I was admitted to the hospital for contractions and high blood pressure 2 weeks before Coen arrived. During that time I was diagnosed with Mild Pre-Eclampsia which was treated by close monitoring with Bi-weekly Non-Stress tests and ultrasounds every two weeks.
Leading up to the hospital visit my blood pressure readings started rising into the 140s/90s (nothing that was too out of normal for me considering my chronic hypertension). Overall, I didn’t have any of the typical symptoms. The only sign I had was my body just didn’t feel right.... and it wasn’t the normal end of pregnancy fatigue which I kept telling my doctors.
The best I can explain it was that my body ached/felt inflamed internally sort of like the flu, but not as bad as normal flu aches. I had a few headaches here and there which I could tell were tension headaches, but not the “normal” pre-eclamptic headache description.
The Friday before delivery, I finally got the diagnosis of Chronic Hypertension with Superimposed Preeclampsia... there are specific criteria I had to “meet’ which made it harder to diagnose.
On Tuesday, November 19, I went in for my normal Non-Stress Test. My first BP was 167/95, so the nurse wanted to retake it at the end of the appointment. My NST looked great as Coen’s heartbeat and activity didn’t show any signs of having trouble. My second BP reading was better 140/100, but 100 is still high for diastolic reading so the nurse said the doctor would come talk to me. At that point I knew I would probably end up back in the hospital for monitoring for a few days.
She told me although an improvement, she didn’t like where my numbers were at and after seeing my personal tracking through the weekend she was concerned. She stated she “doesn’t like when a pregnant patient or any patient for that matter claims that they just don’t feel well”, and that she was concerned that although I wasn’t showing signs of severe pre-eclampsia yet she really felt it was heading in that direction.
Once settled in the hospital triage my blood pressure stabilized back in the 140/90s range. It spiked a few times into the 160s/170s, but would drop back down by the next 5 minute read. By the evening I started having a headache that they gave me different medicines for, none of which helped. They wanted me to try to sleep, but between the horrible headache and the body inflammation feeling I couldn’t relax enough to.
Around 10pm the nurse came in to check on my headache pain level (still at 7 or 8). She talked to the doctor on duty and came back and said the doctor wanted to give me a “Benadryl Cocktail” in my IV since it sounded like a tension headache and they needed me to rest.
Another nurse came in to administer the medicines, which is when I took a turn for the worse. I remember the nurse saying she was putting the Benadryl in the IV and after a few seconds I started feeling burning in my throat (kind of like the cooling sensation of saline when it’s given) and coughing.
I suddenly felt like I was losing control of my body and grabbed my husband, Austin’s hand crying, telling him and the nurse “something is not right, I don’t feel right”.. and then I whited out.
I remember coming back to partially, and hearing the nurse yell in the hallway for help. They administered something else in my IV, and the doctor tried to talk to me. I could hear every question, but couldn’t seem to gather my words to tell her what was happening and the whole time I couldn’t open my eyes, even though I kept trying to. Finally, I started shaking a lot and was able to talk and open my eyes.
During that time, Austin was able to see that as soon as they administered the Benadryl my blood pressure shot up to 213/111 and then dropped to 90/50 when they gave me the fast acting blood pressure medicine. After a few more minutes of being stable, the doctor said I was very sick and would not get better unless I delivered the baby. Since I was stable, she felt she didn’t need to do an Emergency C-section.. and wanted us to discuss how to deliver.
About an hour later the nurse started the Magnesium to prep for delivery. She told Austin and I that they were glad I was ok, and that it was very scary for them. They thought I was slipping into a seizure (Eclampsia).
The rest of the delivery went smoothly and everything I could have asked for as far as encouragement and support from the medical teams. Coen was very healthy considering all that we went through and him being 6 weeks early.
I truly believe My doctor saved my life by sending me to the hospital that day and thankful that both of us followed our “gut instinct” on how I was feeling. If it wasn’t for her fast action and caring, both Coen and I may not have ended up being here.