I had the easiest and smoothest pregnancy with my daughter Mollie. I was active almost every day walking multiple miles and was very conscious of my wellbeing and given my knowledge of Preclampsia from my best friend who is an L&D nurse, I always checked my BP at home and it was always normal. At 38 weeks on the dot, I woke up feeling really unwell with a splitting headache and my BP was elevated to 150s/90s. I had a gut feeling that I should go to L&D and I’m so glad I did. I ended up getting induced for gestational hypertension which ended up in a 4 day long induction process and on the 4th day I spiked to full blown preeclampsia and needed the magnesium drip, which was the worst thing I experienced. I delivered vaginally while on Mag and I barely remember the experience I was extremely out of it and confused.

Following my delivery I had a postpartum hemorrhage and also needed to be on Mag after delivery. I barely remember the first few days of my daughter’s life other than how sick and confused I felt. After we finally came home, I was tracking my BP and had to go back to the ER twice with continued elevated BPs , as my Preclampsia continued into the postpartum period. I needed to be on multiple BP meds for about 10 weeks postpartum until I normalized.

Preclampsia rocked my entire postpartum and birth experience, took from me what should have been a peaceful time for healing and created a swirl of anxiety and fear. I would not wish for anyone to experience Preclampsia and it is imperative that more research be funded so we can better understand and prevent this terrible disease.