Like many of those involved with the Preeclampsia Foundation, Kristen Simmons has a unique story of survival, but Simmons' case included a very unusual complication. In July 2009, Simmons developed severe preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome shortly before the birth of her daughter Sydney. Sydney was born not breathing, but was successfully resuscitated, while her mother bleed internally, going into multi-organ failure. Simmons ended up needing a liver transplant only days after giving birth and w... Read more

My wife and I met in 2001 during a press event at our company. I had just landed from a devastating divorce; she from a disappointing long-term relationship that hadn't led to marriage. We hit it off immediately. Though I had a daughter from the previous marriage, what I was missing was the sense of family togetherness. What she wanted more than anything was kids. In 2006 we were married in a dream ceremony in Florence, Italy. A year later we were pregnant with our first child and on May 25, ... Read more

I am a severe preeclampsia survivor. I still dream about January 18, 2006.  I vividly hear the shrill of my daughter's heart alarm as her tiny heart has stopped beating from inside me, I feel my body convulse uncontrollably, and I see the panic in the nurse's eyes as she yells for help.  The last thing I remember before the anesthesiologist put me out was staring into the harsh glare of the operating room lights and crying to myself - is this how it all ends?  ... Read more

Hola a todas, les contare mi historia, tenia 27 semanas y cuatro días de gestación, cuando empezó mi calvario, me desembarazaron porque mi presión arterial se altero, ademas que empece con un cuadro de infección urinaria, descenso de plaquetas, en fin un cuadro terrible, el cual conlleva a la remisión a urgencias, y a que los médicos decidan desembarazarme, y me diagnóstican preclampsia Help 1, el médico que me atiende de alto riesgo enfatiza en que va  a tratar ... Read more

I had my first child, Brook-lynn, on February 14, 2007. I had just turned 19. That pregnancy was great! No problems at all. I just gained 90+ lbs, because I took the phrase eating for two literally! Then, I became pregnant with my second child, Cheyenne. Everything with that pregnancy was going great.....or so I thought! About 33 weeks into my pregnancy I started seeing flashing spots in my vision and I grew more and more dizzy. So for about a week I just ignored it and said to mys... Read more

Hey my name is Jessica. I got pregnant when I was 22 years old and throughout my entire pregnancy I was sick 24/7. I found out I was pregnant a week into it so it felt like I was pregnant forever. Anyways through out my pregnancy I was sick day and night the first 2 months I had lost 20 lbs. I couldn't keep anything down and I was in and out of the hospital for dehydration and would stay a day or two and go home. Seemed like no pill would help me. I work at the hospital myself. And I work 12 hou... Read more

My son was born in early March of 2010. I was only 28 weeks pregnant. I had suspected Preeclampsia due to the 12 pounds I gained in two weeks. When a urine test and blood pressure check confirmed it, I cried and cried. I was terrified for my baby, I had never considered prematurity before. I was ambulanced to Toronto and monitored continuously. I felt like a pincushion and was trying very hard to remain calm. My husband stayed with me the whole time in my room. We were trying to wrap our... Read more

I had a "normal" pregnancy other than the fact that I was hyperemic in the first trimester.  I was considered an "elderly" OB at the time because I was 34 years old.  I did not gain a great deal of weight during the pregnancy, only 28 pounds.  I led an active life working as the Supervisor of a small hospital Blood Bank.  I had expected my baby to be born sometime early in June.  It was still May and the doctor seemed content with the progression of the pregnancy, in fac... Read more

It all started Thursday May 13, 2010. It was a day that would forever change my life and the way I look at things. The day before I had a scheduled ultrasound to look at how my baby was growing because I was very small for how far along I was. I had only gained 10 pounds and I was already at week 30. Everything seemed to check out fine and the only thing the ultrasound tech could find was that my little boy was just small for his gestational age. That would all ... Read more

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Hi,Actually I'm looking for ways to prevent preeclampsia from happening again in subsequent pregnancy. My preeclampsia story began during my first pregnancy with my dear son in 2004. He died in the womb at 28 weeks. At that time I didn't know anything about preeclampsia. Then when I got pregnant again with my 2nd son in 2005, I was referred to a specialist. He prescribed me to take aspirin (not sure already the dose), and thanks God, hypertension and preeclampsia did not recur. I deliver my ... Read more

Six months after getting married, I found out I was pregnant. The day I confirmed my pregnancy with a blood test, I lost the pregnancy. I was devastated. One week after my miscarriage, I went in for a routine followup. My blood pressure was elevated. My doctor assumed it was because of the trauma from the miscarriage. I continued to monitor my blood pressure at home and had bimonthly doctor visits for the next six weeks. My blood pressure returned to normal and was told we could try to conceive ... Read more

I was 19 years old, never drank or did drugs was an amazing student athlete in the best shape of my life playing collegiate volleyball when I got pregnant. Like I said I was healthy, took care of myself although young was very responsible and had good prenatal care. Throughout my pregnancy my blood pressure and health were good. I am 41 now and this was some 20 years ago but it all started a few days before my due date. I do remember the only sign of trouble early on was that via sonogra... Read more

My son was born on August 11, 2009 due to severe Preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome. During the beginning of my pregnancy, I had always felt like something was wrong, but no one would listen. Not family nor doctors. They just believed I was complaining about everything and that my symptoms were normal pregnancy symptoms. So naturally i started to believe what everyone was saying. I believed that the things that I was experiencing were normal and they are : Severe Swelling, Very Nauseous, and cons... Read more

My Story - Elissa First, I should probably start off by saying when this all happened it was my due date (2nd August) and at 4pm that evening I was over the field running around with the dog trying to bring labor on. I felt 100% healthy and had been out shopping the morning too. I was at home watching the TV with my mam (we were watching the cottage, I remember how daft the movie was) and I started to feel unsettled ... Read more

Hi. My name is Heather. This story is about my daughter Chloe Leann..... My husband and I found out we were pregnant in October and were excited and scared this pregnancy was not planned but we were happy. In November I had my first appointment and found out I was 8 weeks and everything was good. 12 weeks we had our first ultrasound everything looked good. I was extremely sick for the first 5 months of my pregnancy. I had morning sickness which was really every two hours sickness an... Read more

When working as a labor and delivery nurse one never feels that all the things you watch out for for your patients could ever happen to you. The "rules" of pregnancy, drinking sufficient water, eating healthy, kick counts, etc... all the things done that most of the patients we see rarely do and yet even in doing all these things as one is supposed to the unthinkable still can happen.At work on a Wed, laboring a 36 week ruptured anorexic teenager with only one other nurse available ... Read more

At 22 weeks and 2 days pregnant with my daughter Madyson, I started having really bad pain in my upper right quadrant just under my ribs and in the middle of my chest.  I went to the hospital and complained of the pain and shortness of breath.  My blood pressure at the Emergency Room was 186/104.  I was told I had to be "evaluated" in the ER first then transferred to the OB ward.  I was made to take a pregnancy test saying that they needed to have it in the chart that I was p... Read more

This was my first pregnancy, it was almost perfect.  I never got sick through out the entire pregnancy, I had great blood pressure every time I had a check up I never had protein in my urine.  This story takes place when I was 36 weeks pregnant.Over the past few weeks I was starting to swell all over. I would try my best to prop my feet up nightly but they would swell right back up as soon as I started walking around again. On Tuesday May 18th I started to come down w... Read more

     We found out we were pregnant 3/1/10 with a due date of 9/19/10. In May, during a visit for our ultrasound my high blood pressure was discovered. I was in the hospital for a week while the doctors were trying to figure out exactly what was wrong with me and I was put on Labetalol, transferred to a high risk OB afterwards. I just had high blood pressure and no other signs so the doctor wanted me to come in every 2 weeks to be monitored more c... Read more