I went into labor at 40 weeks and 6 days. That day I felt nauseous on and off but I’ve been told that can happen before labor. My labor contractions began around 7:45pm (we were at church). Around midnight I had some bright red bleeding, that led me to be checked at the hospital.

After we arrive, the bleeding had stopped, but my blood pressure was elevated (142/88) so they admitted me. They diagnosed me with gestational hypertension. By the 2am, my contractions spaced out (likely because of stress) and they wanted to continue with induction.

They let us rest before proceeding. At shift change around 8am, we were woken up, and I was being told I have preeclampsia with severe features. I had given my labs around 1am, and it took them 6 hours to process my urine because my urine proteins were so critically high, and that’s why I wasn’t diagnosed sooner. My platelets were also very low at 78. At this point, I still did not have any symptoms.

They started me on magnesium sulfate IV around 8:30am, and by this point, I started to have symptoms of severe headache that wouldn’t go away and double/blurry vision, as well as feeling overall very unwell. By the time I had given birth, I had significant amount of blood in my urine and my highest blood pressure was 179/109. My preeclampsia did return a few days after being discharged, and I had to go back to the ER and was placed on blood pressure medication for several days.

Today, I am 3 months postpartum, but I still carry the anxiety of preeclampsia with me. I check my blood pressure with every headache, and stress over whether I truly would risk such an experience again. I know I am blessed, my baby was unaffected and healthy, but what if my next baby isn’t?