I had my 35 week checkup on Friday and my midwife seems to think that i have preeclampsia. they did blood work and i haven't heard back from them yet. But my blood pressure was really high, i guess i had gained a significant amount of water weight, and i had protein in my urine. So she put me on bedrest until I deliver, and she told me that they might deliver the baby early. which i'm fine with as long as i don't have a c-section, I can breastfeed her, and of course she is healthy. If i do have preeclampsia they are going to admit to the birthing center so my midwife can monitor me and decide when to deliver. I would almost rather be in the hospital, i would just feel better knowing that everything is okay. I have been trying to find articles on babies born pre-term, but most refer to babies that are very premature. But my concern is that she won't be able to breastfeed easily. I'm so sick of being on bedrest already!! And it hasn't even been a week. It's SO boring!! So my questions are... if i would feel more comfortable at the birthing center should i tell my midwife that and see if she will admit me? And also for those mommies that had thier babies at 35-36 weeks was is difficult for them to breastfeed? And also I absolutly don't want them to take the baby out of the room, so if she was to be born now, would they need to?? Sorry if this makes no sense...but it's hard to get concerns and feelings out when you have so much going on. Thanks in advance.
Your at 35 weeks right?? I beleive at 37 you are considered "term"....soo maybe your midwife will wait until then??
They usually do an ultrasound to check on things anyway, so if they thought it would be a problem, ive heard of women being told to go to the hospital instead of a birthing center..
I wish you good luck!!! I know its hard, but try to enjoy your bedrest now, while you have it....you will be missing it very very soon!
Have you seen anything about the Brewer Diet?
http://www.blueribbonbaby.org/ifyouarepregnant/
Basically, its a diet that has been effective in managing high blood pressure during pregnancy. More or less- eat a ton of protein.
Did you ask your midwife what you can do to prevent/slow down the progression of pre-e? She may have more suggestions.
Good luck!
I'm actually 36 weeks, i read that 38 was considered "full-term". The place where I am having the baby is a hosptial that has a seprate birthing center. And my midwife told me that if he movements drop below 10 kicks within an hour to get right to the birthing center. So i've been keeping a close eye on that, and haven't needed to go yet. I just called up to the office to see if they had my blood work back yet, since they said they would call me Mon. and she said she would call me back when she pulled my chart. But never did! GRRR! But i figure if it was bad, and they wanted in the hospital they would have called right? Or are they just overlooking me?
the Brewer diet has never been shown to be effective. Neither has bedrest. In fact, there's no documented treatment for preeclampsia besides delivery.
Having a "near-term" baby (35-38 weeks) is not always like having a full-termer. They tend to drop their blood sugars, have trouble maintaining their body temps, are at high risk for jaundice and tend to be crappy feeders at first. They're just not quite there, but they get there very quickly. Most (not all) of the near-termers we have at our hospital do get supplemented either after some feeds or initially, but that can be done with pumped colostrum/milk and doesn't have to involve a bottle.
I did have severe PE and HELLP syndrome, and delivered a 36-weeker who never had trouble breast feeding but did end up readmitted with jaundice. We stayed in the hospital for three days with him under lights, but it's otherwise been pretty easy.
good luck! www.preeclampsia.org has a lot of good info and was started by my perinatologist (who is a complete ass but one of the national anuthorities on PE).
I gave birth to my son at 35 weeks 3 days.. while he weighed a whopping 7 pounds and didnt look much like an early baby, he definitely seemed early by his sleeping patterns and feeding abilities, although aside from that he was healthy and able to come home with me. Oh yeah.. you could also tell he was early but his startle reactions and jerky movements (the result of an immature nervous system).. and He never woke up for feedings.. I actually had to awake him in order to eat..
My water was boken and my son was delivered early becasue I also had developed pre-eclampsia and placental abruption.
As far as breastfeeding goes, it definitely is more difficult for a 34-36 weeker to learn to breastfeed.. I tried to breastfeed but my son was just way too sleepy and wasnt able to nurse enough to meet his nutritional needs (I swear he slept his whole first month of life away). Because of his trouble nursing effectively, I started pumping in the hospital after every feeding and was sent home with instructions to feed every two hours and pump for 15 minutes after (w/ a double electric hospital grade pump).. I did this at first, but seriously all I was doing was nursing and pumping.. I'd so much as finish and it would be time to start over again.. Also, in the beginning (first 2 weeks) he was losing weight so they had me supplement w/ formula.. and well, before I knew I had no milk left..
I dont want to frighten you.. it is possible to breastfeed and early baby.. it just takes a lot more work :) If you have any questions feel free to pm me.. and I wish you and baby the best.. your both in my thoughts.
Also.. according to my doctors/hospital 37 weeks is considered term.
oh and one more thing.. I also gave birth at a hospital w/ a separate birthing center.. the birthing center was 3 floors and one floor was specifically designated for antepartum (still pregnant) and moms w/ near term babies (34-36 weekers).. my son was in my room with me the entire 4 days after his birth.. and when he went to the nursery to get weighed and stuff I went along to make sure they didnt do anything I didnt want done to him.. the only way your baby wouldnt be able to be w/ you is if she ended up in NICU (which can happen for 34-36 weekers).. I know because he was nearly 5 weeks early, I had the NICU drs and nurses in my delivery room just in case there was an issue (but there wasnt)..
37 weeks has been traditionally considered term, but a lot of the nursing research is changing that perception, since 37 weekers so often act slightly preterm. Obstetrically, 37 weeks is still term, but in terms of function (nursing research) 38 weeks is considered fully mature.
I was in the exact same situation as you. At 36 weeks I was diagnosed with preeclempsia. I was put on bedrest, but that only lasted about 3 days in my case. My doctor decided to induce me because I was also having really strong contractions that werent progressing labor, but strong enough to do something about.
So my daughter was about a month early, I didnt have too much time to worry about it because the induction was such a spur of the moment thing. She was pretty small, just under 5.5 lbs, but in fine health. We did have some problems with jaundice though, which is common in all babies but especially so in babies born pre-term. The jaundice mainly made her very sleepy, which meant she had a hard time eating hence a hard time gaining enough weight to satisfy the doctors. We all made the decison to continue feeding her at the breast, but also pump and feed her by syringe. (By the way, we still got to go home after two days, we just made extra trips back to the hospital). I didnt end up breastfeeding unfortunately, i pumped so for four months she was fed breastmilk exclusivlely. Once she started gaining weight it hardly made a difference that she was born early!
Im not sure how it will work for you, but they needed to take her out of the room because they had to run additional tests. My husband went along though.
Dont stress about this too much!!! I know its a lot, and thinking about having your baby early brings up A LOT of fears. You will do wonderfully, and have confidence in yourself when it comes to breastfeeding, dont give up even if its more difficult due to a pre-term delivery.