Sunday, January 15, 2012
 |
| Kevin, born early due to pre-e. |
I posted before about my son’s early arrival and about how
my pregnancy suddenly turned high risk but what caused these problems? What is preeclampsia? Who does it strike and what are the chances
of recurrence?
According to the National Instituteof Health “Preeclampsia is when a pregnant woman develops high blood
pressure and protein in the urine after the 20th week (late 2nd or 3rd
trimester) of pregnancy….The exact cause of preeclampsia is unknown. Possible
causes include: Autoimmune Disorders,
Blood vessel problems, your diet, and your genes”.
So that definition isn’t too helpful.
Also according to the NIH site “Risk factors include: First pregnancy [check!], Multiple pregnancy
(twins or more), obesity, Being older than age 35 [check!], and History of
diabetes, high blood pressure, or kidney disease.”
When I started my pregnancy I was at a healthy weight with
no personal history of diabetes, high blood pressure or kidney disease although
I have a strong family history of high blood pressure. From the moment I conceived I was at the
doctor’s office at least once a month – much more frequently in the beginning
when I was followed by my Reproductive Endocrynologist until I was 12 weeks
pregnant. In addition to seeing my OB
monthly, I was also seen a couple times by Maternal and Fetal Medicine – a high
risk OB. So I was really getting the
best care a woman can get while she is pregnant and yet I still got sick and
had a very scary experience.
At each monthly OB appointment my blood pressure was taken
and my urine was checked for protein.
This is standard procedure for any pregnancy and for me; nothing rang an
alarm bell until I hit 23 weeks. At 23
weeks, 3 days I had a monthly OB appointment at which my blood pressure was
161/85. Blood pressure in excess of
140/90 is a sign of preeclampsia. I
monitored my blood pressure at home for the next two days and finally called
the doctor’s office when my pressure read 175/90. The nurse checked the results of my urine
test and immediately sent me to Maternity Triage at the hospital.
For the next two weeks I flirted with preeclampsia, taking
my blood pressure multiple times a day and calling my doctor to tweak my
medication. Finally at 25 weeks, 3 days
I was admitted to the High Risk unit, placed on magnesium sulfate (to prevent
seizures) and monitored 24/7 for the next week.
I was also given a steroid injection to speed up development of my son’s
lungs. A week later my body stopped
cooperating – my blood pressure continued to rise and no amount of medication
could get it back down, my liver enzyme count was rising and my platelet count
was falling. I was scheduled for a
C-section at noon.
Since my son was born I am sometimes asked why he came so
early and what I did to cause the preeclampsia.
While there are many suspected culprits in the cause of preeclampsia
very little is actually known. Could I
have exercised more? Yes but my RE told
me not to exercise because we had stimulated my ovaries and one ovary was
wobbly (it actually caused me a sharp pain with anything more than a moderate
walk). Could I have eaten better? Sure but I wasn’t eating much at all so
really, anything I found appealing I ate – one week that was caprese salad for
lunch and dinner daily. Really I was a
normal pregnant woman until the day I wasn’t.
The typical treatment for preeclampsia is bed rest, drinking
lots of water, taking blood pressure medication and reducing salt. Those buy time – in my case the treatments
bought me three weeks. That doesn’t
sound like much but it was absolutely life or death for my son. According to a recent preemie study in Sweden
among babies born alive at 23 weeks, 53% survived; at 24 weeks, 67% survived;
at 25 weeks, 82% survived; at 26 weeks, 85% survived. So you can see that every day I was able to
stay pregnant brought us closer to a better outcome.
Currently there is only one cure for preeclampsia – the
delivery of the baby. Even after
delivery there is a continued risk of preeclampsia and stroke for up to six
weeks. Research to identify the cause and develop an
effective treatment for preeclampsia is ongoing (while this headline looks
promising it’ll probably be years before this bears any fruit). ThePreeclampsia Foundation is a good source for further information.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
For Part 1 of this series, click here HOW IS GER DIAGNOSED? If your infant or child has any of the above symptoms and you are co...
-
I am a NICU mom, a twin mom, and an AMA mom. (that last one is Advanced Maternal age). I was 39 when I was blessed with my twin pr... -
...but we wish it did! All of us have heard comments like, "Well, s/he's home now - isn't it great to have life back to normal?...
-
Here are some preemie mom thoughts – if you have something to add please leave it in the comments. NICU nurses often lurk on preemie pages t... -
Picture from http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/pda/ A Patent Ductus Arteriosus or other wise known as a P...
Preemie Mom Blogs
-
This feed has moved and will be deleted soon. Please update your subscription now.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Subscribe To
Posts
Comments
0 comments:
Post a Comment