My name is April and I am 31 years old. When I was 18 I had preeclampsia and didn't know it until it was too late. Now let me start out saying that my baby and I both survived and he is 12 years old now! I had gained 100 pounds during my pregnancy and my doctor didn't uncover that something was wrong until 2 weeks before my due date. At the end of my pregnancy, I was gaining 12 pounds a week! I was extremely swollen! You could touch my leg and it would leave a dent for a long time. I was dilated... Read more

    Hi my name is Heather and just lost my little boy 4 weeks ago to Preeclampsia.  A disheartening disease that can effect any woman at any time! Preeclampsia is still so new to me. I have tried to read as much as possible and get my self educated about this disease.      I had just come upon my 24th week and went to the doc, on a Wed.  My blood pressure was a little high and I had 2+ urine. The doc looked at me and said we are jus... Read more

Hi my name is Laura. I had my son when I was 20. It first started off by the doctor told me I could never have kids because I have cysts on my ovaries and I did get pregnant. In 2003 I gave birth to my premature son, he was 5lbs 5ounces I had preeclampsia from 6 months to 8 months. It was rough, I was gaining 20 lbs of fluid a week. But now I'm pregnant again and I have not had any complications with this one. It's my little girl, I always wanted. Just waiting for her to come my due date is... Read more

Hi,I gave birth to my stillborn son at 39 weeks on September 1, 2008. The condition I was diagnosed with was HELLP. During my entire pregnancy, I was told by my doctor that everything was fine and that baby was doing great. During my pregnancy I experienced lower abdominal pain, which I was informed was ligaments stretching due to the pregnancy. I thought that was weird considering it was my 4th pregancy and I had never experiened such a pain. Towards the end of my pregnancy... Read more

I have a beautiful 10 year old daughter that weighted 2lbs 8oz at birth due to PE complications. She was born at 31 weeks. I had not intended on getting pregnant again but have. When I was pregnant with my daughter I was very much overweight and unhealthy. Since, I have become healthy with diet and exercise. I have been walking 5 - 6 days a week. I am 21 weeks along and am praying that exercise will help fight against PE. My blood pressure is great so far. Can anyone tell me if exercise does hel... Read more

WELL WHEN I WAS 37 WEEKS MY DOC TOLD ME THAT I HAD PREECLAMSIA AND THAT I HAD PROTEIN IN MY URINE AND MY BLOOD PRESURE WAS A LIL ELEVATED LIKE @ 138 /88 SO THEY SEND ME TO THE HOSPITAL TO HAVE MY BABY SUPPOSTLY THEY TOLD ME THAT TO CURE PREECLAMSIA IS TO DELIVERY THE BABY WELL THAT DIDNT HAPPEN TO ME MY BP GOT SO ELEVATED ONE DAY GOT SO HIGH TO 189/110 I FELT LIKE I WAS DYING NOW I'M ON LABETALOL TO LOWER MY BP I DON'T KNOW BUT IM 2O YEARS OLD AND I HAV MY BEAUTIFUL BABY GIRL WITH ME I JUST D... Read more

I got my pre-eclampsia in my 7th month of my first pregnancy. The doctor didn't really catch it during that time because I wasn't spilling protein. I only had high blood pressure and rapid weight gain. My normal BP is 120/80 and at my 7th month check-up I had gained 10 lbs in one month and the medical assistant said my BP was a little high but they didn't show too much concern. At my 8th month check-up I had gained another 10 lbs and this time I was spilling 3+ protein and my BP was high. My OB ... Read more

I’ve always wanted to be a mother. Nothing has appealed to me more than being the soccer mom who always had dinner on the table each night. It might not sound like a big time goal to some people, but it felt like the perfect place for me to be. When pregnancy didn’t just happen as I thought that it would I began to worry that dream would escape me all together. Before much time passed, I went to a fertility expert. I had every test imaginable – from general blood... Read more

I was 27 weeks pregnant. It was a Friday, I was auditing at a local workplace. On my way to work, I decided to stop at Starbucks to get a coffee. When I went to read the menu, I had spots in front of my eyes. This happened to me regularly during pregnancy, so I was not concerned. I drove to my audit, not being able to see very well. I proceeded to audit the program for the entire day, with visual disturbances on and off, but no headache. When I got home, my headache started. I laid down,... Read more

Hello, my name is Jenn...I had a normal, healthy pregnancy. There were no complications, I rarely got sick, and was still very active. I went for my 28 week appointment and they noticed I had gained a litlte more weight than I usually had been gaining, and my blood pressure was high. After running further tests, the doctors told me I had mild preeclampsia. I didn't know much about it, but what I did know scared me. I was put on bed rest and had to remain in the hospital under hourly wat... Read more

Mother's Day 2002 started out as the best Mother's Day ever. After trying for two years to conceive, we were finally pregnant. Up until now, 32 weeks, my pregnancy had been text book. I was right on target for weight gain, never had morning sickness, loved everything about it. Sometime that afternoon, I developed a strange headache. I remember when I first felt it, my in-laws were leaving and I leaned in to hug my father-in-law and the left side of my neck seemed to ache like a stra... Read more

I have two beautiful children and had PE with both. I was diagnosed with PE at 34 weeks with the first and made it to 37 with still mild PE. The second pregancy wasn't so easy. I was diagnosed at 29 weeks with mild PE. I stayed completely stable until 36 weeks at which point all hell broke loose. I went into my usual NST appt Monday morning and was told to go to L&D. I'd had a headache with light sensitivity since Sunday and my blood pressure was way up. I drove to the hospital, with trepida... Read more

Hello my name is Gricel,I just stumbled across this website while doing research on getting pregnant again after PE. I just lost my son to PE on June 18, 2008 at 6:39 pm. My son Davian was 6 months and 4 days old. It has been very difficult to get over this loss. I`m only 23 years old and felt so ready to be a mommy. I had so many hopes and dreams with my son, holidays planned and trips already scheduled. He was so beautiful even more than I had expected. He is my little angel and until ... Read more

I gave birth to my son 18 years ago. I was diagnosed with preeclampsia 2 weeks before my due date. I was hospitalized for 5 days and then went home to bed rest. At another Ob appointment I was put back in the hospital to stabilize my condition and then induce labor. I was full term by then. During labor I had a high fever, my kidneys failed and I had double beating reflexes which, I was told, indicated the risk of convulsions. My son was now in fetal distress. When he was born he had blue... Read more

When I was 17 I found out that I was expecting a son, scared and excited I started in on the 9 month journey and was looking forward to welcoming him in August 1998. In March 1998 at 20 ½ weeks of pregnancy, I developed an early onset of HELLP Syndrome so severe that delivery induction was required. I had such severe upper abdominal pain that I was taken to the ER and they just chalked it up to really bad heartburn. After the demands of my mother the Dr.'s finally ordered some blood ... Read more

Hello, I am a 24 year old that was diagnosed with preelcampsia/hypertension at 28 weeks I was put on strict bed rest but almost had to deliver my baby girl then. However I had great doctors that caught this very early. I was going to the docs 3 times a weeks getting NSTs and doing 24 hour unrines and blood draws but at 31 weeks and 6 days, I had to have and emergency c-section. The protein in my urine was extremely high and I had a non-stop headache where my doc said thats it we can't wait a... Read more

Hi everyone,My name is Brandi and my daughter's name is Madison. I would like to share my story with you all.I found out that I was pregnant in July of 2006. The pregnancy was going good, and then I went in for my checkup and I was about 36 weeks and my bp was high. So my doctor wanted to monitor me for an hour to see if there was any changes but the bp was still high. My doctor said to me,we need to induce you. I was induced at 1 o'clock pm on March 1st and I had a healt... Read more

It started off as any other normal pregnancy, my sister in law went through the morning sickness - the swollen hands, the weight gain, everything that comes along with getting ready to have a baby. There were points in time after she was 21 weeks through where she would feel dizzy and she couldn't see straight. When her doctor had told her what it could possibly be she didn't make a full diagnosis.  My sister in law had then again not been gaining any weight, she had been losing weight. Tha... Read more

HELLO MY NAME IS BRANDI AND I AM 22 AND I FOUND OUT THAT I WAS PREGNANT WHEN I WAS 21 AND I WAS THE HAPPIEST PERSON IN THE WORLD. I HAVE TRIED TO HAVE BABY FOR ABOUT TWO YEARS AND THEN IT FINALLY HAPPENED FOR ME. MY PREGNANCY WAS GOING SO GOOD, I WENT TO MY OB CHECKUP I WAS 37 WEEKS AND I WAS 3CM DIALATED AND 75% EFFACED BUT MY BP WAS HIGH AND MY DOCTOR WAS WORRIED SO SHE WANTED TO MONITOR ME FOR AN HOUR BUT THERE WAS NO CHANGE SO SHE SAID I HAD PREECLAMPSIA AND THAT SHE WANTED... Read more

At 28 weeks I started to gain weight rapidly. It was out of control, my hands and legs were getting so big that I couldn't do normal functions. I called my OB and he said that I needed to cut back on the salt, and elevate my legs when I could. But I knew my body, and something was not right. By 31 weeks I had gained almost 50 lbs in a month. I had my usual checkup and the doctor finally decided to check for preeclampsia. He sent me home to do a 24 hour urine test. The next day I droppe... Read more