We've spent the summer catchin up on Downton Abbey (thanks Amazon Mom for the free prime videos). Its a great little series, lots of drama, even Gene likes it!
Anyways, in the last episode we watched (SPOILER ALERT: if you haven't watched any of them yet, do not go on!!!!), the youngest sister died after child birth of eclampsia.
This got me thinking. I wasn't diagnosed with pre-eclampsia until we went into the hospital with contractions. I had been swollen, but they said that was normal. My blood pressure was never high. There was no reason to suspect it. In the triage area the OB explained that they would normally do a 24 hour urine catch to check for protein, but since I was 38 weeks already, they would just induce labor. I had the other two signs, swelling and high BP, so the urine catch was unnecesarry.
But I did require medical intervention. Which I refer to as Satan's breath. Because it was hot as Hell! The magnesium was awful. It set my body on fire from the inside out. Again, and Again, and Again. (yes caps was needed there).
After watching Downton last night, I'm thankful with the medical advances and the medical intervention. Watching Cybil convulse and then die was really scary. That could have been me. She too showed the pre-eclamptic signs, but in true drama television, of course they argued about it and possible treatments.
Just another reason to hug and kiss my baby a little bit more.
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