On friday afternoon I started feeling intermittent tightening in my abdomen and was advised by my Dr. to go to the ER to be checked out. While I was there my blood pressure was 134/82 (which is pretty high for me, normally about 105/70). The dr. there said I was likely having contractions (though this early in pregnancy it is difficult to record them on the monitor) and gave me some medication to make them stop, I was also pretty dehydrated so they made me drink lots of water.
Today I went to my dr's office for a follow up exam and my BP was even higher, 139/89, when I got there. He had me remeasured before going home and it was down to 128/84 so he said not to worry, though we have to watch my BP in case of preeclampsia.
Yeah right, don't worry :) Of course I came home and looked up everything I could find about high blood pressure in pregnancy and preeclampsia (PE). What I have found is that a sudden jump in BP of 20+ is a cause for concern and that PE is a very scary thing.
Apparently there is no way to prevent PE and the only way to cure it is to deliver the baby. If I were to develop it at this point (23 weeks along) I will most likely be put on bedrest, likely at the hospital, and hope to be able to make it until we're further along and Lily has better odds.
Well, worrying is good for raising BP even higher :) but how can I not? most women have lower than normal bp in the second trimester and I usually have low bp in general. High blood pressure is not great even if it doesn't turn into PE, it reduces the nutrients and oxygen to Lily...
My doctor doesn't seem concerned, though, so I guess I should feel better about it. I'm not usually a worrier but... this is scary. It feels like anything could happen, that Lily could be in trouble and I won't even know it.
I feel silly for worrying like this. I think I will buy a home BP kit so I can put my mind at ease (At least I'll feel like I'm doing something to keep us safe).
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