[LMB] word thanks

[Elizabeth McCoy]

At 6:44 PM -0500 8/1/06, Lois McMaster Bujold wrote:
>Pre-eclamsia was it, thanks.

(Note that the _really_ up-to-date term is probably Pregnancy Induced 
Hypertension. At least, that's what the "severe PIH" on my med sheet meant... 
Hello, quasi-emergency C-section! Hello, bloodpressure of 180 or 190 over 200,
if I recall the numbers right. Hello, severe edema; I didn't know that 
my knees shouldn't feel _tight_...)

So the progression in terminology, near as I can tell from my prior research,
was toxemia, pre-eclampsia (eclampsia = seizures), and PIH.

The stuff I researched on it said that sometimes the mother would survive
the eclampsia stage if it caused premature birth in time, since delivery of
the child is the only known "cure."

Of course, the child would probably die, since the stuff tended to crop up
around month 7 of gestation and even if the lungs are working (my minx's
were), the suck reflex is _not_ until the 36th month of gestation or so. 

But as a leading cause of maternal death, at least, it was only toppled by 
making medical visits come closer together -- that's why the office visits get 
closer starting at... month 7. Which is, amusingly, when I went in for my 
routine office visit that ended up in the next town over with a level 3 NICU in 
the hospital. (The local one only had a level 2 nursery, IIRC.)

Mind, since the only cure is delivery, that came at a direct rise
in c-sections and induced deliveries. (Mine was a c-section; they were
beginning to detect fetal distress.)

I will attempt to refrain from showing the baby pictures; a pre-eclampsia
baby tends to be very small (the interface between the placenta and the
body is not working right, so they get less nutrition and oxygen), and a
premature baby has very little body fat (that goes on in the last month
or so of gestation). My minx looked like a little space alien, rather than
a chubby term-baby.

Um. Right. Shutting up now. O:>
-- 
--Beth, arcangel at io.com     http://www.io.com/~arcangel/Art/BabyPics