Hi JessicaHarrison,
I don't know that it is a definite that it will worsen. My pregnancy hinted at pre-eclampsia. Around week 20 my blood pressure rose but they only put me on restricted bed rest. I had no proteins in my urine at that time. Restricted meant I could get up and around the house, but exercise and any house cleaning was out for me. I didn't swell and my reflexes were good at that time. Around week 24, if my memory is good, they found protein in my urine but it was a +1 so they gave me a week. The next week was a trace and then gone the next week. Then around week 33 my blood pressure slowly started going back up and protein in the urine once again raised its ugly head. Again it was +1 so they let me go a week. There was a trace of protein in week 34 and 35 but they didn't raise any red flags. On week 36 and 5 days, my blood pressure went up to 158/118. No proteins, swelling and my reflexes were fine. Dr. decided to induce me any way. Baby is healthy. I am not.
Since the birth 9 days ago, my blood pressure is steadily up and I ended up in the ER 3 days after I delivered. I am now on Procardia or the generic form Nifedipine ER to lower my blood pressure. It is a steady 120/90 range and calls to my doctor have raised any red flags for him.
So I would say, yes it can stabilize, but I would not think they would let you up from bed rest until they are sure the baby can survive outside the womb. In talking to our pediatrician, because technically our baby is a premmie, he said doctors are really concerned about the 37 week full term statement. 38 weeks is more what they are aiming for. The extra week of baking makes a lot of difference. In our case we are lucky our baby didn't need the extra two weeks my doctor had hoped for.
Even though I was not technically on bedrest, just modified rest, I still was a little stir crazy. My laptop became my lifeline to just play on. I also read a lot of books. At first it was regular books, then my husband got me a Kindle from Amazon for our anniversary, Mother's Day and my birthday present. This allowed me to download books in seconds to read. It became my new toy to play with. He also go me a lot of TV series on DVD for Christmas. He knew bed rest was a possibility at 12 weeks when they put me on medication for gestational diabetes.
Ok, I am a wordy woman! Hang in there. You are so close to the finish line and the reward is so great!