It was about this time when I was 35 weeks pregnant when my blood pressure suddenly shot up very high. It started at around 120-94 and eventually got as high as 115/106. Everything happened very fast and it was decided by my new midwives that my birth was no longer considered low-risk.
Since birth centers are only designed for low-risk patients (and are very very safe in such instances), I was now out of their realm of expertise and needed to be referred to their ob/gyn partners. I was very lucky and was given to the doctor with a lot of experience with birth center transfers. Her practice supervises the center and at the time of my transfer, she was their communicating doctor. She was extremely understanding about my desire for a birth as natural as possible and I felt comfortable with her.
I was very crushed, of course. I felt like my body had failed me. I was unhappy that my body had turned my birth into a medical event, something I never considered birth to be. I needed some time to digest and accept what was happening and I was able to come to terms with how things would progress.
In hindsight, if I had known this would happen, I might have stayed with my original ob/gyn since I liked her so much. But I'm glad I took the chance. My pregnancy had been going so well that there was no way to know I would develop Pregnancy Induced Hypertension. It's just something that happens to a lot moms and nothing you do, eat, or think about causes it. It did end up working out as best as it could have. My original hospital wouldn't have even been able to deliver my baby as early as the new one could have. The resources were much greater staying on the North Shore. And after needing a blood pressure check and being visited by one of the ob/gyns from my earlier practice, I was convinced that I made the right decision to stay with the new doc when she said "Why on earth did you transfer, there is no difference between an ob/gyn and a midwife." That was the cincher for me.
We did try to ride it out for a week when it seemed my blood pressure was dropping but it shot back up again a few days later and I ended up being hospitalized overnight for one night when I was 36 weeks along. I was already on bedrest and at this point, I was pulled out of work for the remainder of my pregnancy. For the overnight stay, I was kept in a room with no stimulation for about 30 hours. No TV or calls and for the first 12 of those hours I was on BP meds. They stopped those when it was determined that it wasn't really going to help me much in the long run.
My blood pressure stabilized and I was sent home with instructions for twice a week visits.
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