Pre eclampsia, have you had to be induced?

[IDontWantToCookTonight]

I put a post in pregnancy yesterday as it looks like I may have pre eclampsia. Not too surprised as so far I’ve followed in my mums footsteps of pregnancy so far symptom wise and I did read it can be hereditary.

I’m just wondering, as all I’m reading online is that I’m either going to have to stay in hospital closely monitored or deliver baby. I’m only 29+4 today so I can’t imagine I’ll be induced yet. But how early do they do it? Id love to keep her cooking as long as possible though.

Also, when doing my blood pressure and urine sample which has + protein. They midwife asked me why I do for a job, I told her I was a dental nurse and she went to speak but trailed off as she was measuring bump at the time and I haven’t grown since last visit, still measuring 25 weeks (being sent for urgent scan).

Does stress at work etc effect pre eclampsia? What should I be doing to help us both? If I get signed off work now my maternity will probably automatically start and I haven’t given in my form yet to apply for mat pay.

I’m stuck and have no idea what to do.

If you're having continuous high blood pressure then I'd consider sorting your maternity leave early. The protein could be caused by other things too. I had ++protein last week and elevated blood pressure. So I was told to go in a week later to be checked again and it was all back to normal. Protein can be a sign of infection or it could be a slightly contaminated sample of urine by discharge.

If you start to display symptoms your midwife will let you know if you've tested as high risk.

Just a couple of headaches and dizzy spells, other than that I haven’t had any swelling or visible disturbances I don’t think.

My blood pressure has been on the rise at each visit and is now at 90 diastolic.

My employers are on holiday for two weeks, not sure how quickly things like this go down hill or how long it can wait? I’ll start sorting out my stuff today though just in case.

I had it in both pregnancies but never as early as yourself. It can be quite serious, for you and the baby so the best thing to do is follow your midwife's advice.

I would look at going off work. Get your affairs in order at work and then sign yourself off. You can start your mat leave early or you can get signed off sick (but if you're signed off sick within 4 weeks of your planned date to leave they will start your mat leave automatically).

Resting and reducing stress are really important with pre-eclampsia. At this stage you may be given some medication to try and reduce your blood pressure and be monitored rather than just going straight into hospital or having an induction.

I had it at 41 weeks with my eldest. When I went into the hospital, they gave me some tablets to reduce my BP and offered me an induction straight away because I was overdue as well.

With my youngest, it was 37 weeks. I had bell's palsy which was probably related my BP being sky high. I stayed in hospital for a week and was again given medication to bring it down. I had him by c-section at 38 weeks. I was due to have an elective section at 39 weeks with him anyway.

If you're not clear on what will happen or what you need to do, give the midwife a ring to ask. Or contact the day unit at the hospital where you're having the baby. I self referred to them lots with my youngest.

I had PE with DS 24. At 32 weeks BP was 105 (70 at booking in) I also had oedema but no protein.
Was taken into hospital where it went down to 90 and stayed in and was monitoref until 38 weeks when they were going to induce. Still no protein so left it another couple of days when bp went to 125 and positive protein.
Was induced but took 3 days. DS has had no effects from the PE st all. My DM had PE with me as well.

Do you mean you haven't handed over your matb1? I would sort that ASAP so there are no delays.

You can't be forced to start mat leave unless you are off sick with pregnancy related illness from 36 weeks, you would just be off sick until then if you need to be.

When you go for your scan will you be seeing a midwife or doctor? Write down any questions you think of before and take them with you, that way you can make sure you've asked everything and write down the answers as it can be a lot to take in.

I had severe PE and was in and out of hospital from around 20 weeks. I had my DD by EMC under general at 31+2.

I developed pre eclampsia at 32 weeks, though suspect I;d had it for a while as my midwife failed to turn up for an appointment then I couldn't get hold of her for a fortnight. Thought I was just stressed from buying a house, turned out I was very ill indeed! You need rest and calm above all else at this stage.

I was fortunate that I had a couple of weeks of BP medication improving things, my protein improving, then it would deteriorate, they'd up the medication, I'd improve again and so on. They said they would hold on as long as possible then induce me, and I had to go in every other day to be monitored (taken as sick leave as did not wish to start Mat Leave early unless I had to legally). One day at 34.5 weeks I woke feeling absolutely awful, sensation of impending doom, had my first nosebleed ever and took myself in to the unit. My BP was ridiculously high (220/122!!!) so I had a c section a couple of hours later - they didn't want to risk induction (I was secretly very relieved tbh). DS had a week in SCBU due to low blood sugar and temp but was otherwise fine. He turned 14 yesterday and just hit 6ft tall!

I think it was 2 weeks before i was supposed to start maternity leave, but work just signed me off sick from what i remember

I had PE. I was admitted for a while until it was under control, put on Labetalol for high BP and went on to give birth naturally at full term.

Yup, only "cure" for PE is getting baby out. There is no set time frame for when this will happen, it's when it gets too dangerous for you or baby to continue as "one" so to speak.

That varies for everyone. I went from 30 weeks to 36 before my BP rocketed to "out now" levels, and they induced me for a vaginal delivery. Unfortunately she became distressed and I has an emerg section late at night.

The good news is, I didn't have it again with dd2..

Good Luck, this is not an easy thing to deal with but hopefully the clinic are keeping a very close eye on you.

I had it, it was picked up at my 12 week scan but wasn't too serious at that point. I went on to have a normal pregnancy, with extra scans and blood tests. I was at home and going to work as usual (very high stress job, unfortunately!)
At 39 weeks my blood pressure suddenly shot up, so they induced me.

You will get lots of varying responses, as it can show itself at any stage, with differing levels of severity. In answer to your questions it can go from nothing much to an urgent need to induce overnight, but no one knows when or even if this will be. Plenty of women shoe some of the symptoms but reach full term without it developing into an urgent situation. If your midwife has let you go home you're not at that stage, so no need to take any drastic action such as stopping work yet!
Go to your next appointment with these questions in mind and get some advice on YOUR situation, in the mean time rest as much as you can while still getting on with life. Naturally if you notice new symptoms get seen the same day.

I just wanted to reassure you that until you are told otherwise by your midwife, this is not a guarantee that you will be on bed rest/induced early/ unable to go about your normal life.

I had severe pe which only got picked up because I rang triage about my ridiculous water retention which had suddenly got massively worse. I was 36+2 with twins so they said to come in to be checked. I ended up staying in hospital. They were trying to get me to 37 weeks, but gave me steroid injections for the babies lungs, and on the day I had them at 36+5 the dr looked at my chart and said let’s get the babies out today. 6 hours later they were born!

Your mat b1 form
Should have been handed in at 25 weeks no later so I would try sort this as it should be given to employer no later than 15 weeks before baby born so not sure what will happen there, you shouldn't have to start maternity until 36 weeks I have been off since 23 weeks (severe spd) and at 36 weeks it will automatically change from sick pay to mat pay which is no problem as I was going to leave at 36 anyway!

I rang triage about my ridiculous water retention which had suddenly got massively worse - I'd forgotten about this sign. I grumbled to my midwife (when I finally got to see her) that I'd put two stone on during pregnancy and an entire stone of that had been in the last 10 days - definitely a sign of something awry!

I didn't get hold of my Mat B1 until 30 weeks as my midwife kept saying she'd give it me 'next time' as she'd run out, then missed appointments and never rang me back - my boss was getting very pissed off by that point and I had HR emailing me daily pointing out that legally they should have had it before 29 weeks or whenever and they needed it now. Not very relaxing...

Blood pressure now 110 diastolic. Being sent up to triage/day unit for assessment. I’m quite scared but trying to relax :(

Do they just diagnose pe with high bp and protein In urine?
Just as I have terrible heartburn constant headache and dizzy feeling and sickness and general feeling crap I read up the symptoms are associated with pe however it's never mentioned ?

I had it with dd. Was admitted at 32 weeks and put on bed rest and iirc magnesium too (nearly 20 years ago now).

At first I wasn’t on complete bed rest I was still allowed to get up to shower and pee but I got worse and was then put on complete bed rest - not allowed to get up for ANYTHING, bed baths and bed pans and then dh only allowed to visit briefly once a day (which I actually think added to my stress!).

At 39 weeks it was decided I’d be induced but it didn’t work straight away - was a whole palaver.

Dd ended up being emcs and a condition I had (rare, genetic but only flares at end of pregnancy/during birth) was considered to be a major reason for the PE but they couldn’t have known earlier than they did.

Dd and I ended up staying in 10 days after the birth, both of us were very poorly. But...dd a 6ft plus streak of relatively healthy (she has an unrelated genetic disability) 18 (nearly 19) year old now with no lasting effects.

I also had no lasting effects.

I know it’s really really hard but do your best to relax and follow the advice you are given. Good luck.

@IDontWantToCookTonight

High BP and protein are the most common indicators, but you can have PE without them.

It is definitely worth getting checked, and mentioning PE to your HCP, just in case.

My sil was put on a low salt diet and was taking aspirin from 20 weeks. The heparin started after 24 weeks and by 28-29 she started on steroids as the baby didn’t seem to be growing. It was only after daily growth scans for 2 weeks that she was induced and ultimately it resulted in an emergency c-section. She delivered both times at 31 weeks.

Hope all is going well @IDontWantToCookTonight

For my part, my PE developed late. It was picked up at my 36 week midwife appointment. It seems it had been developing quietly in the background though. My uterine artery dopplers at my 20 week scan had netted me growth scans, and my BP had been creeping up gradually over the course of the pregnancy. But it wasn't until 36 weeks that I had protein in my urine and my blood work said I definitely had PE. I had zero symptoms otherwise.

I was admitted at 36+1, put on labetalol, which stabilised my BP, then induced at 37 weeks.

I was induced at 38 weeks with PE after even heavy doses of two different BP drugs couldn’t control my high BP. They do try and manage thing for as long as possible. Try not to worry though, the doctors and midwives are really experienced at managing PE

Bloods were abnormal, blood pressure came down when sat at the hospital for hours and hours having not taken throughout the day.
I have to have my blood pressure taken at the end of the week and have blood test next week. Hopefully everything will settled down and it’s just a blip :)

I developed pre eclampsia with my second baby who was born in June 2019. It all kicked off around 32 weeks when I was spending around 3/4 days each week as an inpatient in hospital for strict bed rest and monitoring. It was picked up at my antenatal appointment when i had 3+ protein in my urine, oedema and high BP. When I attended my outpatient consultant appointment at 37+4 (I had only been discharged 2 days prior to this) my bp was 194/92 and the swelling was out of control and again 3+ protein in the urine. I was sent immediately for induction that day, baby was born 2 days later.

My cousin was induced at 26 weeks. They were a bit worried about their son the first week but he's fine, 18 years old now and off to uni!