I am 32 weeks pregnant with my second little girl. With my first, I started noticing around 34 weeks that as my uterus tightened with my Braxton Hicks contractions, I could feel my heart beating in my ears, my head felt like it was in a vice, and I could feel heat radiating off of my face. My doctor didn’t think much of it because my blood pressure was 90 over 50. At 38 weeks, my mom, who’s a nurse, started taking my blood pressure during these contractions and it was 120 over 110, which is apparently a very low "pulse pressure." I went to the hospital and they tried to send me home, because my blood pressure was normal. I made them keep me on the machine and I used nipple stimulation to induce some contractions. When they saw my blood pressure spikes, they immediately induced and gave me a c section 12 hours later. They told me I had toxemia and early preclampsia. The worst part was that they put me on magnesium for three days. It made me feel out of it and have HORRIBLE hot flashes every couple of minutes. I had to cover one eye to see anything because they wouldn’t focus together. It amplified all of my pain. I had to start my daughter on formula because the medicine was passed through breast milk and she came out all drugged out because of it. Now I wonder how long it had been high before I caught it! Now I’m feeling the same way during braxton hicks: heart pounding, head aches and pressure, ears ringing sometimes, blurred vision, trouble breathing. So here’s my question:

Are these symptoms of hypertension or are they just how braxton hicks contractions feel? Did anyone else’s BH feel like this? My mom’s out of town for a few weeks and I’m wondering if my baby and I are in serious danger if my blood pressure is getting that high again. What are the chances I’ll have to be on that dreadful medicine again? Sorry for the long post. I just wanted to thoroughly explain the situation. Thanks for the help.

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