During my first pregnancy, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. I had heard wonderful stories of deliveries and I had heard horror stories - expecting moms all hear them. I bought the book What to Expect When You're Expecting hoping to learn everything I could about having a healthy pregnancy. My pre pregnancy weight was about 120 and I had never had any health troubles. Being in my late 20s, I didn't expect any complications! But at about 5 months pregnant, I started to have horrible headaches along with regular nose bleeds. I contacted my doctor many times but was treated as an overly fearful mother that was fine but worried too much. My weight gain was drastic! Nearly 50lbs of gained weight, they told me I needed to make healthier choices. The weight gain got worse, the headaches persisted, and so did the nose bleeds. And then the massive feet and leg swelling started I was told repeatedly I was having a big baby and sometimes first time mothers just have trouble keeping the weight under control. I knew something was wrong but I was repeatedly told I was fine. My blood pressure started to go up but according to my doctor, it wasn't high enough to even prescribe a medication. For reference: My normal was and always has been 120/65. By the time I entered my 6th month of pregnancy, it had climbed to 165/85. Again, I was give nothing for it, not considered high risk and preeclampsia was never diagnosed. When I entered my 38 week, I started to experience labor pains. I went to the hospital and was subsequently sent home to wait. My blood pressure was climbing again but my baby was not delivered. At 39 weeks I walked in to be induced. Everything was fine until I entered active labor. I started to get dizzy, lips turning blue, and by the time she was born, I could hardly keep my eyes open and my legs had swelled horribly. I was discharged just a day later with very high blood pressure but a perfectly healthy baby girl. When I returned home, the headaches actually got worse, I having blurred vision, and the leg swelling was so bad, it made my skin hurt and burn. 9 days after my baby was born, multiple calls to my doctor for help with no help or urgency from them, I went to the emergency room. My headache was so bad, I was terrified by the pain.

While being evaluated in this emergency room, I had a grand mal seizure. I stopped breathing, lost my eye site temporarily and landed in ICU for four days. I was in the hospital for a total of 7 days. At one point, they did tell my husband that I may not wake up. My oxygen had dropped under 70% and I was taking 4 breathes a minute for the first hour after my seizure. After this hospital stay, I had to spend the next 6 months being monitored while I cared for my newborn. I wasn't allowed to drive and found out, after seeing a neurologist, that I had in fact had a stroke as well. However, after about 8 months, I was driving again and had no lasting affects. Only the sudden need for reading glasses at 28 years old. I am very thankful to be alive, I do believe it's a miracle I survived. And our daughter, who is now almost 18 has been healthy her whole life.

I did become pregnant again in 2013 and had healthy twin boys and carried them to 37 weeks! I was high risk and had a much better doctor that was active with magnesium immediately after their birth. I had one hospital stay 5 days after they were born but it was only a two night stay and they were able to stabilize my blood pressure right away. I have had normal blood pressure every since then.