Preeclampsia

Assalamualaikum,

Today, I would like to share an info related to pregnancy and postpartum disease called "preeclampsia". Why do I want to share this, later I story-story keh.. Hehehe..

What is preeclampsia?

Preeclampsia is a disorder that occurs only during pregnancy and the postpartum period and affects both the mother and the unborn baby. Affecting at least 5-8% of all pregnancies, it is a rapidly progressive condition characterized by high blood pressure and the presence of protein in the urine. Swelling, sudden weight gain, headaches and changes in vision are important symptoms; however, some women with rapidly advancing disease report few symptoms.

Typically, preeclampsia occurs after 20 weeks gestation (in the late 2nd or 3rd trimesters or middle to late pregnancy) and up to six weeks postpartum, though in rare cases it can occur earlier than 20 weeks. Proper prenatal care is essential to diagnose and manage preeclampsia. Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH) and toxemia are outdated terms for preeclampsia. HELLP syndrome and eclampsia (seizures) are other variants of preeclampsia.

Globally, preeclampsia and other hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are a leading cause of maternal and infant illness and death. By conservative estimates, these disorders are responsible for 76,000 maternal and 500,000 infant deaths each year.  

Signs and symptoms

• No Symptoms
• Hypertension
• Proteinuria
• Edema (Swelling)
• Sudden Weight Gain
• Nausea or Vomiting
• Abdominal (stomach area) and/or Shoulder Pain
• Lower back pain
• Headache
• Changes in Vision
• Hyperreflexia 

(Source : http://www.preeclampsia.org/)

Basically, that is some information of the disorder called preeclampsia. Do visit the website yeah? There's a lot of information regarding it that u'ols can gain from there, especially for the expecting mothers.. 

Ok, back to why I suddenly wanna share bout this! Unluckily, I had this disorder when I was pregnant with Faris. Ceritanya begini, Everything went ok *err,not really..Something happened on my 28th week of pregnancy, but will tell bout that later lah!hehe..*, until my regular pregnancy check up with my gynae on 1st of March. Masa check up tuh, my blood pressure dah start spiking high. Reading was 156/88.. Doc conveyed her concern, that my BP was way too high from normal reading. But by then, the urine test was still satisfying. 

So, she checked the baby, Alhamdulillah, baby was ok.. Since she couldn't be sure whether BP spiked hari tu je, or memang dah ada tanda-tanda, she ordered me to write down my BP every 2 days and monitor baby's movement. Oleh itu, I terpaksa borrow BP monitor machine Pn Dyana n Enche Totoi *luckily ada kawan2 yg ada leh pinjam.. Kalo tak,jenuh la nak ulang alik klinik cek BP..Hehehe*..

Since machine tu dah ada kat rumah, I check hari-hari je lah.. Lepas bagitau my mom perihal BP tinggi ni, mama pon menggunakan kuasa veto nya mengarahkan kami anak beranak duduk rumah dia je since then.. Dia susah hati kot I was too tired handling Fatin on my own, since hubby selalu balik malam. Kang collapse sorang-sorang kat rumah dengan Fatin, camano?

So next check up, on 13th, doc pon check lah my BP chart. Memang constantly lebih daripada normal reading. Pulak tuh, urine test hari tu, FAIL! Dah ada protein in my urine.. Dia tanya, ada headache tak? Ada, but not constantly. Ada rasa pedih hulu hati tak? Ada,di malam-malam hari..

Doc dah geleng-geleng. Tapi dia nak check baby dulu.. Alhamdulillah, syukur nikmat, baby masih ok. Kicking like usual. Masa dah scan tu, she checked my legs. Memang lah kaki dah bengkak bagaikan belon dah. Then dia cakap camni:

"Barang baby dah ready dah sume?",

I answered, "Alhamdulillah.. Baru je buat last round shopping yesterday..",

She smiled, the she said,"Mama dah ready?",

I macam terkebil-kebil lah jugak kan. Apakah petandanya ini..?

Then only she said, she wasn't happy with my condition that day and the past week. She said, kalau BP tinggi, dia ok lagi, tapi once dah ada protein in urine, dia dah susah hati. Plus I dah ada other symptoms. And since, I was already 38weeks, and baby dah engaged, she didn't want to take the risk to wait anymore longer, malam tu jugak dia admit kan ward and scheduled for me being induced early in the morning the next day...

Oleh itu, lahirlah Muhammad Faris Rusydi on 14th of March tu... Alhamdulillah, syukur, no complication.. Faris and Mama selamat inspite of being diagnosed to have preeclampsia..Syukur juga sebab the symptoms showed at my last weeks of pregnancy.. Kalau terawal, satu hal pulak kena c-zer and baby pre-mature. Jadi Alhamdulillah la, ngam-ngam choi.. Sesungguhnya Allah tu sebaik-baik perancang kan?

So,k lah.. Next time I post pasal kisah 14 march plak! Wahh..gitu.. Dramatik je tajuk kan?Hahaha..

Kawan-kawan yg expecting, take care of yourself ok.. Harap-harap u'ols tak ada lah symptom preeclampsia ni *Naudzubillah hi minzalik*. Though nampak macam notin, but actually, if severe, mmg boleh membawa maut to the mother & baby. Jadi, do take care ok!

Bye, wassalam.

Loads of love, 

* Farah Jasni*