Eclampsia immediately after birth

[glowingtwig]

Has anyone experienced this too?
After a totally straightforward pregnancy (with no pre-eclampsia detected) and 3 hours after a brilliant labour and birth I experienced fits and was treated for eclampsia. The only other indicator was lots of protein in my urine but I was fitting and unconscious for 30 minutes while poor DH stood outside the room with our little baby.
I was given magnesium sulphate in a 24 hour drip, nil by mouth 24 hours and only 75 ml of water allowed an hour. I was in hospital for 5 days.
I'm aware how serious this was or could have been and have a debrief with the consultant this week to discuss what happened. I've avoided googling (this is unlike me!!) until now as I get so upset thinking that I could have left my baby girl motherless if things had been worse.
Has anyone experienced anything similar or know anything about this? How might it affect a future pregnancy? I'd like to frame some questions for the doctor in advance. xx

No one at all then?

Hi

Eclampsia is thankfully really rare, particular after birth. I was a midwife for 18 yrs and never experienced a postnatal case so I guess that's why you haven't had any responses.
I am sorry you had this traumatic experience and hope your consultant appointment is helpful.

My mum had this 8 hours after my sister was born, completely normal pregnancy and birth then started fitting later, she ended up in icu/hdu for two days but then was fine. It was marked down n her notes to monitor blood pressure and urine frequently in future pregnancies, her two further pregnancies were fine though.

After i had my first i felt unwell and said to the nurse that i was unwell and she did my obs and said I was fine, I asked about bp and was told it was fine, she asked why I was worrying and I told her about my mum, I was swiftly taken back to the labour ward and given medication to lower bp as with the family history they considered it dangerously high.

I had pre eclampsia after I had DC2. Straightforward ELCS, 24 hours later BP through the roof, head pounding, protein in urine. They got it under control with BP medication I think and I was back to normal in about a day. Normal BP during both my pregnancies so it totally came out of the blue. Hope you get some answers OP, no one really gave a shit about me as DC was poorly

Yes, I had this. I developed pre eclampsia the day they were inducing me, I then had an emergency c section. I developed eclampsia very shortly afterwards. It's very rare I understand from the consultant, that delivering the baby doesn't alleviate it.

I started hemorraghing, in the middle of the night, went to loo, and called the alarm, and was taken back to bed by nurses, they took my blood pressure and called an alarm. Everyone was running.

All I remembered was the running and that I kept falling asleep, and a lot of medical proffessionals in my room. I really genuinely thought I was falling asleep. They took my daughter out the room and I was taken into intensive care. At one point they sedated me, and I couldn't understand why they woke me up to tell me they were sedating me. Turns out they weren't.

It wasn't until the consultant came round the next morning that he told me I had eclampsia and had been fitting. Which scared me. The fact I didn't know.

I spent a month in hopspital and had other issues. I also had follow up visits for a year afterwards.The doctors wished to sterilise me, as I was unlikely to survive another pregnancy. I declined.

I however never really wanted another one, but the thought of it scared me after.

The doctors should tell you if you can have another pregnancy. Mine were very very clear indeed that I should not.

Future pregnancies are likely to involve being consultant led, and taking Aspirin and blood thinning injections from the start. You may also need more placental / umbilical / growth scans and it’s unlikely you will be allowed to exceed your due date.

Thank you for your replies and thoughts. I've got most of my answers now and feel better about a potential second pregnancy (although not for a while) x

I experienced this. Extremely straightforward pregnancy with low blood pressure throughout and no warning signs. The night before I was meant to be discharged, I apparently (have no memory of this) mentioned to the midwife handing out painkillers that I was cold and had a knocking sensation in my head. I was apparently thrashing in bed. They took my blood pressure and all hell broke loose. It was caught early and I was fine, but was in hospital for 10 days and on blood pressure meds for another 4 weeks. Postnatal eclampsia is rare but it does happen; it’s important to monitor blood pressure after birth even in the absence of warning signs, and perhaps not to rush early release 🙀 I do not plan on having more children but was told that any future pregnancy would need to be closely monitored.