This week’s #dosomethingyummy blog prompt is all about survival. I know all about that!
Typecast’s #dosomethingyummy campaign is all about raising awareness for the fabulous children cancer charity CLIC Sargent and their Yummy Mummy Week which runs from 10th to the 18th March.
I, myself, have never been touched by cancer, although family members have. Some survived, others, sadly, did not. Therefore I, fortunately, can’t blog about surviving cancer. I can however, follow the personal prompt. “Tell us your story of survival. What did you overcome?”
As most of my readers will know I survived pre eclampsia. I beat it. I overcame it. I won!
As many as one in twenty pregnancies are affected by pre eclampsia, which can be very dangerous for both mum and baby if untreated. Even in this modern age eclampsia still claims lives.
Pre eclampsia means ‘before eclampsia’ as it can progress to a more dangerous condition known as eclampsia, which occurs in one in 2,000 pregnancies. Eclampsia can cause fits or convulsions. In severe cases, eclampsia can sometimes cause the death of the mother and/or the baby.
I’ve taken a lot of the content for this post from Tommy’s, a charity giving babies the best chance of being born healthy. Please do have a look at their website for further information about this disease and other pregnancy related illnesses. I’m sure Tommy’s won’t mind one bit if it raises awareness of the disease.
The signs and symptoms to look for are:
* raised blood pressure combined with the presence of protein in the urine
If pre eclampsia gets more severe, more serious symptoms can develop, including:
* headaches
* blurred or altered vision
* severe heartburn
* nausea or vomiting
* confusion
* shortness of breath
* severe oedema (swelling of the face, hands and/or feet)
I presented at my GP’s surgery at 24 weeks with severe oedema and high blood pressure. They dipped my urine, which was clear, but sent me to MAU (Maternity Assessment Unit) at my chosen hospital as a precaution. By the time I got there my BP had gone back to normal (slightly raised but nothing to worry about).
There proceeded weeks and weeks of trips to and from the hospital for monitoring. Extra growth scans. Urine dip tests. Listening to Littlebit (then named Smudge) through the monitor and of course monitoring my BP.
At 26 weeks I was medicated as my BP was rising. I was admitted twice. Once I had + protein in my urine but nothing they were too worried about.
The thing they worried about most was Smudge’s “accelerations”. I had to press a button when she kicked me and they would usually see an increase in a baby’s heart rate. Not with Smudge though. She stayed pretty constant at 145 bpm, whether still, sleeping or doing summersaults. This worried them. A lot. I still don’t really know why 
Then at 30 weeks, during an extra growth scan, they discovered Smudge had stopped growing. My BP was taken again and it was sky high. They also got the first positive result from a urine test +++.
I won’t go into great detail on what happened next as you can read about it in my birth story. But needless to say I survived death.
I don’t remember much. I was told I had gone into medical shock as they were taking me into theatre. My c-section couldn’t have been better timed. The medical team saved us both.
All through it I felt pretty much ok. My only real symptoms were severe oedema and high BP.
During my post op stay at Kettering General Hospital (I was readmitted here only a day after being released from George Eliot Hospital as I had become quite poorly again) I also had a mild headache and “floaters” in my eyes but again this was quite mild. I suppose that is why pre eclampsia is sometimes called the silent killer.
All of the above is why we won’t be having any more kids. It is the right decision for us. Women who have already had pre eclampsia in one pregnancy have an greater chance (16 to 25 percent, and 55 percent if their previous baby was delivered before 28 weeks) of developing it again in a next pregnancy.
I don’t want to have to survive again, once in a lifetime is quite enough!
