Unlike most people’s pregnancy stories, I did not experience morning sickness during my first trimester. I should’ve known it was too good to be true. I began vomiting on November 2, 2022 and vomited up until the day before delivery in February 2023.

Before my delivery, I was hospitalized at 23 weeks due to my blood pressure being at stroke level, but they didn’t put me in medicine, they just discharged me.

At 29 weeks, I began having blood in my vomit. I went to the ER that night and they said everything was ok. The on-call doctor told them to admit me in L&D because my liver enzymes were abnormal, protein was in my urine, and my blood pressure was high. They began scheduling an emergency c-section for that monday, but my reaction to the magnesium was bad so they pushed the c-section up to the next day (Sunday).

Sunday morning came and they began to prep me for the c-section. They poked me so much that my veins would not give blood. They took me to the room and tried veins in my neck and could not thread it through; after that I saw the light. Apparently at that point my heart stopped and I coded. They delivered my baby and got me stable, which led me to the ICU in a coma-like state. I woke up days later with tubes in my throat and a catheter. I still thought it was the same day so I was looking for my baby around the room and in my tummy but she was in the NICU. I couldn’t speak.

My first time seeing my baby was a photo. I missed my golden hours of producing breast milk. I dealt with speech pathology, OT, PT, cardiology departments, etc. The next day I was able to meet my baby in the NICU. When all of the staff met me, they said that me and my baby was a miracle. They said if we would’ve left or never came in both my daughter and I wouldn’t be alive today. I'm forever glad that I listened to my instincts and went to the hospital that night.