i delivered csection on 3/14. have had high blood pressure for 7 years (am now 33). This was my first child, only gained 20lbs (am overweight anyway)...no swelling, bp well controlled. I was loaded with fluid prior to the delivery, including hespan, as the anaesthesiologist said she didn't want me to bottom out. After that i had a lot of blood loss, and was given major iv fluids. Saturday night was transfused with 2 units of blood. All in all, my records indicated i was given about 12000ml in 60 hours, including the volume expander Hespan. By sundady night i was so swollen and was hearing fluid in my ears...they disconnected me. Within 6 days delivery, i woke up couldn't breathe and was back to the er, heart failure. They drained 20lbs of fluid off immediately, and did an echo, ct....no clots, and echo was clear of any abnormalities. The cardiologist and my htn doc said it was probably stiffness due to chronic htn. The cardio made no follow up appts and said i shouldn't worry about having more kids. my htn said it was probably an isolated case.
Unfortunately for me i am scared to death. Nurses i work with say i received way to much iv fluids in too short a time, and therefor was simply overloaded, could have been worse had i not known what the spitting up pink tinged mucous was about, and the breathing difficulty.
MY question is, could it simply have been volume overload, would any other person (not a chronic hbp) have had similar problems with all that, and am i probably safe to have children again. MY ejection fraction was 55-60% on the echo, btw.
thank you for any input.
MootsClair