So that's $10 more in the pot for the Preeclampsia Foundation.
Speaking of which, if I could step up on my soap box for just a moment, I'd appreciate it. This is a women's issue that I care deeply about, and the lack of awareness about preeclampsia is frightening. I'll start by qualifying that most pregnancies and births are healthy and completely natural occurrences in women's lives, as opposed to the medical condition that western medicine assumes. (Yes, I still believe in home births as an empowering, beautiful, nurturing, and safe way to bring a baby into this world!) However, I am still alarmed at the public's lack of knowledge about preeclampsia and the unbelievable void of expertise and communication within the OB/midwifery community about something that happens to 8% of pregnant women.
I was talking this past week with a friend who is 20 weeks pregnant. She happens to have some health issues that seem (anecdotally) to be related to developing preeclampsia and/or HELLP Syndrome (some gene mutations, a blood-clotting disorder). She was asking me all kinds of questions, doing the pregnant woman's mental dance of trying not to be overly alarmed about weird symptoms she's having, and doing what most of us do when we're pregnant and start to have "issues," hoping so badly that everything is "normal" that you dismiss or downplay real concerns. This woman has multiple early symptoms of preeclampsia already (headaches, seeing spots, tingly extremities, slightly elevated blood pressure, weight gain that is unaccounted for by diet), and her doctor doesn't seem at all concerned. As most of us preeclampsia survivors learned the hard way, we, as women, need to take our health into our own hands. Often, doctors don't see the whole picture in the 15 minutes they're with you every few weeks. If you've cautiously mentioned symptoms one at a time from session to session, they might not be putting it all together. (Not to mention the stories I've heard of medical professionals completely dismissing a serious array of symptoms.) Anyway, if you or anyone you know are pregnant and just feeling sort of "off" or unsure about some weird symptoms, I recommend reading through stories posted by preeclampsia survivors on the foundation's site. I also recommend contacting a survivor or joining a support group online to ask questions. Time after time after time I've seen women's collective knowledge, experience and intuition beat out medical care in cases of developing preeclampsia. Bookmark this post for future reference because odds are you will someday know someone who's in the position of wondering as she enters the stressful unknowing time that precedes a preeclampsia diagnosis.
For your reference, there are some symptoms commonly associated with preeclampsia, which I'll list in a second. But before I do that, let me tell you that you that sometimes symptoms are very mild or there are only a couple symptoms present. It's different for everyone.
- Elevated blood pressure (130/80 is the high side of normal, unless you are someone with low blood pressure to start with)
- Swelling / edema / water weight
- Headaches
- Seeing spots / changes in vision
- Pain or pressure in the upper abdomen
- Protein in the urine
- Sudden or unaccounted for weight gain
- Feeling icky throughout the pregnancy (ie - bouts of diarrhea, no "feel good" second trimester, etc.)
- Nausea later in the pregnancy
- Tingly extremities
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