Charlotte Varcoe
AT 38-weeks pregnant Mount Gambier/Berrin mother Tanya Knight was sent to the Mount Gambier and District Hospital to be induced with her second child.
After a breezy first pregnancy, Ms Knight was surprised to be diagnosed with pre-eclampsia with her second child, something which she described as terrifying.
“I had high blood pressure and I also had a whooshing sound in my ears,” Ms Knight said.
“I ended up having to get my blood pressure checked twice a day to make sure it was constant but it was constantly high.”
Ms Knight said she was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia at 32 weeks and was told she was to be on bed rest until the end of her pregnancy.
“It was incredibly hard to be on bed rest because I also had my son who was at kindergarten,” she said.
“I found it extremely tough to stay in bed so I tended not to and because of that my blood pressure kept going up which was when they said to me if I did not stay in bed, I would be going to hospital.”
Luckily enough, Ms Knight’s mother was able to come down from the Riverland and assist her with the rest of her pregnancy.
“I was originally told to prepare for a caesarean section but I lasted until 38 weeks before my blood pressure skyrocketed again,” she said.
“I knew it was high again because I started getting headaches and I knew as soon as the headaches started to come back, my blood pressure was high again.
“I also knew because I would get out of bed and I would just feel terrible but the scariest thing I found was I would worry all the time about the baby but the more I worried the higher my blood pressure would go.”
Ms Knight said her second pregnancy was very difficult due to pre-eclampsia with severely swollen feet and feeling quite ill and exhausted for most of the time.
“Pre-eclampsia is glossed over a bit because they tell you to rest and go to bed but realistically you can’t, especially with young children at home,” she said.
“I also found it difficult to shift the baby weight after having pre-eclampsia and the swelling as well.
“After having my first child, I took him for a walk in the pram two days after coming home, yet with my second I found it difficult to get up and feed her because I felt exhausted and my body felt very weak which made me feel disappointed.”
Although Ms Knight’s experience with pre-eclampsia was more than 20 years ago, she said she still believed it to be overlooked among pregnant women.
“Pre-eclampsia is scary, it is terrifying because I always had a worry from the night until the morning when the nurse wasn’t checking my blood pressure,” she said.
“When I tell people I had pre-eclampsia they often don’t know what it is or just nod and they don’t realise how serious it can be.
“Eventually the pre-eclampsia did start to put my kidneys under pressure and there was protein in my urine, my liver was fine but they were worried about kidney stones and I had to drink a lot of water as well.”
Ms Knight said despite having pre-eclampsia, her experience with the disease at the Mount Gambier and Districts Hospital was wonderful.
“My midwife was amazing and she understood what was happening,” she said.
“They did tell me I would most likely have pre-eclampsia again with my next pregnancy but I was lucky and didn’t, I had a few complications and my blood pressure was up a bit but it wasn’t pre-eclampsia.
“People do need to understand how dangerous pre-eclampsia can be and we really do need to get it out there that it is serious and scary.”