Pre-eclampsia – it happened to me

For living proof of how pre-eclampsia affects mums and
their babies, Babyworld members share their traumatic experiences.

“I
limped through pregnancy with blurred vision, severe swelling and flashing
lights”

Throughout
my pregnancy I waited to bloom… all I got instead was morning, afternoon
and all blooming night sickness for almost the entire time! However the
worst was yet to come. After a kidney infection at 23 weeks and then hospitalisation
for dreadful sickness on Christmas day at 29 weeks I was diagnosed with
pre-eclampsia. It was well managed and I spent pretty much the rest of
my pregnancy in hospital and taking ever increasing amounts of drugs to
control the condition. I became a regular fixture in the antenatal ward
and was able to help other women who were brought in with the same condition.
I knew how it felt to be told you couldn’t go home and had to start popping
tablets 24 hours a day when you’d even avoided paracetamol!

Olly was seconds away from being delivered by emergency c-section at
34 weeks. I was gowned up and catheterised, but we were given a lucky
reprieve as my BP dropped after being give a third drug. Thank goodness
because even though we’d been told this might happen, we were not ready
to give birth – my husband had just got a sickness bug that morning! I
limped through the rest of the pregnancy with severe swelling, blurred
vision and flashing lights oh, (lest I forget!) and still being sick until
Olly was finally delivered by emergency c- section at 38 weeks. He was
5lb 12oz and very healthy.

I was in hospital for 8 days after and begged to go home, despite still
having very high blood pressure. The midwife visited every day for about
10 days. After about 6 weeks I knew that I was getting back to normal
as I started to get very light headed. I weaned myself off the drugs over
the following 6 weeks. It took a while for me to feel ok after the pregnancy
and it’s been a battle to get fit again for my job as a fire fighter.

The pregnancy was awful and consequently has completely put me off having
any more. I know people say “you’ll get over it” and “it won’t be as bad
second time around”, but I’m not sure that I want to do it again. So much
so, I’ve given away most of the baby things I’ve finished with! I had
to dig deep to find a patience and endurance that I didn’t know I possessed
to get through and even though it was hard, it was definitely worth it.

The flip side to this is that other people have had a much worse time
than me, many with dire consequences. I’m just so grateful that I was
aware of pre-eclampsia (thanks to the leaflet I found in my pregnancy
pack) and that I realised I met several of the pre-conditions that could
make me susceptible to it. My condition was diagnosed early and extremely
well managed by the excellent antenatal team at my local hospital. The
value of the work that charities like SPARKS do is immeasurable and without
them my story might have been very different. So, we should support them
in their fund raising efforts, that’s why I intend to organise a charity
car wash at the fire station in June!
Roo Douglas mum to Olly 11 months

“Physically,
I felt fine”

“I suffered from pre-eclampsia in my first pregnancy. I spent the last
week of my pregnancy in hospital, not knowing what was going on, and was
then induced on my due date. Physically, I felt fine: well, as fine as
a woman feels at 40 weeks pregnant! But obviously they had to keep a close
eye on the situation.

“My labour was awful though and they waited until I was in the delivery
room to tell me that there was a high chance I would need a C-section.
I was hooked up to a blood pressure monitor for the whole time and had
the foetal monitor clipped onto my baby’s scalp so I couldn’t move or
change positions. All in all, it was quite a traumatic experience for
me and my husband but we had a healthy boy at the end of it all!

“My second pregnancy passed without any problems although they did keep
a close eye on me towards the end.

“I am now 37 weeks pregnant with my third child and again have high
blood pressure and protein in my urine. I am typing this from my bed as
I have been told to rest, etc, and my midwife s visiting me daily to check
on me. They have warned me to be ready to go to hospital at short notice
but, fingers crossed, perhaps this time won’t be as bad as the first!”

 Jennie, 24, mum to Caleb Jack (nearly 4), Codey Alexander (12
months) and Cooper Marc (12 days!), from Aberdeen

“Pre-eclampsia
runs in my family”

“My first daughter was born in March 2001. From my very first antenatal
appointment, I made the nurse aware that pre-eclampsia ran in the family
(my gran had it with her first born and my cousin lost a baby because
of it).

“Around eight weeks prior to my daughter’s birth it was noted that there
was protein in my samples and I had extreme swelling starting at my ankles,
which, as the days passed, failed to reduce, ending up with me putting
on four stone in weight. I had to go to hospital a month before the birth
with a severe headache but was given co-codamol and sent home.

“On 29 March, I attended my antenatal appointment and was told that they
were very worried about me and they were sending me to the day unit at
the maternity hospital. On arrival there, I had a load of tests done,
a scan, bloods taken, blood pressure, etc, and at the end of the working
day, I was taken to the labour ward as they were going to induce me.

“Later that evening, I was induced and moved to the delivery suite.
An anaesthetist advised that an epidural would reduce my blood pressure
and I agreed as long as my baby would be OK. Several hours later my blood
pressure was much higher and, shortly afterwards, it was decided that
the best available option was for me to have an emergency section. At
6.30am, on 30 March, my daughter was born.

“Afterwards, I was in a high dependency unit before being transferred
to the normal maternity ward, where I was kept for another five days as
my blood pressure was still high. I was prescribed blood-pressure tablets
and finished them a few weeks later.

“My daughter is now almost five and shows no ill effects from her fraught
birth. I, however, still struggle with my weight but as long as my baby
is healthy then I’m sure I can survive!”
Susan, 27, mum to Beth (5), from Glasgow

“I
was upset that they hadn’t diagnosed it the first time”

“I woke up at 28 weeks pregnant with very swollen hands and my wedding
ring wedged onto my finger. I tried everything to get it off (butter,
oil and cold water) but, in the end, my dad and husband took me to A&E.
After several attempts of them trying to prise it off the doctor had to
cut it off before checking my blood pressure. It was a bit high and he
found traces of protein in my urine so I was told to go to Worcester hospital.

“When I got there, Ii was put on the foetal heart monitor for about two
hours then given an internal swab. After being there for five hours, we
were told I had thrush, which could have caused the protein but I was
told to stay in overnight. It was the longest night of my life as they
were constantly taking my blood pressure, which always slightly high.
A consultant checked me over and, when pressing on my legs to check for
fluid, he told me I just had fat legs! What a compliment! I was allowed
home after one night and I thought that was the end of it.

“At nearly 30 weeks, my head started hurting and my ankles had trebled
in size. My mum took me to the doctor’s for an emergency appointment,
although I thought she was overreacting. The doctor took my blood pressure
five or six times and told me my blood pressure was high and asked for
a urine sample. This showed I had a really high amount of protein in my
urine so she called an ambulance to take me to Worcester hospital.

“All the way there, I kept telling the paramedics that I was wasting
their time because I was fine but, after seeing a consultant, I was told
they might have to deliver the baby the next day. My husband started panicking
but at 7pm he and my family went home and I settled down to try to watch
Corrie. Just as it was getting good the midwife turned it off because
my blood pressure was getting too high!

“At 11pm, the consultant was called back in because my blood pressure
was getting higher and there were large amounts of protein in my urine
(they had fitted a catheter earlier so they could keep testing it). They
called my husband and parents to come back in because I would have to
have my baby that night. I felt like it wasn’t happening to me so I just
went along with what was going on.

“When I was wheeled into the theatre for my spinal block they were playing
the song The First Cut is the Deepest, which made me laugh but they quickly
changed the CD and I had to listen to the Beautiful South! At 1.03am my
little boy was born 10 weeks early and making guinea pig noises! I was
surprised because I had been told he wouldn’t be breathing and that I
wouldn’t see him. I got to see him for a couple of seconds before he was
taken away.

“Later, I still couldn’t believe what had happened. I was only told after
the birth that I had pre-eclampsia and, while it was good to have a name
for it, I was upset that it was only diagnosed then and not the first
time I was in hospital. I was eventually allowed to see my son at 6pm
the next day. I didn’t really feel like he was mine: it still felt like
I was pregnant because it all happened so fast He was only 3lbs and tiny
with dark hair.

“I wanted to breastfeed but because he was premature he didn’t have
the sucking reflex so I had to express every four hours. I felt like a
cow: if I wasn’t visiting him I was hooked up to a breast pump. Three
weeks later, I was sent home because they needed the room I was in and,
during that time, my milk dried up. I was very upset about it and felt
like I was letting him down again (I blamed myself for his early delivery).

“At five weeks he was allowed home. He is now 11 months and 18lb 7oz,
nearly sitting up but not quite. I was diagnosed with postnatal depression
before Christmas, which my doctor thinks was due to his birth and the
fact that I didn’t understand everything that was going on. I am still
feeling down but try to take each day as it comes. I love my son but I
have only just started to bond with him. I just wish that the doctors
had explained to me what pre-eclampsia is and that it wasn’t anything
I had done.”
Deborah, 21, mum to Tyler (1)

“They
had to induce me at 30 weeks”

“I suffered from pre-eclampsia with my middle child and had actually
suffered problems with my blood pressure from the moment I conceived.
I felt tired all the way through my pregnancy and was admitted to hospital
overnight at 16 weeks as my blood pressure was so high I needed medication.
I had to go back four times in the next 12 weeks for it to be increased
and it still didn’t bring it under control.

I actually developed pre-eclampsia properly at 29 weeks. I felt really
ill at the weekend: tired and my body swelled up like a balloon on the
Sunday. On Monday I had an antenatal appointment and there was protein
in my urine and my blood pressure was sky high! I had to be taken to the
hospital in a wheelchair.

“I had to have daily blood tests for the next four days and, by the Friday,
it was pretty obvious that it wasn’t getting any better so the consultant
decided that our baby needed to be delivered immediately. I was only 30
weeks pregnant.

“They tried to induce me but Leo was breech so I had to have an emergency
C-section with a spinal block. He was born at 3.15am and rushed off to
intensive care – I didn’t see him for almost 16 hours. I was out of it
for the rest of the day. He also had a cleft lip and palate which we didn’t
know about. I was in hospital for a week after that and my blood pressure
was still not under control when I left but they let me go as I was going
to visit Leo on a daily basis anyway and could have it checked then.

“The hardest thing with pre-eclampsia was not being able to do anything
about it – if you’re going to get it there’s not much you can do about
it. I found it really hard to see pregnant women after I’d had Leo – I
was really jealous that they were still pregnant. The worst thing after
he was born was going home without him and spending the next nine weeks
going back every day to visit him and going home without him again. It
was such a relief to take him home – but scary too. However, he is now
four years old and a little dynamo! I do have problems still with my blood
pressure and am on medication for it but I am also still overweight so
I am hoping that when I have lost weight my blood pressure will return
to normal and I can come off the medication.”
Maria, 43, mum to Adam (23), Leo (4) and Eloise (2), from Trowbridge

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