Prior to Christmas, I went to a store’s holiday event with a friend. We took a picture with their Polaroid camera and I noticed how full and big my face looked. I brushed it off as part of pregnancy as I was 27 weeks pregnant.

I thought about it more and stepped on the scale. I noticed I’d gained 10 pounds in a week which seemed like a lot. I called my insurance nurse line and they made an appointment for me that morning. My husband and I got to the clinic and my blood pressure was elevated. The doctor called the hospital's birth center and they recommended I go there to be monitored.

We went and I was thankful it was my OB who was the attending. She noted I looked puffier than the last time she saw me. For the next few hours I had lab tests and regular blood pressure readings. They were high and there was protein in my urine but nothing was elevated enough to call it preeclampsia. I was able to leave and was given a blood pressure cuff and instructions for signs and symptoms to watch for at home. They also scheduled weekly ultrasounds and doctor check-ins. They could not put me on any medications because they did not want to mask any symptoms.

I monitored over the holiday and there were a few higher readings but nothing triggered a need to go to the hospital. I was getting puffier due to retained fluid but otherwise ok.

At a mid-January weekly appointment when I was 33 weeks, I had three blood pressure readings that indicated pre-eclampsia. I was given medication to help lower it and told to go to the hospital immediately. My husband and I went and I was admitted so they could start magnesium for me and the steroid injection for my baby’s lungs as they would induce me at 34 weeks. I was in the hospital over the weekend but the baby and my oxygen and heart rate were causing concern with their dips. It was scary as they put up bed rail pads in case I started to have a seizure.

I was induced a day before 34 weeks. There was constant monitoring and discussion about possibly needing a C-section. We also met with the NICU providers as our baby would go there after birth. They broke my water and I was finally dilated to 10 centimeters. A few pushes later and my baby girl was born. Hearing her small noises was wonderful before she was taken for assessment on the other side of the room. I was hemorrhaging so I received a blood transfusion and the doctor worked to manually remove the pieces of my fragmented placenta.

I ended up admitted for a week and my baby was in the NICU for three weeks. Thankfully, she was healthy and strong and just needed some more time to develop. I was put on many blood pressure medications and one to help remove the 50 pounds of fluid I’d gained over the last few weeks of pregnancy.

She came home and things were wonderful. Then, at five weeks postpartum I woke up to the feeling of urinating. I discovered I was hemorrhaging blood. It was so significant that I called the ambulance. They came and got me to the emergency room where they identified some retained placenta. I received a D&C to fully remove the remaining tissue. After this, I was wondering how this happened. During my time in the hospital and after, I had no symptoms to suggest there was anything retained which makes this issue so dangerous.

I eventually tapered off medication and things returned to normal. I started to read more about preeclampsia to try to better understand it. There is still so much we don’t know and I hope the research provides a cure soon.