Induction for PE - Alan?

Hey there,

My BP is regularly high now, ranging from 140/90 - 155/105 (today's BP taken by doctor). No protein, or just a trace sometimes, but quite severe obvious swelling in my hands, but mostly my face and it has puffed up a lot over the last week, to the point where my doctor has noticed a dramatic difference and I see him every few days. Bloods are otherwise normal.

Anyway, I really don't want an induction, but the problem is that I have to go in basically daily at this point, and the hospital is around an hour and a half away, so this is causing big problems, I've had to just refuse to go numerous times.

Would your opinion be that an induction would be offered on these grounds...is this dangerous to keep going like this? BP is creeping higher everytime I'm in there, but goes down to 140/90. I'm concerned that somethign will happen to the baby now at this point as I'm not going in as often as they want me too, because it's just not possible.

I'd love some advice

Hi Tara
Your BP is a little high at 140/90. It is quite common for you BP to go up when you are under a little stress / excitement for example going to the doctors. It is also possible th have a high BP without having PE Your face swelling is not a good sign but on its own does not mean that you have PE. A good sign is that you only sometimes have a trace of protein and that your bloods are normal. I would say that at this stage you do not have PE but you do have a high BP. There is a chance that PE could develop but if you are being checked regularly it would be detected before it becomes a problem.
If your hospital is so far away could you not go to a closer GP for monitoring? Eg BP and urine tests. GP’s do not like to induce before 38 – 39 weeks if they can avoid it.
I hope this has answered your question. If I can help you any further just let me know

Unfortunately monitoring close to home isn't an option. GPs have around a 2 week booking list in this area and the GP just sends me straight into the hospital anyway, he says he doesn't want to touch me and he's very worried. I'm having a hard time because I am having those sort of headaches now which are excrutiating, I can hardly see because of the facial swelling is making my eyes squint and just typing this is hard because of my stupid swollen hands, the swelling was a very sudden thing over the weekend. Just to go in as much as I'm supposed to is logistically impossible unless we sold our business and hired a nanny. We are doing the best we can, but it's just plain impossible to make a 3 hour round trip a day. I can't drive, but even if I could, I can't see properly so it lies on DP to take too much time off work. I'm very worried about my baby too when my body is feeling like this. I have had a marked decrease in movement, but I do know this is probalby normal at this stage, I am very large everywhere due to big baby and this swelling, probably not much room in there.

I'll be 38 weeks tomorrow and I have to go in to the hosp. again in the morning, I'm hoping to see a specialist and they can sort something out, instead of the fill in GP they have there. Specialist has asked to see me a week ago as he was concerned and wanted to review my case, but I've been seeing a GP instead when I turn up...all part of the public system.

Thanks for your advice Alan, I really appreciate it.

Hey Caro,

We have a mini clinic thing and I have gotten checked in there, but their BP machine reads very high (in my opinion) and I get sent straight to the main hospital which is why I don't like getting checked locally at all, because it's permanantly high and I just get sent straight in. The BP machine in there is one of those flash huge electronic things, but I get ridiculous;y high readings on it which i don't get when it's done at the hospital manually. So they do it, freak out, ring the main hospital who says 'come in right now'. I have had to refuse to go a number of times because it's not possible. I think it puts my BP up getting it checked daily then having it high, but not being able to do anything about it IYKWIM. It's become a waste of time really even seeing my GP because every visit results in me needing to be transferred to the main hospital for day monitoring.

Argh,it's frustrating. If I wasn't starting to worry about bubs, I wouldn't get it checked at all, I've avoided it a lot so far, but now with the swelling I know I'm not supposed to ignore it.

Tara i totally feel for you. I had similar problems around 38wks - BP just going up and up, bubs moving less, lots of swelling, no protein or headaches though, thank god or they'd have had me in i'm sure! I'm POSITIVE the measuring of my BP made it worse, and i also always got a lower reading with a sphig than with a machine. They also used to spend 20 minutes discussing which cuff to use (i was 200lbs at term) and always using the normal one because proportionally i looked fine when in fact i needed the bigger one...grrrr.

I had a good outcome, a homebirth and no problems. Are they scanning bubs to make sure he's ok? Maybe that'd set your mind at rest? I'd definately explain the difficulties of your situation to whoever will listen at your visit tomorrow.

Good luck hun, sorry i can't be more help.

I'm thinking about you :hug: