how serious are swollen hands in pregnancy?

[totalmisfit]

Saw the midwife yesterday (ok, saw a midwife yesterday, i never get to see my own for some reason) and after a mad day of rushing around taking dd to nursery, ballet, you name it i managed to forget my urine sample. i was apologetic but she said not to worry and 'if your blood pressures high, i'll ask you to go and do one'. It was fine as it turned out. She asked if i'd had any swelling and i glanced at my hands and said, no, not that i'd noticed.

Only that evening did i notice that both my hands are a bit swollen, one more than the other, but it's not all over, just in the bit between thumb and forefinger. Although it seemed to go down a little last night, the swelling's gone up again now. It's not hugely noticeable and my feet and ankles aren't swollen so should i be worried?

I should say that although it's my second pg i didn't get any swelling with dd until right at the end, and even then it was only my ankles when i'd been overdoing it. I'm 32 weeks at the moment so it seems a bit early.

Also, knowing a bit about acupressure, i'm wondering if the area of swelling it's confined to could be significant, i.e it's the area you're told not to massage in pg as it's apparently directly connected to the uterus, in acupressure terms at least.

bump.

i take it they're nothing to worry about then? [hopeful]

I had terribly swollen hands and fingers in my pg, especially around the knuckles, from about week 30. Later became Carpal Tunnel and was very painful (around 32 weeks). Never got it in ankles or legs. Although TBH could hardly see them anyway!

I don't know much about acupressure but do you have a local acupuncturist you could ask? Do you have another appointment to see your midwife? Think mine were every 2 weeks at this point.

i was expecting them to be every 2 weeks at this point as well tbh, but nope, still every 4 according to anonymous midwife lady. mind you i'm away over xmas so they've had to bring 4ward my appt by a week.

sorry to hear you suffered with swelling too, carpal tunnel doesn't sound like much fun, poor you. was it related to blood pressure or anything?

The ob/gyn told me that the majority of women get swollen hands at some time or another and that in itself it not a worry.

I had dreadfully swollen hands/face/feet with dd and then had pre-eclampsia. If your face swells up suddenly and you have high bp/protein in urine, severe headaches, under rib pain, blurred vision or vomiting as well then you need to contact mw straight away.

I now get slightly swollen hands if I'm tired or dehydrated. So in a day of nursery/ballet/rushing it could just be that you needed a rest. I am 32wks too btw.

Hope that helps.

Im 31 weeks with dc2 and my hands are just starting to swell. I am going to take my rings off very soon.

With dd I had very badly swollen ankles, feet and hands. This time my feet and ankles are fine.

I think its normal for your hands to swell a bit. If your blood pressure was normal I wouldnt worry

No, my BP was normal all the time, so never had to worry on that front. I was carrying twins though.

The worst part is that my hands have never gone back to normal - had to get my rings resized about 12 mths after the birth when I realised