My whole third trimester I felt off. I was extremely swollen, exhausted, sore, and miserable. I kept going to my check ups and complaining but they said it was all normal. It always summer time and I had a toddler so the symptoms all made sense. Finally right before 35 weeks I couldn’t take it anymore so I called the OB and told them I didn’t feel right. They asked if I could wait until my appt tomorrow since it was 5PM. I said no. They asked if I took Tylenol or tums and I said that wasn’t the issue. They finally reluctantly said that I could go to triage to get checked out. After hours of tests and lab work they decided to keep me overnight because they didn’t like my blood pressure. The next morning the finally diagnosed me with preeclampsia, admitted me to labor and delivery, and induced me. The induction wasn’t working fast enough and my platelet levels were getting too low and they diagnosed me with HELLP syndrome. I had to get an emergency c-section under anesthesia which was the scariest thing to ever happen to me. I didn’t get to see my baby born or for another 8 hours. He was in the NICU for 12 days and I was in the ICU for 2 days. We are both fine now thankfully but I wish I would’ve known more about preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome and I could’ve advocated for myself more and prevented the scary situation for myself and my baby.