Lana Part 1 - Just a Follow-Up Visit

Like numerous other pregnancies, sometimes a lab result or an ultrasound comes back outside of the expected normal limits. What typically happens next is to repeat the test a few days later to rule out other confounding factors. This was just a follow-up visit… or so we thought.

Friday - August 14 2015
Earlier in the week, Kelly made her routine monthly visit to her Ob-Gyn (we were approximately 28 weeks pregnant). They wanted her to return a 24-hour urine sample since they found a small amount of protein in her urine, and also because her blood pressure had been slowly trending higher. I assumed they suspected pre-eclampsia, which occurs in roughly 3-4% of pregnancies in the United States. Pre-eclampsia not managed properly can lead to eclampsia and cause to strokes and seizures for the mother, and may cause distress to the baby due to reductions in blood flow.

Kelly dropped off the urine sample and started driving to work. I asked her if the doctor’s office mentioned anything about her blood pressure and she said no. I became concerned because I’ve always known that Kelly tends to be on the lower side of normal with regards to her blood pressure (more on that below). So when her blood pressure readings remained high (the American Heart Association states that a normal blood pressure should be less than 120/80 mmHg), I decided to call the office myself. The receptionist put me on the phone with their nurse practitioner and it went like this:

Me: “My wife just left your office. I was wondering if you were planning to give my wife any medications to manage her blood pressures?”

NP: “Well I see that her BP has been progressively getting higher, but no we didn’t give her anything.”

Me: “Well her BP was 150/105 this morning at your office…”

NP: “Oh yes. You’re right. I see that here. What is her baseline BP?”

Me: “105/78…”

NP: “Oh… I see… Can you tell her to turn back around and head to hospital for observation?”