Is this a bit odd, or has anyone else experienced this

[glitterjo]

I seem to be spending every second minute at the doctor/hospital/midwife at the moment as I'm 29 weeks pregnant and being monitored as I've developed a problem with my eyes that can be a symptom of pre-eclampsia or can just be totally random, so my BP and urine are being checked a lot. BP is a bit up and down, was rather high at first but now is fairly normal most of the time. Urine has had a trace or sometimes +1 protein in it since the eye condition started. GP and midwife have both said that the protein could be caused by an infection. So they sent off my urine to the hospital for analysis. It was found to have pus and blood cells in it (yuck) and so they took another sample and sent that off to be tested too. I haven't been feeling at all well, really, on top of the eye thing, and GP did say that could be because of an infection.

Anyway, today I got a letter from the surgery saying that the second urine sample had pus cells in it too, so they want to send another sample off for testing. Does this strike anyone as a bit weird? Does this not mean that I do have an infection?

I'm seeing the midwife later today but just wanted to canvas some opinion because I'm feeling pretty confused...

I'm no doctor or qualified in any way to answer this question but if I was you I would be thinking the same.

Hi

I had a lot of urine infections during my pregnancy which slightly damage my kidneys. I was put on prohalatic antibiotic which caused bad thrush. Anyway I had to do urine samples every mth and because of the thrush the sample would sometimes contain puss and I would have to repeat the sample. I was told to give myself a good clean down below before doing a sample. Just wondering if you have suffered with thrush, just a thought really. Hope you get it sorted and good luck :)

No- its normal contamination of a non mid-stream sample to have pus cells in it.
Thats why they keep wanting repeats as generally insignificant.
In pregnancy as there is more discharge, there is more contamination.

ah, thanks for the replies. The midwife wasn't particularly able to answer my questions...in fact she said that she didn't know what pus cells were or why they would be in my urine. She looked up the notes from the lab which said there were 100+ cells so they wanted to retest, but she didn't know why.

I feel a bit surprised that she didn't know what they were though. Also - when she was filling in my notes she said, BP fine (which it was, thankfully), urine clear... it was only when I got home that I realised she hadn't actually tested my urine, and when I look at my notes she hasn't written anything on them about that. It just seems a bit weird that over the last two weeks everyone has been so very full-on about making sure BP and urine gets checked regularly (every day last week; at one point twice a day) and she sees me, has absolutely no idea what I'm talking about re: the pus cells and the problem with my eye (letter from hospital to her says it could be a sign of pre-eclampsia so should be monitored carefully, she said, oh that means they just don't know what it is) and she just made me an appointment for two weeks time.

She's probably right, and I certainly don't want to be spending any more time at the doctors, but something just doesn't feel right about the way she acted. She's really, really nice and was very sympathetic when I said I was feeling rotten but...well, perhaps I'm just being paranoid first time mum here. I cried when I got home, because I feel like I've just been abandoned to feel like crap, and also because I realised that I should have said something to her while I was in there - but there was so much other stuff going on that I was out again before I really registered it!

To make matters more complicated, she is a community midwife attached to the nearest very large hospital (the Rosie in Cambridge) and I have chosen to have the baby at another hospital nearby (Hinchingbrooke) as I was seen there for a previous MC and they've been great, and we're right in between the two, anyway. I was told that this wasn't a problem but it just seems to have caused so much hassle, they use different pregnancy notes at her hospital so I don't feel that she fills in my notes properly (I've got the green ones which seem to be quite standard, and they use some yellow ones?) and results are always going astray, and I never really know who to call when there's a problem.

Ooh, sorry, this has turned into a total rant! I guess I'm just feeling a bit confused by everything.

oh - witch6, it was a mid-stream sample the second time (and the third time, which has just been sent off), taken just after a shower, as that's what they asked for...do you know if that makes a difference?

I realise I should also say (this really is turning into an epic post, apologies) that the hospital, after much investigation, do know what the problem with my eye is, and that it is something that can be a sign of pre eclampsia. It can also just be something that happens by itself.

just wanted to send a sympathetic message, during my pregnancy I really felt that the mws at the birth centre I had chosen were not helpful in exactly the same way you described, like they only tell you what they think you want to hear instead of addressing the problems.
I'd ask for another appointment sooner to discuss these points sepcifically.