At my week 35 appt, I had high blood pressure. We kept monitoring for the next week and it seemed back to normal. At my week 36 appt, my blood pressure was back up. I was diagnosed with preeclampsia and sent to the hospital for induction.

By the next day, a perfectly healthy baby girl was delivered at 12:52 PM after about 30 minutes of pushing. My husband ran out to grab some things at home, visit our toddler, and get me a turkey sandwich. During that time I started feeling “off”. I was sweating, I threw up and I had pain in my ribs. My husband rushed back to the hospital to me yelling in pain.

Lots of things happened in the next few hours…my (hero) husband pushed and advocated for something to be done because clearly something wasn’t right. Labs were drawn, I got a CT scan, I went back to sleep but then my blood pressure went down to like 60/40. That’s when a team of doctors rushed in the room.

During delivery, I’d developed HELLP syndrome, and at some point along the way, I developed a huge liver hematoma. Luckily for me, the hematoma was encapsulated within something called the Glisson capsule. This allowed me to avoid emergency surgery, and honestly, probably saved my life.

I spent the next several days in the ICU and was pumped with tons of fluids, blood, and platelets, among other things. I was eventually transferred to a step down unit and discharged after 8 days in the hospital. Full recovery will take months though.

I’m finally home and recovering, but this could’ve ended very differently.