How much information is too much?

[ActionPre-eclampsia]

Some people think having too much information can scare pregnant women and their partners. How much information do you think pregnant women need about pre-eclampsia? Does it help to know how serious pre-eclampsia can be (i.e. it can cause the death of mum and baby) or is that too alarming?

[aydee]

If the information can save a person's life then, in my opinion, it is vital to share it. Pregnant women and their families are mostly adults who understand that, rarely, pregnancy can put lives in danger. Knowing how serious a condition may become, might encourage someone to act upon a symptom they would otherwise ignore. I think this is especially true in a condition like pre-eclampsia where early diagnosis and action can prevent death. A sensitive and considered approach can inform people without alarming them unnecessarily.

[Jayne1972 in reply to aydee]

I totally agree with what you say. Alot of people don't realise what the tests done at antenatal appointments are for. I know I didn't. I wish I had known about pre eclampsia and the signs to look for and why and what the tests were for and also what the outcomes could be if you got it and maybe I would have seen a doctor sooner and things may have been different in my first pregnancy. In the 2nd pregnancy I knew exactly what to look for and when to see a doctor and although the pregnancy wasn't great and my daughter was prem with the right medical intervention at the right time my daughter was fine.

[labetalolxx]

As a midwife, I feel that women with hypertension and/or pre eclampsia should be fully informed of the risks of these conditions. Without this information how can they make sense of the clinical decisions made on their and their baby's behalf. Women who understand the rationale behind clinical decisions are empowered.

[aydee in reply to labetalolxx]

Very true, I remember powerlessness and being half-informed as one of the worst aspects of my experience with PET(aside from my baby needing very early delivery of course x)

[Kathrynwwjd]

I think there is a great need for further information. I lost my baby at 24 weeks due to severe pre-eclampsia. At the time I had no symptoms and the condition was only picked up on a routine hospital appointment. Looking back I was showing symptoms such as swelling on the arms, neck and face but as this was my first pregnancy I thought these were just normal pregnancy symptoms.

[mccrohon in reply to Kathrynwwjd]

i know you posted this a while ago but did you go on to have any more children after loosing your baby? i lost my little boy at 26 weeks and 5 days. i had gone to hospital only the week before for reduced movements and everything ended up being fine and no signs on pre eclampsia. i then went in the following week for reduced movements again only to be given the devastating news that my little boy was gone. apparently if i hadnt gone in that day i could have died as well as blood pressure was so high. just want to know if theres any hope for having another baby one day?

[AntheaS]

I was told by the senior sister midwife at 29 weeks (when my blood pressure had gone awol and then been controlled by methyldopa and then awol again and higher dose of methyldopa) that I just had pregnancy induced hypertension and she's see me at 41 weeks! - luckily I was then seen by a consultant (just before I was being sent home) who had been trained by Prof Redman who did some tests (mainly very straight forward ones on my reflexes - easy and free apart from the consultant time) who I was expecting to send me away and he said "You are seriously ill, you need to have some steroids for your baby's lungs and you are not going home until you have had this baby which will be in the next 2 weeks". I am so grateful to him as he was spot on - I had a placental abruption 10 days later. Given we live in a rural location the outcome for both my son and I could have been very different had I been at home then and of course the steroids helped my son's lungs enormously and he never had to be ventilated even at 31wks 1 day - just c - pap -anyway the moral of the story is I think the midwives need more information too and to maybe be trained to do the reflex test too if there is any suspicion at all...

[Guinevere_Clark]

I agree information is vital and can save lives, it should be available at ante-natal checks as a mandatory requirement of ante-natal care. Any woman would surely rather be armed with the facts rather than kept in the dark about a condition that could harm her and or her baby, it makes no sense to withold information. I am campaigning for better delivery of written information within my local midwifery service following my traumatic experience with pre-eclampsia.

[sidneyo]

For me, the more information the better. Looking back I think I would have found it helpful to have been told a bit more about what was happening to me and my body in the couple of days leading up to me being induced. I thought I was ok and was upset that I was being induced when I thought I might be able to hold on a bit longer but obviously I didn't realise as I hadn't been told how much my condition had deteriorated.

Before I went into the hospital clinic to get checked out I called my midwife saying that I had a few symptoms (swelling, disturbed vision, pain under my ribs) and I'm grateful that she recognised those symptoms and advised me to go straight to the hospital - putting aside a 10 hour wait in the busy clinic, I was admitted straight away. I've read too many horrible stories of midwives and GPs not recognising symptoms and really dreadful outcomes so i feel very lucky that my pre-eclampsia was picked up when it was and that it was managed even for just another week and that I got to 34 weeks before being induced.