In 2015 March 01st I gave birth to my daughter (now 10) She is my husband and I’s only child and we are so thankful.

When we found out I was pregnant we were so excited and like most new parents we knew nothing of what lay ahead other than what the doctors and physicians said. We took all the parenting classes and went to all appointments as scheduled.

Every thing seemed to be going well until on a scheduled appointment to see my Dr. He told me that I was overweight and that I needed to loose weight ( I was just 16 weeks pregnant )
I didn’t understand what was going on because he had then sent me to a health care facility for overweight individuals. I remember going to these public programs and would sit in the back of the room learning about weight management and doing weekly weigh ins; I was the only pregnant woman present. In the 3rd week the program facilitator, a woman came to me at break and took me aside and told me “ sweetheart, you don’t belong here… You’re not obese l, you’re pregnant “ I started crying and she gave me a hug and sent me home. I never went back.

I went to 6 month pre natal check up and the Dr. Told me that my daughter was 7lbs and everything was fine. I didn’t feel fine. One night while my husband was away at work I called a girlfriend to pick me up and take me to the ER. I was experiencing excruciating pain in my legs and could barely get in and out of bed and for about an hour had lost half of the vision in one of my eyes. Once there, they checked my blood pressure and routine tests and found nothing out of the ordinary. I knew something was wrong, but everything and everyone said otherwise. It was extremely isolating and painful. My daughter was 2 weeks overdue. When my water finally broke we went to emergency at the hospital where I would stay. I received an epidural and medication to induce labor. After 16 hours of back to back contractions. . I remember telling the delivery physician and my husband that I could not push anymore, my lips were purple and I just layed there unable to lift myself to push…My husband had his arm at the back of my body pushing me up every time I had to push and a sheet was placed over a bar above me so I could hoist myself up if I could muster the strength. I delivered my daughter 9.75 lbs on March 01st. I recall my husbands telling me that his mother commenting on how inhumane the delivery was handled. I also had a 3rd degree tear and 47 stitches.

I was not home for more than 48 hours experiencing unknown complications post pregnancy. I would come down from my room after putting my daughter to bed, as I walked down the stairs to the living area I slowly started loosing motor function in my arms and legs, when I got to the bottom of the stairs I told my husband to take me to the hospital right away as I knew something wasn’t right. By the time we arrived 30 min later I could not keep my own head up and I was in a wheel chair being rushed to the cardiac unit. My husband had to return home without me to tend to our newborn daughter by himself. I was in the hospital for a week on monitor for possible stroke and seizure watch and diagnosed with the rare disorder Post-partum pre/eclampsia. Happening only only in 100 women. My physician told me and my husband that if I were to get pregnant again it would %98.9 most likely cost me my life. The following year, my husband had a vasectomy. We have one daughter our light in a very dark and scary time. 10 years later I still deal with the after effects and the impact this experience has left on my health. I always think about how it would have been different with awareness of this condition and how it could have been prevented with the correct medical care and knowledge.