month ago. My heart is completely fine but my blood pressure and labs are all trending towards preeclampsia again. I’ve been in and out of triage for BP and swelling and was admitted last week with BP so high they gave me steroid shots for baby’s lungs. I’m now 34+4 still having increased labs just barely to the threshold and increasing BP numbers. My team added two new meds over the last two weeks, one 3 times a day and the other twice daily on top of what I’ve already been on…so 3 medications total.

I feel like absolute garbage. I feel like I did when I had preeclampsia with my first and I am continuing to be dismissed despite my medical history. The new medications cause major headaches which just adds to everything and honestly makes me anxious because I can’t tell if it’s the medication or preeclampsia causing the headaches. I feel so scared, sad and defeated. At what point is it too much? At what point does my health come into play? I’ve been told over and over to just hang on till 37 weeks for the baby and I agree, I’d love to, but should it be at my detriment? I know the only way I’ll get better is to deliver…shouldn’t the end goal be a healthy mom and baby?