My Preeclampsia Experience + Tips For Hospital Bed Rest

preeclampsia pregnancy hospital bed rest

As many of you know, I now have a beautiful and healthy baby girl and we are sooo in love! I shared my pregnancy journey and IVF story here and wanted to share some updates.

Overall, we had a fairly smooth pregnancy. At our 20 week sonogram, we found out we had marginal cord insertion where the umbilical cord inserts at the tip of the placenta instead of the center. Fortunately, our girl was gaining weight and on track, so we monitored it closely and had sonograms about every 2 weeks – which I loved, because I got to see our baby more often!

When I was 34 weeks, I started feeling really, REALLY tired. I knew the third trimester was hard, and I did a lot of sleeping and resting. I didn’t have energy to cook, go out, or anything. Getting dressed to go to work was all I could really handle.

Around 34.5 weeks I started to get very swollen and I couldn’t get any rings off (pro tip: take off your jewelry before you hit third trimester just to be safe) and started to worry that I would be getting them cut off soon. Also, my feet were incredibly swollen that none of my shoes fit, only house slippers, and the only way to get the swelling to decrease was to keep them elevated. Even walking around the house for 10 minutes would have the swelling really increase again.

I decided to see the doctor to get everything checked out. My blood pressure was still stable, but he told me to be cautious. They did a 24 hour urine sample at home to check for protein and told me to buy an at home blood pressure monitor (I used this one). I was told to call the doctor if my blood pressure hit 140/90, but until then to try and rest through the weekend. Also, I have a very low blood pressure in general so this is very unusual for my body.

Monday morning (11/18/19) I woke up and my blood pressure was about 139/89, which wasn’t quite at the number I was told to call for, so I went to work and felt exhausted. I remember walking to the printer was a complete chore, and I was starting to really worry about how I was going to be able to do this another 6 weeks.

By the time I got home, my blood pressure was 150/90 and my doctor wanted me to come to the hospital and spend the night. I burst into tears, but I was also very grateful to know I was in good hands. I called my mom immediately, and she packed her car and drove through the night to get to Dallas – thank you mom!!! My baby shower (read all about it here) had been the weekend before so I had everything I needed, but my house was a wreck, and I was not prepared. Mom to the rescue :)

After a night of monitoring my blood pressure every 4 hours, it was not decreasing. They decided that I would stay at the hospital until our baby arrived, and I was officially diagnosed with preeclampsia.

This balloon was from my baby shower, and it made me smile every time I saw it in my hospital room! It was from Lushra, and it stayed inflated for months!

Most people know of preeclampsia, because it was what Beyonce and Kim Kardashian had – we have so much in common! ;) Preeclampsia means you and your baby are at severe risk of seizure and stroke, and the only cure is to deliver the baby. We really wanted our baby to make it to 37 weeks, so the goal was to lay in the hospital and do nothing to keep my blood pressure low. The crazy thing was that sometimes my blood pressure would spike at 4am while I was asleep, so there really was no way for me to control it, so I laid in my bed and listened to the doctor’s orders. I am so so so grateful for the amazing hospital staff and wouldn’t change it for the world.

At 36.5 week, my blood pressure hit 165/102, which meant it was time to deliver! Around 8PM a stretcher came into the room, they induced me, and by 4PM the next day, I had my beautiful baby girl!

Since preeclampsia kept me on bed rest in the hospital for 10 days, I had to find ways to keep myself occupied and comfortable. From what to pack to my favorite games, today I wanted to share my must-haves for hospital bed rest. Keep reading to learn more:

Click the items above to shop or scroll below

WHAT I USED:

Laundry bag– this is a must! I needed to make sure my clothes didn’t get mixed in with the hospital towels, so this kept everything sorted and easy to pack when I left.
Mattress topper – The hospital can tell you the exact size needed, but a little extra cushion is so nice when you spend so much time in bed. I left mine at the hospital to be trashed, so you don’t want to spend too much on it.
Toiletries – Pretend you’re going on vacation. I figured I would use their soap and shampoo, but it was really nice to have my own items.
Dry shampoo – Even though I did not do anything during the days, my energy level was really low that I didn’t want to shower daily. Dry shampoo gave me a quick refresh without the effort of a full shower and blow drying.
Contacts – Sometimes I wanted to feel a bit more put-together, so it was nice to take a break from my glasses
Target button down sleepshirts – I changed pajamas about twice a day. These were great when I was pregnant, and also post-baby for breastfeeding. Buy as many as you can! They are sooo soft.
Journal – You will want to remember this journey.
Knee socks – I wore compression leg machines through the night to prevent blood clots, and having a very tall sock made them much more comfortable.
Chapstick for the dry hospital air – Neutrogena Hydroboost is the best, trust me I tried ALL of them
Snacks – It was great having fresh fruit too so I tried to keep a few apples in my room.. and Live Love Pop was my other favorite! They provided saltine crackers, but these got boring really fast!
Face masks – Definitely bring sheet masks, so you can throw them away easily
Face moisturizer – Neutrogena Hydroboost was my favorite. It’s a great price, so you can really lather it on all day and not feel guilty like you’re using a pricey La Mer cream.
Eye mask for sleeping – This is another must! The nurses come in your room at all hours, so having a mask to keep it dark makes it much more enjoyable. Silk masks are my personal favorite! (Read more benefits of silk products here)
Fake candle – This might sound unnecessary, but when you never leave your room you really want it to feel special. You can’t have a real flame in the hospital, but it was wonderful to turn on my candle at night and have a little flicker in the room. It was very peaceful.
Decorations, picture frames, flowers, etc – Making my room feel homey made it a lot easier. I was so grateful for all the flowers my friends and family sent, and I will definitely remember this if I have a friend on bed rest too!
Amazon Fire Stick – If your TV has an option to plug in a Fire Stick, it’s nice to be able to watch Netflix, Disney +, etc to pass time and stay distracted!

WHAT I DID NOT USE:

My own towels. I used about 4 hospital towels and got them washed daily which I preferred.

SUGGESTIONS:

Ask the staff to change your sheets as much as you want. The standard was every 2 days, but sometimes I had them changed daily.
Bring a coloring book or puzzle – I didn’t do this, but I heard a lot of other girls on the floor did!
Read a book to pass the time – This is a really easy read and very appropriate!