Let me preface this post by saying a lot happened, a lot of which I can't remember but I'm going to give it my best shot. If you're familiar with my other blog then you'll know my birth story posts are mammoth and this will certainly be no different and so I apologise now but I find it therapeutic and important to get it all down.
So, we had a routine antenatal appt on the Tuesday and I had been feeling pretty crappy, which I had mentioned in my previous post but that nothing unusual had been found at earlier appts so it was just general end-of-pregnancy nastiness at that point. Well, as I said it hadn't got any better and infact I felt worse generally and at that appointment the midwife found my BP was high (152/82 and 148/92) and also +1 protein in my urine but thought that could be a UTI as I was symptomatic so she sent it off for testing. She didn't seem too concerned to be honest, I did detect a raised eyebrow but no panic and instead of seeing me the following week which was what I'd anticipated, she asked to see me the Friday to re-check everything and I knew that that wasn't a particularly good sign but trusted her judgement, as I always have done and she's steered me right through 4 out of 5 pregnancies now.
Thursday I had gone to bed with a slight headache and a strange pain in my upper right hand side. Now, I admit to thinking 'hmm, that could be something (pre-e)' but I suffer a lot of abdo pain generally and certainly worse with a baby who liked to tap dance all over my insides so I brushed it off but it did hurt and felt different.
Anyway, so early hours of Friday morning, I woke to use the bathroom and had a cracking headache, which given the fact I was 38 weeks pregnant and the kids were off on half-term from school and that I wasn't sleeping particularly great, didn't concern me too much....until I noticed I had visual disturbances too. Now, I had a migraine in my previous pregnancy at exactly 38 weeks weirdly enough and so I thought it was simply the same spooky coincidence but it did scare me so I woke my husband for some moral support more than anything and laid back down after taking some tablets and the visual thing did stop shortly after so I attempted to sleep the headache off. When I woke at 11am (unusual for me), I still had the lingering headache and my IFs were concerned and we spoke to the midwife office and asked if I should keep the 4pm appt with the midwife or call someone else and was told to call Day Assessment at the hospital so that's what I did. They of course asked me immediately to come in, IFs were already on their way before that phone call because they felt something wasn't right anyway and were coming down for the planned midwife appt anyway. I have to be honest and say I wasn't overly concerned at this point, I was used to having headaches on and off and my BP had been fine up until that last appt before that day. I thought my IFs were being over-cautious but understood why completely, I however was chilled and probably irritated that with a bloody headache and having to leave my husband and 3 children to their own devices for what I thought would be an unnecessary waste of a couple of hours of my time to sit at the hospital and then told it was all fine and to go home.
I arrived first at the hospital at about 1pm and kissed my husband and kids off and said I'd see them later. In Day Assessment they took me straight through and ran through my history and took my BP (150/92), it was high but not scary high. I was asked to do a sample and that showed +2 of protein, +1 leukocytes, +1 ketones, 1+ glucose and was + for nitrates, basically the whole shebang! LOL. Soon after my IFs arrived, I could see the look of concern on their faces so I tried to make light of it. They said I looked hot and tired, I felt both and still had the headache lingering.They took bloods for testing for pre-eclampsia and hooked me up to the monitor to see what baby was doing because I did feel his movements had slowed from his normal pattern but that question is always difficult to answer because babies all move differently and given I had had a bad night and felt rubbish, I knew that this can affect baby too. Once on the monitor they picked up his heartrate and he was moving, not much but enough that they weren't concerned but they did note insufficient heart accelerations with each movement so kept me on it for far longer than they would normally of. My poor IFs took it in turns to hold the heart rate part of the monitor on my tum, to save my poor fingers from doing all the work. It was so super sweet to see my IFs determined to keep that thing where it needed to be, despite the fact they must of felt so much pain in their fingers from pressing that thing in for so long and at just the right angle! My BP was checked more times (148/88 and 130/98) and was high still but not scary high at this point but they were concerned because it was all over the place, the top and the bottom numbers fluctuating up and down. After a while, they took us through for a scan of the placenta and of the fluid, it was a lovely what was to be (unbeknown to us at that point) final look at baby in utero. All seemed to be fine and there was no concern there.
When we went back, I was put back on the monitor and finally baby played ball and they were satisfied with the read-out. However, I saw a dr and she wasn't quite so happy with the whole picture, she felt I was sliding into pre-eclampsia and said I had to stay in for at least 24 hours of BP and urine monitoring (which didn't happen because they don't do it on a weekend) and by then the blood results would be back also. I still felt that perhaps this was a bit of an over-reaction but really I was just desperate to get home, if you know me, you know I hate being away from my children and home and I'd been admitted before and it all turned out to be a false alarm in a previous pregnancy. When I asked the Dr if, if the bloods came back ok that evening, I could go home, she said no because it still presented like pre-eclampsia starting so that was that - I was told I would be going to a ward and if my BP went over 160/100 at any point, I'd be started on BP meds. I heard the Dr on the phone to her supervisor and then she came back and said that they wanted me to start on meds asap actually and I would be reviewed in the morning and a plan made. My IF asked why they couldn't just induce me and the midwife explained it was better that baby stay in still rather than force him out because I was still relatively well and of course they weren't 100% sure it was pre-eclampsia at that point but that she agreed it was definitely something to discuss with the Drs in the morning.
It was then that I realised things were getting very real and a little scary...
Bloods came back, incase anyone is interested:
Creatine: 72
Urea: 4.4
Uric acid: 404
Ketones: 4.1
Bilirubin: 6
Alk Phos: 204
ALT: 12
Protein: 63
WBC: 9.32
Na: 138
Hb: 108
Platelets: 266
We were moved to the ward around 8pm and settled in, IF and I trying to make light of the situation but all the while acutely aware that things didn't look good. My BP was taken (140/78) and I was given some BP meds and all was calm, I was aware of my headache starting to niggle away again despite it disappearing after some earlier paracetamol but we talked about how long my IFs could stay (they weren't able to stay overnight on the antenatal ward, there was no arrangements made for that) and that one of them needed to go and get my hospital bag from home etc and so B left. I was happily sat on the bed contemplating my night alone and suddenly I was aware that the visual disturbances from the previous night seemed to of begun again but worse. I also started to feel more of a headache and also severe heartburn (reflux) but thought it was just a reaction perhaps to the meds or another migraine so I laid down and closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on my breathing but it was no use, I was plain scared so I asked my remaining IF to get the midwife for me and within minutes of telling her that, she took my BP and it was 179/92, just 15 minutes after taking my tablets so I assumed a reaction to that had caused what I was experiencing and the doctor came to see me within 10 minutes and I had a full work-up of examinations - sight tests, reflex tests (from my notes, I see they weren't quite right), and was asked more questions again. She said to stop my medication as I shouldn't of had it anyway as I was asthmatic! So, by this point I was then sure it was just a reaction to them.
I was told they would try another med, my BP was at that point 140/90 and see in half an hour after that what my BP was like. The Dr also said I would be induced because things were starting to get out of control. She was unsure if that would be using a pessary on the ward or whether it would straight to Delivery Suite to break my waters but that would depend on a) space on Delivery and b) if a vaginal examination showed I was favourable for induction.
My poor remaining IF must of been out of his mind with worry at this point, his partner had left mere minutes earlier thinking I would be spending the night on the ward just chilling and now I was waiting to basically be induced. He told me he text him and said forget stopping anywhere (he had been planning to get oil for his car and stop at the shop to pick up supplies for me) and to come back.
Whilst waiting for the examination, I had to go to the toilet and because I couldn't see anything of much, I almost knocked myself out by walking into the overhead bedside entertainment unit but my lovely IF had hold of my arm and was walking me to the bathroom and steered me clear. A concussion was not something else we needed to be dealing with! I remember laying down on the bed, eyes closed, trying not to panic and asking my IF for his hand to hold, I think he knew at that point how vulnerable I was feeling and our mantra of 'we won't panic until surro mama panics' was now in surro mama panic mode.
My other IF came into the ward and was brought up to date re: examination, different meds and induction and whilst we were waiting I suddenly started to cry and asked him for a hug and just sobbed. He was so calming, telling me I was just tired and it would all be ok. I recall drifting off to sleep with him sat next to me, stroking my hair.
BP check half an hour later and it was at its highest point: 158/102. It was examination time, both my IFs said they would step out but I told them they were welcome to stay...one did, the other didn't want to crowd around inside the curtain so sat outside. I was so warmed to have them so involved already and unwilling to let me go through anything on my own, I was surprised at which IF said he would stay because he's always been the more squeamish one but he sat by my bed, holding my hand as I squirmed uncomfortably through the VE, which revealed I was already 2cms (thank you Braxton Hicks for helping with that!) and 'easy to ARM' (artificially rupture membranes). She also gave me a mighty uncomfy stretch and sweep of my membranes to help things along. Boo to that part and ouch but yay for ARM! I did not want to be induced with pessaries because it can be long and drawn out and I would be on the ward by myself I thought but actually, we were told if I was being induced then Daddies would be able to stay so I knew that not only would I not be alone at all from that point onwards but that my waters would be broken which would be done in Delivery, which meant one-on-one care AND I knew it would be a fast labour once they did that. I was relieved to say the least, finally something going our way. It was weird to say to my IFs that they would be meeting their baby within hours!
The midwife said they were just waiting for space on Delivery but either way I'd be started on Magnesium Sulfate, which stops seizures which are a huge concern when pre-eclamptic and at the level I was climbing but that it had to be administered with facilities nearby as it can cause all sorts of effects but since I needed it badly, if there was no space downstairs then a Dr would come and sit with me whilst it was running to ensure I was safe. That was another scary moment of realisation, that things were very serious. I text my hubby and my best friend, also posting a little update on a thread that had already been started on my FB group about what was happening, although saying the words 'he's on his way' were unreal still.
Thankfully my headache had begun to ease a little and the visual disturbances too, which I was glad of, they scare me even when it's migraine related. BP was now 156/94, then 105/100 half an hour later. Next one was 156/ 96. No, the meds were not stabilising it at all. :(
..........
Birth story to follow soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment