How preeclampsia changed my life

Posted On Wednesday, April 18, 2012  by Lisa Hollister

I am the mom of a survivor of preeclampsia/eclampsia.

My 18 year old daughter came to live with me after having numbness on her right side, weight gain, swelling, "sharp" headaches, confusion and blurred vision. She was 28 weeks (7 months) pregnant. She was told by the small town doctor after staying a night in the hospital and going to her clinic for follow up that she suffered from high cholesterol and migraines, she was 23 weeks pregnant at this point. She had been with me for about a week when one night she said she didn't feel right. She had been having bad headaches over the past few days and was retaining a lot of water. We had planned on making a doctor’s appointment to set up prenatal the next morning. I thought she had been wore out and needed to rest because of the previous living situation that she was in. I thought she would be better after a good night’s sleep. She asked me to sleep with her because she was scared. I woke up with a jolt about 11:30pm with the bed shaking. She was having a seizure. I called 911. By the time the ambulance crew came she was done with the seizure but very disoriented and couldn't talk or move her mouth. Within a few minutes after they arrived she started having another seizure, her face turned as gray as a stone and her lips black, she laid still. The paramedics resuscitated her quickly and rushed her to the hospital. When we got there they took her into a small room and a little while later came out and told me that the baby did not survive.

The doctor said that she was lucky that someone was with her. I had not even thought about the baby not surviving. I was in shock. She delivered a 1.5 pound baby girl 2 days later and named her Amie Lynn. There are no words to describe how it feels watching my daughter go through labor and birth knowing that the outcome is not hearing a baby cry. The stillness and quietness in the room after delivery lasted forever. She spent 8 days in the hospital and after coming home had panic attacks several times a day for months and months. It has been a year now and she still suffers from panic attacks occasionally and fears that she is going to die. I am thankful that I live in a place where there are doctors who know what they are doing and specialize in women so she got the best of care. It has been so hard for all of us.