Submitted by Sabrina in Fulton, KY
I was due around November 7. At around 5 1/2 months, I’m starting to have some problems with my hands and wrists. I’m told that I have pregnancy induced carpal tunnel and an unusual condition which caused electrolytes to settle into the joints of my fingers. The fluid retention was also starting and my blood pressure was rising quite alot. They had me stop working and lay on my left side for the rest of my pregnancy. I had to check my blood pressure every few hours and go to the doctors office (40 miles away) every 2 -3 days so they could monitor the baby. They would always get me straight into a room so that I could lie right back down when I got there. They hooked me up to the fetal monitors quite often to make sure the baby was ok.
On the October 30 visit, they said that we were going to have to get the baby out, that the baby was fine but that I was not. I went over the hospital and they started the drip to induce my labor around 7:00 pm. At a little after nine, they broke my water and my 7lb 11oz baby girl was born at 11:02 pm. I opted not to have the epidural after all the problems the first time. The contractions from being induced were much harder and faster(crashing one right after the other) than I had with my son. My blood pressure stayed dangerously high and they kept me in labor and delivery for 12 hours after she was born with the cuff on my arm checking it every 10 minutes.
It took almost 2 years to get off the blood pressure medication I had to start as a result of the pregnancy and almost 2 years to get my post pregnancy thyroidism under control. Now all is well and I have two wonderful kids ages 11 and 15!
