pre-eclampsia at 40wks, now on BP meds after birth - anybody else?

[whippetlover]

I'm a new mum who was induced last week on my due day after they found protein in my urine and urates in my blood at 40 wks and diagnosed pre eclampsia.
The labour was pretty dramatic - lasting only four hours from applying the prostaglandins gel (that's as far as they got before I start dilating) to the baby coming out - and ended with a forceps delivery and episiotomy.
I went from 0-5cm in 30 minutes, then to 8 in an hour.It was very painful and frightening - even the midwives looked shocked at the speed!
It's left me pretty shell-shocked as I was considered low-risk my entire pregnancy and hoping to birth in water.
To make matters worse since delivery my blood pressure has shot up and my consultant has now decided to put me on a beta blocker, which I'm terrified of taking.
I know I'm very lucky this was caught and my baby delivered safe and sound but I'm finding it tough to come to terms with.
What with my milk coming in, trying to establish feeding, very painful stitches and going back and forth to hospital(stuck there 10 hours yesterday) I'm really struggling to cope and frightened my health will get worse and I won't be able to look after my baby.
All I want to do is be at home and able to focus on my little one and being a mum.
Has anyone else gone something similar?

:(
cant post anything helpful but didnt want you to go unnoticed. sending you big hugs and hope you feel better soon. xx

Congratulations on the arrival of your little one. I'm so sorry you've had such a tough experience, and are, understandably, struggling at the moment.

My BP became very high in the last month of my pregnancy with DC2. I was put on a beta-blocker called Labetalol for the final weeks of my pregnancy. Unfortunately my BP didn't go down as expected, so I stayed on the Labetalol as it is compatible with BFing.

2 years later my BP is still on the high side and I still take (a different) medication for it, but it is much better than it was. The baby is now a manic toddler who was BF for 9 months and who has suffered no ill-effects from the medication. TBH the high blood pressure doesn't affect me day-to-day as it is being successfully managed.

Hopefully the doctors are just trying to get you on the right amount of medication (if I recall it takes a few days to kick in and start impacting your BP), and then you will be able to concentrate on your baby.

Take care of yourself as much as possible. .

Hi there,

So sorry your labour wasn't what you wanted, but congratulations on your baby!

I'm currently 39+3 and have kidney disease. Once of the side effects is high blood pressure and protein in my urine.

Before we were TTC I was on Lisinopril, which lowers BP and reduces the protein that I lose. Whilst TTC and all through my pregnancy I've been on Labetalol which is safe for the pregnancy and breastfeeding. I'll continue to take this until I finish breastfeeding, then go back onto Lisinopril.

I suffer no side effects at all, and don't even notice I'm taking them. I'll have to take them for life.

I'm sure the doctors will work with you to decide on the best possible medication for you to take whilst you feed your baby, and afterwards.

You should feel very proud of yourself!

Best wishes :)

my sister had a very similar experience to you. the drugs you are on shouldn't affect breast feeding at all. the main thing is to get as much rest as you can as that will be the best way to lower your blood pressure. and give yourself time to recover, you have not had it easy and so don't expect yourself to be rushing around doing your normal stuff like before as quickly as some other women do. the best advice i got was not to compare myself to others in my recovery (as i had, different, problems too), but just to take it for what it is and listen to my body.

Be kind to yourself. :) If I understand your post then this is your first baby and you were induced only last week after being diagnosed with a serious condition. No wonder you feel out of sorts! :) I think everyone's head is a little scrambled after such a thing.

I had pre-e and was induced followed by emcs. It took me a while to get my head around it all because obviously I was so busy with the baby I didn't have time to process the "what the fuck just happened last week?" stuff.

It will get better I promise.

Whippetlover, I dind't have the same sort of labour as you (mine was differently unpleasant and ended with an emcs) but I had beta blockers after both of my births.

High blood pressure is not good for you, beta blockers are considered safe with breastfeeding. My BP returned to normal inside a month both times.

I know it is hard to deal with just having giving birth (overwhelming in itself) and then having continuing medical needs on top is a lot to deal with, but it won't be forever and in a week or two you will just be able to concentrate on being a mum. For the time being take all and any help anyone offers.

PS I had the beta blockers for 2 weeks after being discharged from hospital - they made me put on a hideous amount of weight (the magnesium drip too. :( ) - but at least me and the baby are healthy now.

PPS My breastfeeding was a total failure and I just wanted to say that if it doesn't work out for you then you won't be the first or the last who finds that pre-eclampsia + medicine just messes everything up.

Hi,

I went for my 40 week check and they found protein in my wee and high blood pressure. I was induced the following day (It was a full day of monitoring and doctors repeatedly changing their mind over whether i should be induced or go straight for a c-section or not. Doctors shift changes seemed to always mean a change of plan)

They finally induced me and the contractions came on hard. One minute apart but only 1 cm dilated. Every contraction babys heart rate was dropping and with only 1 cm dilation it was going to be a long road ahead. After 2 hours of this i was sent for an emergency c section.

It wasnt too bad -i was quite pleased at the time to get away from the pain ha ha so much for being natural.

A day and a half later i was discharged from hospital. All seemed fine.

The community midwives came to my Boat(where i live on canal)each time was a different lady. the third midwife actually read my history and realised i had had a problem with high blood pressure so checked it. It was very high. She asked why on earth had the other midwives not checked on their visits as they are supposed to every time as a rule.

She sent me to local hospital for check up. off i went on the bus with a newborn and fresh c section belly. they put me on monitor for 4 hours then decided to keep me overnight so they could try me on the beta blockers to make sure i responded well over the next 12 hours. They then forgot to give it to me but didnt tell me anything.

My husband was not allowed in to see me to give me my night bag it was after visiting hours. As it was an unplanned hospital stay i thought that was unreasonable. they did let me go downstairs with tiny baby to meet him but frowned at me like i was mad when i wanted to step out the door to see him. (another story..)

I the morning i asked why they hadnt given me the pill. they forgot. So I had to stay in all day while they monitored me. awful when i didnt even have a book or magazine to read.

Long story short: i really didnt like the idea of beta blockers. But it was a relatively low dose. Two weeks later GP halved dose because blood pressure looking better. Two weeks after that i missed doctor appointment by 5 mins (two hours on train with baby/trackwork/walked 40 mins with baby) they wouldnt let me in. My boat was far away from gp at the time so i had to travel

I felt fine so a week later stopped taking them without doctors advice- i was pretty frustrated with it all by then. I didnt want to lump the baby from Richmond to Stoke newington on my own again.

next gp appointment my blood pressure was actually a little tiny bit low.

For me beta blockers worked and i only used them for 4 weeks. breastfeeding fine. My gorgeous daughter is nearly 4 months old and doing full belly laughs

Thanks so much for all your stories and supportive comments - I feel so much better knowing this has happened to other people to and it's all worked out fine.
Have started on the Labetalol which I hope will help bring my BP down.
And, more importantly my DD has fed very well today and a visit from the health visitor confirmed that despite everything she's put on a good amount of weight in the last 3 days so I'm thrilled.

Tanso, your story sounds very similar to mine - I had the same problem with waiting around for hours at the hospital and drs forgeting meds etc. Am so please your little is doing so well at 4 months and your BP came down.

Just hoping to put all this stress behind me and concentrate on being a good mum now. Goodness know it's scary enough being a new mum without all the added health worries - but you guys have all done brilliantly which just shows it can be done.