I had never heard of preeclampsia until last November, when a routine third‑trimester appointment changed my life. After checking in, I was immediately sent to the hospital and diagnosed with preeclampsia with severe features. Instead of putting together the nursery and enjoying the holiday season, I was on magnesium drips, IV blood pressure medications, urgent conversations with my doctor about delivering my baby, and talking to a neonatologist about what we could expect with premature baby and NICU. I was barely 30 weeks pregnant and terrified.

I ended up hospitalized on bedrest and monitoring with the goal of reaching 34 weeks for delivery. Preeclampsia can progress rapidly- which is what happened to me. I am so proud of my body for holding on and fighting its hardest until it couldn’t. I delivered my daughter at 33 weeks in an emergency c-section. My delivery would be followed by admission to the ICU while my baby girl was in the NICU. Days passed before I could finally hold and meet little love. Absolutely nothing about my pregnancy or birth went to plan. Preeclampsia took so much physically and mentally from me during this time of what should have been the best time of our lives. It will also follow me into the future with higher risks of a laundry list of complications.
To anyone pregnant if you feel anything is off, have symptoms of any disorder such as preeclampsia please advocate for yourself. I had symptoms such as swelling, exhaustion, and nausea past the first and second trimesters I had chalked up to just another uncomfortable thing being pregnant. These are not normal and I wish I had advocated before finding myself very sick.