I am sharing my story to hopefully help educate others about postpartum preeclampsia. I have had chronic blood pressure since the age of 25. Because I knew of the risks of high blood pressure in pregnancy, I took two years to try and prepare my body for pregnancy. I exercised faithfully, dieted, and was in the best shape of my life. While my blood pressure did drop some, I still had to take medication. When my husband and I decided that we wanted to try and get pregnant (I was 30), I went to the doctor for a pre-conception consultation. I was put on medication that was considered safe for pregnancy and after two weeks off of the pill, I was pregnant. I was determined to stay healthy for this baby.

The pregnancy went fairly smooth as far as my blood pressure was concerned. I was careful not to gain too much weight; I rested as much as possible, and I took my medication. I did stop exercising because I was so nauseous and tired. At my 20-week u/s, we had a scare with low amniotic fluid. After a trip to a perinatologist, everything was deemed fine. My bp did spike a few times during this time, but I attributed it to stress over the baby