Preeclampsia and how it turned me into a whale

Look at how cute and innocent and naive I was. This was the first picture I took of myself to document my pregnant belly. I know what was going through my head ‘I’m so excited to have a big belly and look so cute and preggo!!!‘. I’m pretty sure that this is the thinking of the majority of women and rightly so. I have watched Father of the Bride 2 a dozen times and the daughter and mother both look mildly uncomfortable and don’t have even a swollen pinky. I’m going to show you some pictures that may horrify you. I know this because they horrify me as well.

This is the beast they call Rebecca Preeclampsia. Lol. In my ignorance I assumed that all women were plagued with this kind of swelling. But only the lucky few have this much swelling ;) I should start from the beginning…once upon a time I realized that my feet and ankles were starting to look a bit puffy at around 20 weeks ish…my OB doc and nurses all assured me that this is normal. Oh great, saying that anything is normal is not helpful at all! I was told to keep my feet elevated as much as possible. At the time I was working as a front desk receptionist in a doctor’s office. I think it would have been a biiiit unprofessional to keep my feet on the desk all day. Now, when I talk about swelling, I don’t mean swollen ankles and feet, I mean full-blown swelling! Everything that could possibly be swollen was swollen – knees, face, fingers, legs, arms, toes. Next red flag, my blood pressure started to go up around 31 weeks. Unfortunately I have zero recollection as to what it was. Sorry for the vagueness. But as soon as it started going up the more frequently I had to go in for OB appointments. And of course the final piece of the puzzle was inserted by means of spilling proteins in my urine.

Ok, funny disgusting story – to test for preeclampsia and the proteins in your urine one must collect all her pee for 24 hours. Yes, it’s true. So I’m peeing and collecting it in a jug and where do you have to keep the jug? In the fridge of course! So the jug has a cap that is screwed on the top. Our fridge was a small apartment one so the jug had to be placed on its side and wouldn’t you know that the cap was not screwed on tightly and the contents began to spill all over the carton of eggs on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. I told you it was gross.

Anyway, enough rabbit trails, come to find out that I meet all the requirements of preeclampsia. Now what is preeclampsia? According to the Mayo clinic “Preeclampsia is defined as high blood pressure and excess protein in the urine after 20 weeks of pregnancy in a woman who previously had normal blood pressure. Even a slight increase in blood pressure may be a sign of preeclampsia. Left untreated, preeclampsia can lead to serious — even fatal — complications for both you and your baby.”  Complications such as lack of blood flow to the placenta, placental abruption, HELLP syndrome, eclampsia, and cardiovascular disease. Scary stuff.

The only treatment is the delivery of the baby. At 34 weeks I was placed on bed rest and stopped working. At 35 weeks I was told that I would need to be induced at 37 weeks. At 36 weeks I was admitted to the hospital for bed rest due to the fact that my blood pressure was continuing to elevate. However Danielle decided to be born the day after I was admitted to the hospital, but that’s another story :) During labor I was given magnesium sulfate intravenously. It was something I will never forget – in a bad way. The nurse explained that they would first flush a large amount of the medication through the IV and it would make me feel very hot. Hot did not even cover it. I remember saying that it felt like I was a fire-breathing dragon. Everything felt like it was on fire. My fingers, my eyelids, my nostrils, my everything! She said I would also feel dizzy and disoriented. The nurse assured me that after the initial flushing the symptoms would be lessened, and it truly was. It was still very hot labor and was not allowed to leave my bed because of the dizziness. I prayed that God would still allow me to be coherent enough to be fully present to meet my baby and in God’s goodness He made sure that happened.

All this being said, I was so thankful for the team of nurses and doctors that God provided during the pregnancy and birth. If I am ever pregnant again, Lord willing, I will know what signs to look for. I’m so glad to have a healthy baby and to have lost ALL THAT water weight (30 lbs in 3 days lost to be exact)!