Preeclampsia diagnosis and treatment; Preeclampsia is diagnosed during routine prenatal appointments when healthcare provider checks a women’s weight gain, blood pressure and urine. If preeclampsia is suspected, the healthcare provider may order blood tests to check kidney and liver functions, suggest a 24-hour urine collection to watch for proteinuria, or perform an ultrasound to look at the size of the fetus and assess the amniotic fluid volume. Preeclampsia can be categorized as mild or severe. Mild preeclampsia is diagnosed when an individual has high blood pressure plus high levels of protein in the urine while severe preeclampsia is diagnosed when an individual has symptoms of mild preeclampsia plus signs of kidney or liver damage, low platelet count, fluid in the lungs, headaches and dizziness, and visual impairment.

Preeclampsia treatment depends on how severe the symptoms are and how far along a women is in pregnancy. This means that if a woman is close to full term that is 37 weeks pregnant or more, the baby will probably be delivered early. Although women can still have a vaginal delivery, sometimes a Cerean delivery (C-section) is recommended. The healthcare provider may prescribe medication to help the fetus’s lungs develop and manage the blood pressure until the baby can be delivered. Sometimes it is safer to deliver the baby early than to risk prolonging the pregnancy.

When preeclampsia develops earlier in pregnancy, the pregnant woman is monitored closely in an effort to prolong the pregnancy and allow for the fetus to grow and develop. However, women who experience this usually have more prenatal appointments, including ultrasounds, urine tests and blood draws. If you are diagnosed with severe preeclampsia, you could remain in the hospital until you deliver your baby. If the preeclampsia worsens or becomes more severe, your baby will need to be delivered. During labor and following delivery, people with preeclampsia are often given magnesium intravenously directly into the vein to prevent the development of eclampsia. MLA