I am blessed that the majority of my pregnancy was rather uneventful. I was healthy and feeling great. When we went in for my 30 week appointment on January 13 — things changed. My blood pressure was much higher than normal. They explained I may have a “mild” case of preeclampsia, did some additional testing and sent us home, instructing us to watch my BP and call if it got above 160/110. The week went by, and I continued taking my blood pressure. I was experiencing other symptoms (headache, rapid weight gain, blurred vision) but had thought these were just discomforts every pregnant person dealt with.

On January 21, I woke up feeling different than normal. We took my BP and it was crazy high. After speaking with the doctors on the phone, they advised us to come in. I had a gut feeling something was not right, so I packed my hospital bag just in case. When arriving at the hospital, my blood pressure was 179/120 and they started a magnesium drip right away to prevent seizures. Additionally, I was given the first round of steroid shot for her lung development. I was supposed to get the second shot 24 hours later. However, the next morning the doctor came in and asked, “you haven’t eaten anything yet, have you? Your body is shutting down, and you are going to meet your daughter today.” I was taken immediately for an emergency C-section at 31 weeks to save both myself and our daughter.

I spent an additional 5 days in the high risk OB, two of those days on the magnesium drip as my blood pressure still wasn’t where it should have been. After 48 hours on magnesium, my body started to stabilize, and I was able to meet our baby Paisley in the NICU. She spent an additional 39 days in the NICU and received the best care. We are so fortunate to both be home and healthy now.

I had heard of preeclampsia before, but never knew the severity of it, or that it could be fatal if left untreated. I feel fortunate that our doctor caught it when she did, or our story would have been very different. God was truly with us every step of the way.