Even now when I think back to the day my son was born, I feel blindsided by what happened. Up until a few days before he was fine and my pregnancy was unremarkable. For several days I was not feeling well – achy, nauseous, headache - but dismissed my symptoms. I was hesitant to call my doctor, but I’m not sure why. Maybe I didn’t think my symptoms were that alarming or I didn’t want to be “that patient. After 3 days my husband said this had gone long enough and it was time to get checked out at the hospital. My blood pressure was high so I was sent home with instructions for a 24-hour urine collection and told to come back for a follow up.

On my way to my follow up appointment, I started to notice leg pain. During fetal monitoring, I watched my arms and legs swell to the point that I had to take my watch off. By this point my leg pain was so bad I could barely walk. I was sent for a Doppler to rule out a blood clot, which it did and then I was sent home. What followed was a sleepless night where I just felt that something was wrong.

The next morning, my doctor called to tell me to get to the hospital immediately for observation because I had preeclampsia. Within a few hours of admission, my kidneys were failing: I was being taken for an emergency C-section. Just minutes after my son was born, he was whisked away to the NICU. Here was this baby boy I had been waiting so anxiously to meet, and I barely had time to kiss him. Since I was on magnesium sulfate to prevent seizures, I was not able to be with my son in the NICU for several days and this was heartbreaking to me.

Delivery was not the cure. For the next week, I remained in the hospital because of the risk of a heart attack or stroke. After a few days the nurses had to draw blood from my feet because the veins in my arms had collapsed from repeated blood draws.

In the end we both were OK. Once we were home, I kept finding myself asking: "How could things change so quickly? How had I never heard about Preeclampsia before? How did I not know the symptoms to be on the lookout for? Why was I so reluctant to call my doctor sooner?"

The following summer, I attended a Promise Walk where I connected with other families with similar experiences. Knowing what I know now, I realize how lucky we are and that I had to do more to advocate for and educate moms.