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Six months after getting married, I found out I was pregnant. The day I confirmed |
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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 again. Six months after my miscarriage I found I was pregnant again. This time I had a completely normal pregnancy. Only once during the pregnancy did I have elevated protein in my urine. I returned the following day and it was back to normal. My legs began to swell at seven months, but the doctor was not concerned. I delivered my daughter at 38 weeks. She was healthy and we were discharged 24 hours later. The swelling in my legs did not go away. 7 days after delivery I started having terrible migraines. I would take the pain medication I was prescribed after delivery and it was manageable. By day 12, the migraines were unbearable. I called the doctor and was told to drink caffeine. If the pain was not better by the morning, I was to call again. That night my husband called to remind me he had a staff meeting after his shift. I told him I was going to take a shower and go to bed. I couldn't cool off. As soon as I got off the phone with him I got sick and spent the next forty minutes in the bathroom. I don't remember much after that. My husband came home an hour and half later to find me covered in blood, our daughter screaming and I didn't know who he was. At first he thought I had a head injury. On the way to the hospital I had a seizure, while my husband watched. I was given as much medication as they were allowed. My airways collapsed, but I kept seizing. In the ER I had two more seizures before the doctors induced a coma. (The doctors thought I'd had at least 2 seizures at home.) While in the coma the tests came back stating I had developed eclampsia. I came out of coma 24 hours later. I returned home without any further complications four days after that. My husband and I found out we were expecting another baby a year after our first daughter was born. I found a doctor that had experience with eclampsia. Again I had a normal pregnancy. Seven days after the birth of our second daughter I started to experience similar symptoms. I spent four days in the hospital while the doctors tried different medications for the migraines and blood pressure. The migraines continued for six weeks after I was released from the hospital, but I did not have any seizures. We were able to manage the complications. Many women are told about preeclampsia during pregnancy. I did not know I needed to be aware of the symptoms after delivery. I have told as many people as I can so that this experience does not happen to others. Although my daughters and I are fine, this is not the experience I would like for others to go through. I hope that through sharing my story, others will be able to avoid the experiences we have had. |
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