In hospital with pre-eclampsia

[Crazychicken91]

I’m needing some advice/reassurance!

FTM here and currently admitted in hospital with pre-eclampsia before delivery, this is my first hospital stay so I’m unsure if the level of treatment I’m getting is normal or not. Before I start I want to say I know the NHS and midwifery in particular are incredibly understaffed and over stretched which I do appreciate, but I’m still starting to feel a bit anxious.

Things I’ve experienced:

• multiple consultants come in and advise me of different discharge/birth plans, none of which are the same day by day
• being told at 9am I’m being put on a monitor, only for the midwife to come back 2 hours later to do this (I’ve been in a very long time now, I could have been out for a walk if I’d known)
• medication being given to me late, the longest time being 12 hours after repeatedly asking for it
• I eventually said I will self medicate which they were fine with, after three days of self administering my medication the midwife spotted the pharmacy had dispensed the wrong tablets which I’d been taking. An incident form had to be filled in.
• then silly niggly things like the consultants suggesting I bring my own food in as I have GDM and the hospital can’t cater for a diabetic diet, I’m unsure how to bring my own food in as I’m not allowed to leave hospital

I’m sure I’m fine, and I probably have some hospital anxiety but I just want to know if anyone else has had a similar experience or if this is normal as I’ve never stayed in hospital before.

The hospital food is absolutely fine for you to eat. I'm sure you know by now what you can and cannot eat and will choose accordingly from the menu options

I’ve had it long enough now you’re right, and I know my body can’t tolerate bread or cereals as it sends my blood sugars through the roof. Breakfast options for example are toast and cereal. When I raised this I was told to bring my own food in.

I was just asking if this is the norm?

Discharge and birth plans will change daily depending on baby and how well controlled bp/protien is so that's not unusual.

The wait for the monitor again is not unusual - they have lots of women that will need to be on them and limited equipment. If they have a women on one but there's issues that mean moniter needs to stay on longer it impacts on someone else who is scheduled to go on.

Food wise you select your own meals and hospitals I've being in do cater for dietary requirements even if the choice is limited. I have coeliacs and have always been able to be provided with food but not always what I personally like so my DH used to bring meals. They can't cater for individual preference.

Thee medication issues I would be unhappy with though.

It's scary when things aren't going as we hope and being in hospital can increase worries. I hope everything goes well for you and baby.

Missed your update! Can they not do fruit/yogurt? If its a case of nothing you can eat maybe speak to pals?

I’m not one to be fussy about what I eat, but I’m on metformin to keep my sugars in check and some days I just can’t control them. Diabetic options have sometimes been orange and apple juice, or pie and always potato. I say no to lots of things because I really don’t want to go on insulin when I’ve come this far controlling them at home.

My partner brings an evening meal everyday which is good, I sometimes go to the cafe and buy a salad too for lunch. I haven’t been in hospital before so this is all new to me!

Toast and cereals are the only options, it took me a week to get them to make me brown bread too instead of white.