Pre-eclampsia

So as mentioned, here is what happened and thought this may help any of you if you are planning to have a baby soon and some questions to ask your Dr.

Pre-eclampsia - here is the link from Wiki, not going to copy it all.

But from what the Dr's told us, every woman has some form of this, usually during the last trimester. After the baby is born, the woman’s body usually goes back to normal, but there is a percentage of women who are affected by this.

My wife had to have a C-section as the baby was breeched. After 4 days in the hospital (which is completely normal) she was released and we thought all was well. My wife had some swelling in the feet, legs and through out the whole body. She called your OB and was told this was normal and should go down, if not give us a call next week and we will make you an appointment.

Word to the wise, Dr's do not know everything! The swelling increased, but on Thursday, my wife had a bad headache. She was taking Vicodin and Motrin for the C- Section pain but her headache got worse. On Friday night, the swelling was worse and headache was now unbearable. Being a tuff girl, she thought she could tuff it out. At 3 am (going into Saturday the 14th) she woke up, not being able to breathe and her head was pounding.

At 10 am on Saturday after telling her Im done watching her suffer and playing the tuff role, I called 911. She was rushed to the ER and admitted. Her blood pressure was 220 and change over 160-175 which is stroke level. She was diagnosed with Pre-eclampsia on Sunday after several Cat scans.

The build up of proteins in her body along with the water build up put so much pressure on her lungs, heart and brain. She was in the hospital for the last 4.5 days and is now home.

Pre-eclampsia can be caused by many things and there is no one thing that sets it off. Although having any more kids at this point is extremely dangerous. The next pregnancy could possibly kill my wife or the baby or both. My wife is 33 and is not overweight.

So, if you are planning as mentioned I would simply suggest the both of you talking to your Dr. Ask about Pre-eclampsia. If your wife has a C-section ask about Pre-eclampsia. This was something our OB never mentioned because the severe affects are rare, but if you are somewhat prepared, you will know what to do.

If any of you have any questions about this, feel free to email or leave me a pvt msg.

Thanks all for reading and see you on the board

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-eclampsia