35 Wks Pregnant and Super Swollen

Dr. Tom Brewer has written extensively on this very problem, as others have already mantioned. He explains it much better than I can. Basically, during pregnancy, your blood volume expands, or at least tries to. If your diet is deficient in certain nutrients, the extra blood leaks out of the vessels, into the surrounding tissue which is the swelling you are experiencing. If your diet doesn't improve, eventually you will indeed start spilling protein/ketones in your urine & your BP will start climbing.
Without looking at your diet, I can't tell what you are deficient in. The most common deficiencies are protein, magnesium, potassium, or even sodium. (so, don't restrict your salt, like some have suggested!) Drinking plenty of water should help too, but that alone won't solve the problem unless you are also consuming the right nutrients to keep it in your blood vessels, where it belongs. Hasn't your HCP discussed this with you? Diet during pregnancy is very important. If your HCP doesn't know about the Brewer diet, find one who does! Most all the midwives I know realize the importance of his diet, obs aren't as pro-active diet-wise, as nutrition isn't stressed in medical school like it is during midwifery training. Following the Brewer diet has saved many a woman from toxemia!
As a midwife, I have never had a client who didn't turn it around by improving diet alone. In fact one client who tended to have this dietary deficiency, had all (3) handicaped kids, before she moved to my area.When she got pregnant again, I worked with her on her diet, she went on to have three normal kids, and then had another pregnancy, followed by a clinic doctor, instead of me. She was not given the dietary encouragement I gave her, in fact those docs called it "nonsense". She was induced d/t preeclampsia, and had another handicapped kid! In fact I had consulted with Dr. Brewer himself about her case & he admitted the handicaps were d/t dietary deficiency, so I know his advise works!

ok 1. Stay away from SALT, no salt, no pickles, asparagas has alot of sodium too.
2. Wear support stockings (TEDS) to help keep fluid out of your feet.
3. Wierd one but workd drink water with lemon in it. I went on facebook complaining of the same thing and a friend told me her doctor told her to do this I did it and wow it worked, mind you I gained 60 lbs with each pregnancy from water alone. I know this because in 6 weeks I lost all of it. Who does that who looses 60 lbs in 6 weeks. That is not healthy and it is not like I dieted. I was 5' around and my ankles were not ankles you could not see any bones. My toes were being eated by my foot. It was awful. I had to wear shoes 2 sized bigger and that still did not good. I feel for ya, really I do. My doctor yelled at me all the time I gained like 10 lbs every visit, he was getting so mad, but I did everything I could, until I heard of the lemon thing, then wow did I pee alot.

For starters, you need to stop wearing BAD SHOES. Go buy yourself a good pair of shoes. It truly does make a difference. Also, only wear support hose. I had terrible swelling with my first, with my second, I got the good shoes and started with the hose much sooner and my swelling was only minor. Good support for those feet and legs will make a world of difference. Water. Drink tons of water!

Also, have your hubby rub the water out of your legs and feet EVERY NIGHT. My hubby literally would rub my legs and feet every night and the swelling would go down.

I had pre-e with my second pregnancy very severely...my entire third pregnancy I had a home blood pressure cuff that we bought at CVS that I used every night. Gave me piece of mind. Just don't get a wrist cuff, get one that goes over your upper arm like at the doctor's office.
You can also go into CVS and check on their machine, but those are not always so reliable.
Also, watch the color of your urine...if it is dark, that's a bad sign. If you had any floaters in your vision, headaches that won't go away with Tylenol, pain in your right ribcage or your right shoulder, these are all signs of preeclampsia and you should call your doctor and go to L&D immediately to be tested.
I'm so sorry you're so umcomfortable, but you're almost there...
Good luck!
Oh...and www.preeclampsia.org is a fabulous website with great info on pre-e if you want it.

And...needed to add...for the folks that are recommending the Brewer's diet, please educate yourself. You cannot prevent preeclampsia with a diet. Brewer's diet is patently false and I've spoken with several ACTUAL researchers who dedicate themselves to preeclampsia/HELLP research who corroborate this. Please...really and truly. Pre-e is a dangerous condition and passing on that kind of bad information puts women and their babies' lives at risk. Having suffered through the effects of pre-e myself, it's really an insult to those of us who have survived it to share this kind of false and dangerous information. OK...off my soap box now.

-M

I did the same thing with both pregnancies. It was my salt intake and not enough water. When I started looking at the sodium levels of what I was eating, I was shocked. Sandwich meats, frozen meals of any kind, canned vegies, and condiments like ketchup are very high. Cutting down on sodium helped a lot. I was teaching during my first pregnancy and being on my feet all day made it worse. So my advice, get your feet up during the day as much as possible, cut down on your sodium, and drink lots of water.

Congratulations! :)

I do not think you are being over worried. Is there a lot of sodium in your diet? Try cutting as much salt as possible and see if that helps, If you don't feel better in 4 days, call your doc and insist on being seen. Do not stop eating healthy carbs, just junk food and white bread! Your baby needs good nutrition and so do you - people forget that veggies are carbs too!
L

Hi,
Swollen hands and feet are common at the end of pregnancy, and it can be very uncomfortable. It is very important to stay well hydrated throughout your pregnancy, and so decreasing your fluid intake as a hope of reducing the swelling is not a good idea.
Exercise like swimming can be beneficial because it increases the circulation. You can also try a warm (almost tepid) footbath to get some relief. Talk to your doctor about support hose also.
After 36 weeks you will be going to see the doctor once a week, and he/she will test your bp and urine at each visit.

J. G., ICCE, CD(DONA)

If you're concerned, your care provider should be too. If he or she isn't concerned you should seriously think about firing him or her and finding someone who does care.
Poor diet, as some have suggested, can cause the swelling. Change your eating habits to avoid bad foods and getting all the necessary electrolytes, vitamins, minerals, protein, etc is imperative to your well being and that of your baby. Another tip: submerge your body in water. The pressure on your skin and vessels wills allow the excess fluid to exit your body. You will have to potty a lot afterwards, but that's all your swelling going away.

Also make sure that you are actually eating a lot of protein. This can help with your situation.

To check your BP at home - buy an electronic wrist cuff or arm cuff bp machine. They have them at nearly any pharmacy.

The protein would show up in your urine if you're pre-e. I've had it for one pregnancy, and they started detecting it before my levels were high enough to actually be pre-e. When you're taking your BP my doctor said to let him know or call if my bp was 140/90 or higher.

Are you restricting your sodium? It hides in a lot of foods -- deli meat, for instance. Ever look at the sodium on a subway sandwhich? Its more then half what an average person needs in a day. Make sure you're eating low salt/low sodium... check foods that you eat regularly, some may be higher sodium then you think.

Also - water, water, water. I know it sounds odd, but increasing your fluids is the best thing to do to help your body flush out when you're swelling.

Good luck. Sorry you're uncomfortable. You don't have long to go.

Good advice from Heather! I was huge the last 3 months of my pregnancy, and I was drinking almost a gallon a day. My blood pressure was perfect. My dr. told me to add lemon to my water, and try to lie down for 15-30 min. during the day as well as at night. The swelling continued for a week after the birth, and then I spent a lot of time in the bathroom and it went away!

lemon in your water!
keep complaining! if you don't feel good, you produce stress hormones that can affect the baby!
feel better!
R.

My kids were delivered 6 weeks early because of edema (swelling caused by water retention). If you press your skin and the imprint stays for a second or two you may need to see a doctor. In my case, the swelling continued up my body and they were concerned about my lungs.

1) Avoid ANYTHING salty -- hard, I know;
2) Get yourself some support stockings -- I bought some from Amazon Gabrialla Maternity Support stockings in the higher gauge and they helped with leg, feet, and ankle swelling -- I didn't want to spend the money and time to get the prescription ones and they worked well enough;
3) make sure you don't have any RINGS on so they won't cut off your circulation and need cut off;
4) if your swelling gets worse than it is, call your OB -- you can go into pre-eclampsia even if you weren't before...it happened to a friend and my sister-in-law (check your weight daily -- if the fluid retention appears to cause a weight gain of more than would be normal at this stage of pregnancy, CALL YOUR OB IMMEDIATELY);
5) try to change positions often, walking around, not sitting long, not standing long, etc. might help.

Best of luck!
Mom of 2 and 1 on the way :)

i would check with your doctor again. it can definitely be a sign of toxemia.

I was very swollen towards the end of my pregnancy. Mostly my feet/lower legs, but at least they would be close to normal in the morning. Keeping my feet up helped me a lot. Drink lot's of water and watch your salt intake. If you can find a pool to swim/float in, it can help take some of the pressure off your back. The weight of the baby can press down on veins/arteries that service your legs and that makes the swelling worse. If your Dr says it's alright, you can try some compression stockings (put them on in the morning when you are the least swollen). When I delivered my son I dropped 20 lbs. Over the next few weeks I lost 20 more lbs in water weight. Nursing helped a lot with this, too. I loved being pregnant but it felt SO GOOD to have my kidneys to myself again! You are close to the finish line now. Soon your baby will be here, the swelling will gradually disappear and the sleep deprivation will be the next hardest thing to deal with. You'll be fine!

it's called being pregnant.

I wore a pair of mens ugg slippers.

Sounds like preeclampsia to me. I had bad swelling with my 1st at around 35 weeks. My blood pressure stayed normal til about the 37th week and shot up to stroke levels and I was induced right away. Just because you don't have high BP doesnt mean you do not have the start of preeclampsia. Im also 35 weeks along with number 2 right now and havent had any swelling yet, not even in the ankles. I would keep expressing concern to your doctor. You can buy a BP monitor at walmart for about 35 bucks, they usually have a machine set up in the walmart pharmacy area too.