Six days postpartum....Emergency Room

I went to the emergency room on December 26, 2009, (six days postpartum) the day after Christmas. I had been swelling terribly to the point that it hurt to walk. There were rolls where the fat of my legs met my ankle and foot. It was not even "cankles", it was much worse. I thought my legs looked like tree trunks, thick from thigh to foot. It looked like two legs made up one, that's how bloated and fluid-retentioned they were.
My doctor told me "all pregnant and post partum women swell". Riiiight.
My husband and I took the baby to her pediatrician appointment that day. We had taken her on Christmas Eve, and they were concerned that she had dropped weight (which now, everyone tells me, is normal.) She had been six pounds four ounces at birth, and then 4 days later, was 5lb 10oz. So the visit on the 26th was to make sure she was gaining. They had us supplementing breastmilk with formula to ensure the weight gain. Sure enough, she had gained 4 ounces, making her 5lb 14oz. At the end of the visit, I asked the ped to take my blood pressure, if he didn't mind, because I wasn't feeling well. He obliged, and looked concerned. He said it was 160/110. He told me to call my OBGYN immediately.
I did just that.
My OBGYN seemed thoroughly annoyed when he called me back. (Day after Christmas, maybe sick of hearing from me???)
He asked why did I even have that doctor check me at all? (I was shocked!) I said, because I wasn't feeling well, and I wanted to see if that had anything to do with blood pressure (I was induced for pre-eclampsia, remember doc???)
He said that that reading was IMPOSSIBLE, and that I would be in a hospital had it really been that high. He wondered what kind of blood pressure cuff they used because perhaps it was skewed because they were using a pediatric cuff...(??!!) He seemed annoyed and then stated, if I really thought it was that high, the only place to go would be the emergency room. He told me I ought to head there.
I got off the phone and cried. WTF??!! I didn't want to go to the ER! I didn't want to leave my six day old baby! I didn't want to take her and expose her to God-knows-what! My husband and I hemmed and hawed on how to handle this crisis. Meanwhile, our baby was crying! She hated the car! We decided to have Phil and the baby stay home, and my mom pick me up and take me to the ER.
Fast forward an hour or two later, my blood pressure WAS sky high!! They tested my urine too, but since a woman postpartum those few days, there was no chance of me not splling protein. They determined I had postpartum pre-eclampsia. And they checked the rash. Turns out, they thought it looked pretty serious. They gaave me a intravenous shot of Benadryl and an IV of fluids and labatelol. I was on labatelol for the next 6 weeks. They did not admit me.

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