Pregnancy update and question

[danielsmom]

There have been times where I'm just sitting there and suddenly I unexpectantly have to try to control my bladder. Even when I don't really need to go. It's the weirdest feeling! I guess our little ones decide to take nose dives every now and then. Definitely keep an eye on everything, as I'm sure you are doing.

I just wanted to say congrats! Full term! I wouldn't rule out making it to the 14th though... you just never know.

[JB]

Thanks for the responses, ladies! I'm really glad I was just at the park and not at a store, MomTimesThree! I was near a spot next to the lake with lots of duck droppings, too, so even the puddle I left didn't look too out of place Definitely no contractions so far, angieb, so I think it really was just loss of bladder control.

My NST today was good, but my diastolic blood pressures at home have been creeping up the past few days (now in the 80's instead of the 70's). My doctor consulted with the MFM and both agreed that there's no need to treat it yet (even though I only have one kidney I don't have kidney disease, so they can treat me as if I were a regular patient), but I need to keep watching it and if it creeps up into the 90's or if I start to get protein in my urine they will go ahead and deliver. My c-section is scheduled for the 14th anyway, so a week earlier or so wouldn't be a huge deal.

I asked my doctor about the loss of bladder control and she said it happens sometimes when the baby shifts position and puts sudden pressure on the bladder, particularly this late in the pregnancy, but it can also happen if I am feeling anxious or (and this is the bigger concern for me) if I am getting ready to have a seizure. Given my history, she said I definitely did the right thing getting checked out by labor and delivery because seizures are a real concern. My blood pressure was higher than normal when I came in, but she thinks that was probably due more to anxiety and my "white coat syndrome." She was satisfied that my blood pressure came back down when I was at home. She said I could still go for walks, but if I lose bladder control again I should check my blood pressure and come in if it is elevated.

I'm still hoping I can make it to my scheduled c-section date, but the MFM told the OB that I would likely develop PE before I deliver, at the very least some mild form, so I wouldn't be surprised if I go in next week. Still feeling good about making it this far, and looking forward to meeting the little guy soon

[angieb]

My water broke with DS, a pop sound, a gush, another gush, I managed to stay dry the whole trip to the hospital in our brand new car, then the second I stepped into the hospital another huge gush...contractions started soon thereafter.

I've never made it to 37 wks either but with DS the last trimester I had to wear pantyliners or something the entire time, no huge obvious gushes like you describe but it seemed like I was constantly wet. Fun times, and so very sexy. Luckily I've made it to 16 wks so far with my 3rd preg without that problem just yet.

[MomTimesThree]

Wish I had answers for you- I'll be curious what they said at today's appointment. Very different situation, but I know when I was in PTL (so not the case with you- rock on with your full term self! , the contractions made me feel as though I had to go to the bathroom whether I wanted to or not and I had an equally "fun" experience in the middle of a store! Aaah the joys of pregnancy.

Hope it turns out to be nothing and the pressures related to stress of the day...

[JB]

Yesterday I made it to 37 weeks PE free! This is the first time I have made it full term in a pregnancy, so I really don't know what to expect over the next two weeks (my c-section is scheduled for the 14th, they won't let me go past that), and yesterday I had a bit of a scare that I have a question about. Maybe you ladies can help me.

First some background: my home blood pressures have been good for the entire pregnancy (averaging around 129/79), although my pressures in the doctor's office have always been a little higher (varies, but on average around 135/85). The past two weeks or so my blood pressures in the doctor's office have been a little lower, closer to those I get at home. I was on non-pregnancy-safe BP meds when I got pregnant but was able to go off them and stay off them without replacing them with pregnancy-safe meds. Around 28 weeks I developed gestational diabetes and have since been controlling it well with diet alone. My baby is big (at high end of normal - 88th percentile at 36th week) and I have plenty of fluid. My twice-weekly NSTs and weekly fluid checks have all been good.

On Sunday I had a headache and my blood pressure was higher than normal (144/89). It was not as strong of a headache as I was having when I had PE and I thought it was related to a BBQ I attended the previous day (it was really hot out, it tired me out, and I totally blew my diet) so I took some tylenol and drank a lot of water. An hour later my headache was gone and my BP was lower (128/81). Monday I had to go into the birth center to have my AFI and NST because my doctor's office was closed. Everything was great, including my BP (128/79). That afternoon, I had another headache and my blood pressure was 133/87. Once again, I took tylenol and drank some water and my headache went away and my BP went back down (122/80).

So Tuesday arrived and my afternoon BP was good (121/80). After dinner I took my daughter to the park for a walk, and after about 20 minutes, right when I was ready to turn around to head back to my car, I simply started peeing my pants and could not stop. Previously I didn't feel like I had to go to the bathroom, so it really just came out of nowhere. I thought for a minute that maybe my water broke, because I have never had that experience before and really don't know what it feels like, but then I thought that it felt like urinating so much that I must have simply lost control of my bladder. I turned around and walked back to my car, and as I was packing my daughter into the car seat it happened again. I just started urinating and couldn't stop. Both times it was enough urine to make a puddle at my feet (it was really embarrassing but luckily I had pants on that didn't show it and nobody was really close by me when it happened anyway). I really don't know where all that urine came from, because I had gone to the bathroom before I left and hadn't drunk any of the water I brought with me because it was a cool evening. I drove home and called my mom to ask her what she thought. She said I should call my doctor and ask, because even if it wasn't my water breaking I could have a urinary tract infection or something wrong with my kidney (I only have one) and I should get it checked out. So I call the birth center (it was after office hours for my doctor's office, and that's their protocol) and they told me it could be my water breaking so I should come in.

At the birth center they hooked me up to the monitor and the baby was fine. They did not do an ultrasound to check my fluid or a pelvic exam, but the doctor on call thought that my water had not broken because I did not have a continuous leak after it happened. However, my blood pressures lying down on my back were very high (averaging 144/99), and came down some when I was put on my side (averaging 144/79). My OB was called in and she stopped by for a brief visit (her mother had a stroke the day before and she needed to get back to her). She said she wasn't as concerned about my blood pressures being high because they were usually higher in the doctor's office (toward the beginning of the pregnancy when I was more stressed they were sometimes in the 140/90 range), and she knew I was good about monitoring it at home. Also, my blood draw was good and my urine sample only had trace protein, probably due to the fact that it also had a little blood in it. They said that was normal toward the end of pregnancy when your cervix starts to get ready for delivery you can have some bleeding from that. She thought I could go home and if I got high readings there I could come back. This morning my BP was back down to 121/85.

Is it normal to lose your bladder control that much toward the end of pregnancy? I didn't get a chance to ask the on-call doctor or my OB about it. I do I see my OB again tomorrow for another NST and I plan to ask her then, but I thought I'd throw this out there and ask if anybody else had something like this happen. The nurse said it does sometimes happen, and based on my description of how my pelvis was feeling earlier (like I had been riding a bicycle or horse all day) that maybe the baby had dropped and was putting more pressure on my bladder. I'm just concerned about it because my pressures were pretty high when I was in the birth center, and I was just in the birth center the day before and my blood pressure then was fine. I'm just wondering if somehow the loss of bladder control could be connected to the high blood pressure readings, other than the fact that thinking I might be in labor stressed me out a bit.