What's your story?

Jessica - posted on 10/10/2012

Hi. My name is Jessica. I have a daughter named Avery, who was born at 24 weeks sleeping due to severe preeclampsia and hellp syndrome. She was 11 ounces 9 and 1/2 inches.



The doctors believe I started developing preeclampsia around 20-22 weeks, very early. My feet started swelling, double in size at 20 weeks. I called my dr. and they said it was normal because it was hot out. This was my first pregnancy so even though i had my doubts I believed them. Then i started to have floaties in my eyes about 1 to 2 weeks later and terrible headaches. I called my dr.s office again and yet they said I was fine and they didnt want to see me. I let it go and tried to tell myself "Its ok, the dr knows what she is doing" when really I felt there was something wrong. It was a tuesday night when i started to feel like i couldn't settle down, my heart was racing, and my chest and right side of my body was killing me. My husband works nights so I tried calling him and telling him that something was wrong. He told me to call his Dad, who lives next door and have him come check by bp and see what he says. He is president of our local fire dept. My bp has always been around 100/70, that night it was 165/90. I didnt end up going to the hospital, instead i tried to go to sleep. I couldnt sleep all night, the next morning (wednesday) i called my dr office and they told me to get to the hospital. When i entered the hospital they took by bp and did a urine test. My bp was 164/90 and my urine showed some protein. I spent hours in the hospital to have them release me and diagnose me with gerd. I know what GERD is and this was definitely NOT it. I was very unhappy and in a lot of pain. I continued to call my dr. every morning telling them that what i was experiencing was not gerd, yet the still said yes, yes it is. Friday morning I called my dr. office again and ended up crying on the phone telling them i was in so much pain, still the said they didnt want to see me and that they would prescribe me something for gerd. Finally Saturday morning i had enough, I told my husband to take me to the er. I went to a hospital that was about 45 minutes away, hoping they could tell me something different than the one i went to on wed. They did. By the time i got in the er, my bloodpressure was 190/110, i was shaking uncontrollably and the pain was extremely intense. Right away they said i had severe preeclampsia and hellp syndrome.They sent me to the maternity ward where they started and iv, magnesium and gave me a shot of steroids. By that time, i was so out of it. They then decided i needed to be transported to a nearby hospital that specializes in this kind of thing. I can barely remember the ambulance ride or the ride to my room in labor and delivery. By Saturday night they did an u/s and discovered that my placenta had stopped supporting the baby and actually started back flowing. He also told me that the u/s discovered that my baby weighed in at less than a pound and that if my baby was born breathing and stopped breathing that they could not do anything due to her size. They gave Avery 0 to 10 percent chance to live. I was devastated. My platelet count was at 31,000. My doctor had told me i might need a platelet transfusion and told me that I had to deliver the baby vaginally because a c section was too risky. By midnight, they induced me. It took untill 3:33 sunday afternoon before i delivered Avery. I delivered her at 3cm dilated, breach, and not breathing.



Right out of the hospital My husband and i decided we would like to give our angel baby a brother/sister so we would try again in 3 months (the recommended time before trying) , knowing how risky it is we talked to our specialist about it. He informed us that i have will most likely get preeclampsia again, but now that i had it once, he is hoping I will be farther along.



It has been about 4 months since I delivered Avery, I think about her everyday and know that there is nothing i can do to change what happened. She is our guardian angel and even though she is not with us physically, she is forever living on inside our hearts.



Avery Lynn

July 1st, 2012

11 ounces, 9 1/2 inches

♥

Grace - posted on 07/12/2012

My name is Grace and I have 4 kids. My older two are four months apart in age, due to adoption and birth. Mackenzie is adopted, and Connor is by birth. When I got pregnant with Connor, we had just decided to adopt Mackenzie, so we were excited to now be having two new babies.
However, when I was 29 1/2 weeks pregnant with Connor I had to admitted to the hospital for severe preeclampsia. My protein levels were skyrocketing, I had severe swelling, and my bp was rising. Mackenzie was only 4 months old at the time. My doctor thought I would deliver within 3 days of being admitted. However, my protein levels bounced around for 3 weeks until I reached 32 weeks gestation. Connor was born weighing 4 lbs 8 oz. He was able to breathe on his own and was very healthy. None the less, he still spent 6 weeks in the NICU.
Meanwhile, I was told that after I had him, I would get better. My condition got MUCH worse however. A week after he was born, I noticed my vision changing. I have always had 20/20 eyesight, however then I was suddenly struggling to read signs far away. This went on and got worse for a week, until I was only able to see clearly six inches from my face. I went to the er several times, and finally they admitted me. I spent 3 days in ICU because my bp has gotten up to 210/110. Then I was transferred to a regular room where they tried several different bp meds. I ended up being put on 3 different meds to control my bp for the next four months until my bp returned to normal.
Two years later, I decided I wanted more children, and I got pregnant with twins, who are now three. I was terrified of getting preeclampsia again, but my doctor monitored me very closely. My protein levels raised to 750 at 16 weeks, but remained there until my water broke at 35 1/2 weeks. The girls were born weighing 6 lbs 4 oz and 6 lbs 6 oz. Maddy and Nella spent 2 weeks in the NICU. All my kids have had minimal health issues and we have been so blessed to have healthy kids.
Now I am expected another boy in September. I am 28 weeks right now, my bp has risen by 30 points, and my protein is at 715. I am hoping and praying that all will be well and this time I can make it to term. So, that is my preeclampsia story. I am looking forward to getting to know all of you.

Julie - posted on 04/04/2012

I'm Julie, and I have 2 kids, William who is 3 now, and Joy who is 18 months, and I'm pregnant with my third.



My first pregnancy was completely uneventful until my water broke at 36 weeks. I had a vaginal suppository to get my cervix to start dilating, and then pitocin to start contractions. My son was born healthy, except for some bad jaundice, and now he struggles with respiratory issues that started at 5 months.



My second pregnancy got interesting at 32 weeks. Everything had been going normally, and I went in for a routine check up. After the nurse took my BP, she had me lay down on my side for a little bit, then came back in and rechecked it. Evidently it went down satisfactorily when I laid down, so they sent me home and just had me make an appt to come back and get it check again in 3 days. Same thing when I went back: it was high, I layed down, it came down. So they told me to go home and rest as much as possible then come back in a few days. Still high, so I was sent home on bedrest for the weekend. On Monday, my doctor started looking concerned, did a non-stress test, and scheduled me to see a high risk OB the next day for a biophysical US. At the high risk OB, my blood pressure was up to 170/98. He did the U/S, and my baby girl was looking great, then sent me straight over to the hospital to be monitored and have lab work done. They kept me for 3 days, drawing blood, monitoring baby, and doing the 24 hr urine test. They also gave me 2 steroid injection to help develop her lungs in case they decided to induce early. I was starting to lose a little protein in my urine, but my blood pressure came down and was perfect while I was in the hospital. I was allowed to go home on strict bedrest with instructions to monitor my blood pressure twice a day. I was home 3 days, then my blood pressure started going up again.



Back in the hospital, and as long as I was in the hospital on bed rest, my blood pressure came down perfectly. But I was told I would not be allowed to try to go home again; I would be in the hospital until the baby was born. My doctors didn't agree. My regular OB just diagnosed me with pregnancy-induced hypertension and wanted to keep me pregnant as long as possible for the baby's health. My high risk OB said I was preeclampic (my uric acid levels and liver enzymes were slightly abnormal), and he wanted to induce me as soon as possible for my health. At 35 weeks, I was told that at 36 weeks they would do an amniocentesis to check baby's lung development and then induce.



I have to say, I felt like a faker through all this, because I felt completely normal, and as long as I was in the hospital, my BP was like 120/75.



The day after my doctor told me the induction news, I started having irregular mild contractions. This continued for about two days. Both of my doctors, without examining me, told me I was probably having false labor. Since the contractions were so mild, and stopped and started randomly, I believed them. Monday night, when the nurse came to put me on the monitors, I told her I was having a contraction about every 5 minutes. She said ok, put me on the monitors, and left. About an hour later, I was having so much pain, contractions right on top of each, I buzzed the nurse. She said my doctor was in the hospital, so she would have him come check me. He came in, checked me, and shocked the whole room by announcing that I was 10cm dilated and ready to push.



The room was an instant whirlwind of activity. They had to move me down the hall to a L&D room. I lost track of everything that was going on, because the pain was definitely intense at that point. I think my water broke in route as they rolled my bed down the hallway. In the L&D room, one nurse started an IV, another nurse appeared and said she would be the one assisting with the delivery, but she also acknowledged that I probably didn't really care at that point. Once the scene was set, I gave two pushes, and out came my beautiful baby girl.



She weighted 4 lbs 13oz. NICU was there, but her Apgar scores were 9/9, so they didn't take her. She went home with me 2 days later. She has never had any health problems except for eczema that she inherited from her daddy.



I really credit the steroid injections that she didn't have any respiratory problems like my son, who was born at a week later gestation. My high risk OB speculated that with my son, maybe I was also heading towards preeclampsia, but my body decided to kick out the problem and that's why my water broke at 36 weeks. Interesting theory.



I'm at 23 weeks with this pregnancy, and everything looking perfect so far!

Tonya - posted on 12/24/2010

Hello my name is Tonya and I have a son, Aden who just turned one December 4th. He was born three weeks early I developed preeclampsia in my fifth month of pregnancy. I was so sick and throwing up that by the time I had my son I weighted 110 and which means I lost a lot of weight. I tried talking to my doctors about it but all they did was give me something for throwing (which didn't work cause I couldn't keep it down). It was as though they didn't and it really bothered me, but I didn't have a choice but to stick with them due to my insurance. At my check up after Thanksgiving they induced me after checking bloodpressure and it being high. They finally realized they I was telling the truth. It makes me mad because he was my first and they put off as being a first time mom. My son ended up having to go to the NICU because he couldn't keep any of his milk down and he lost weight. I am currently pregnant again due in July and seeing a different doctor and they said that they would keep a close eye on me. I'm kinda sad because I'm 23 and they say I'm a high risk pregnancy.

Cynthia - posted on 11/26/2010

Hi! My name is Cynthia and I have a daughter, Katie who will be 4 months old on Dec 9th. She was born 1.5 months early due to me developing HELLP syndrome.
My due date was around the middle of Sept but up until the middle of June, my pregnancy was problem free. Around the middle of June, I started to rapidly gain weight and my family doctor was keeping a close eye on me because my blood pressure was also starting to creep up. My workplace had no air conditioning so we thought maybe the humidity was to blame a little.
Anyways, in early July by family doctor decided to take me off work due to my blood pressure and I had to rest at home for a week and a half. After being off for a little over a week, I saw my OB/GYN and he said that he was not concerned with the extreme swelling and the blood pressure and he sent me back to work. At the end of July, I saw my family doctor again because my OB/GYN was on vacation and I needed my blood pressure checked weekly and she was shocked at the sight of me. I was extremely swollen and she immediately sent me for bloodwork.
A couple of days later, I went back to her for the results and she was concerned about the result for my liver enzymes so she sent me to the case room for examination. I never went back home again. When I arrived at the case room, I was admitted after they did the bloodwork again. I was admitted because of my blood pressure and the fact that my liver enzyme count was rapidly rising. That night I had what I thought was really bad heartburn but it turned out to be my liver. Needless to say, I was in so much pain that I never slept a wink that night.
The next morning, the bloodwork was done at 3 hour intervals and around lunchtime a nurse came to my room to tell me that I had 15 minutes and then I was going to the case room to be induced. Apparently, if I wasn't induced right away, it was a possiblity that my liver was going to start to fail. I had enough time to call my parents, and my best friend. Thank God that my husband walked into the room right after I was told.
I was induced on a Sat afternoon around 1:00 and I had Katie Monday morning at 9:04am. I was induced by IV and I was having contractions but nothing else was happening. It took from Sat afternoon to Mon morning with constant contractions before labour actually fully started. The contractions would speed up and overlap each other with no break in between so they would have to stop them, let me nap for a hour and then start them again. It was a long weekend!
The prenatal team had told us that they would have to take her as soon as she was born because she was premature but when she was born, the team examined her and they didn't have to take her right away because she had no issues breathing or anything. Katie was born August 9th, 2010 by natural birth. She was 5 lbs, 3 ounces at 34 weeks. The only issue she had was jaundice and she only spent 24 under the lights for that. She also only spent 24 hours in NICU too and then she was moved to my room. We both stayed in hospital for a little over a week for monitoring and neither of us has had a problem since. Katie is doing wonderful and is growing beautifully!

Catherine - posted on 11/03/2010

My name is Catherine, I live in sunny Queensland, Australia. I am a proud mother of 2 children (Bradley is 3 and Amelia is 22 months) and am currently pregnant with our third.

I had HELLP syndrome with my first (son Bradley). We didn't actually find out I was pregnant until 9 weeks. I was still getting my period, I did feel a little different but just thought it was due to stress (we had only just bought a house and gotten married) - I ended up going to the doctor because I ended up having a period for 2 weeks with no sign of stopping. Being told I was pregnant was the last thing I expected at that time, as you would expect. The doctor told me the bleeding was caused by a Urinary Tract Infection, I actually ended up having UTI's throughout the whole pregnancy as well as endless colds and flus and spent majority of the pregnancy on antibiotics.

The first sign of HELLP that I had was constant heartburn, it progressively got worse every month - every week by the end. I ended up spending the last 3 -4 weeks sleeping upright with the help of 4 pillows.
At 32 weeks my BP started going up but wasn't dangerous as yet. I started to feel a constant pressure in my left temple and always felt uncomfortable. I had also been extremely tired the whole pregnancy - 11 hours sleep wasn't even enough!
At 35 weeks I started getting unbearably itchy skin, no matter how much I scratched it just never went away. My GP told me it was the "pregnancy itch" and that the itch itself was under the skin, he gave me some antihistamines and sent me home (this I was told later on was my bile backing up in my blood!!). I took a couple of the tablets and I did feel a little better but then freaked out when I remembered that antihistamines put the baby to sleep and I had noticed my son had gotten very quiet. By this stage my constant pressure in my left temple had become a horrible migraine and panadol was no longer working. And I had noticed that I had started getting swollen in the face, arms, legs and especially the feet (none in the ankles though??).
On monday 9th July I went to the hospital for my 36 week appointment. They were a little concerned with my high blood pressure but it wasn't high enough to hospitalise me, the midwife also mentioned that I had protein in my urine. I nearly didn't say anything about the itchy skin and migraine I had because I thought I was being silly, but I was glad I did. As soon as I told the nurse she immediately became concerned and almost panicked - thats when I though "oh shit, maybe its more serious than I thought". The nurse sent in a doctor to look at me and my file. I was sent to get a blood test, and told to come back friday for the results. I also had to visit the chemist everyday to monitor my blood pressure.
For each visit to the chemist my blood pressure was 140/90 at resting - I was told if it went any higher I would have to go immediately to hospital.
The night before my appointment I began to have dull back pains and couldn't go to sleep until 3am - I should have known this was me in labour!! Then at 7.30 am I had a sharp pain through my cervix, I just thought it was the baby kicking - I should have noticed that he was quiet and that he actually wasn't kicking at all!
So on Friday the 13th of July (black friday, eek!) at 1.15pm I attended my antenatal appointment. I did the normal urine test & BP check, the nurse then sent in the doctor. The doctor looked at me seriously and said that there was a problem with my blood test and preceded to tell me that my platets were low, my liver enzymes were high amongst other things. She told me that I was not leaving the hospital and that I would be admitted for the weekend to be monitored - all I could do was stare at her, she mustn't have thought that I got it the first time cause she then repeated everything! I then had to have my cervix checked to see if it had ripened, the doctor was surprised to find I was already 2cm dilated!! I think I nearly fainted. The doctor then told me that I would have to have the baby that weekend, nearly fainted again!
I was sent down for a blood test and rang my husband. He was shocked to say the least - poor bloke had to go home and pack my stuff and bubs stuff since I hadn't gotten there yet!
I was admitted to maternity ward and put into a labour room. They put a monitor on to monitor Bradley and I finally figured out the tensing of muscles in my back were actually contractions! The doctor came in an hour later, held my hand and told me that my blood test results had come back and that things had gotten worse and that I would have to have Bradley that night. Because I was already in labour, they were happy to see if I could deliver him myself with the help of drugs, however they wanted to begin immediately - my husband wasn't there yet so I begged them to wait for him, she said he had half an hour. Thank God Nathan got there just in the nick of time, I nearly cried with relief when I saw him!
They broke my waters at around 4pm and put me on 2 drips - one had the stuff to induce me (don't know the name!) and magnesium sulphate (horrible stuff) and the other maxolon. Because of the drips and monitor I was very limited in movement and was horrified to be told I had to pee onto a mat laying under me!! I couldn't believe how hot the Magnesium made me, even my eye balls were hot!
Another doctor came in at some point to check my reflexes, because they weren't normal I nearly kicked him in the head lol!
Everything progessed normally until about 8.50pm. They realised my son was facing the wrong way, he was facing the ceiling instead of the floor so without any prior warning the doctor plunged her two hands into me and proceeded to turn him (I of course screamed and cried, still upsets me to this day). They then wanted me to start pushing but I had absolutely no sensation to do so, I was so wiped out and to this day cannot remember half of what happened during the labour (I blamed the gas until I actually came on here and realised from others stories that it was the magnesium).
Everyone started yelling at me telling me I could do it, i tried as best as I could but wasn't getting anywhere. They did an episiotomy and tried the vacuum which didn't work. The doctor then said I must get him out now as he was starting to become distressed, she had the nurse call theatre to tell them to prepare for an emergency c-section. I was determined not to have a caeser and somehow found the extra strength to push out his head with the aid of forceps. The doctor began to panic and told me to stop pushing as the cord was wrapped around his neck, once untangled I pushed him out with all my strength (they should have told me this causes tearing). They immediately wrapped him in a towel, dumped him on my stomach, cut the cord and raced him over under the heater. The only noise I heard from him was a really raspy squawk. I think I asked at least 4 times before being answered whether I had a boy or a girl. I was feeling like a leftover turkey, who'd been stuffed and ripped apart, left in the corner to freeze.
Because of how roughly I had been treated I ended up with a large tear, I was lucky it went sideways otherwise I could have torn my colon.
Because it was so busy the whole time I was there, I was basically ignored and noone checked my stitches. I never received any info on stitches until the day I had left (I begged to get out), by then it was too late I had already popped 3 or 4 stitches and they were infected.
On the other hand my son was doing well, he only ended up with mild jaundice and spent 36 hours under the UV lamps. He did end up with a large lump of blood on the top of his head (I blame the vacuum) which healed on its own. He spent a total of 5 nights in special care.
Bradley was born at 36weeks and 4 days at 5pound 9 ounces but is now a healthy 15kg 3 1/2 year old.

I always wanted my children to be close, so i ended up falling pregnant with our daughter Amelia when Bradley was just 9 1/2 months old. I think it was good for me, because it helped me get over the horrors of my sons labour.
My pregnancy with my daughter in some ways was quite similar to my sons. I had a lot of UTI's and was constantly taking antibiotics. The hospital monitored the pregnancy very closely because of my first, I had regular blood and urine tests. Everything was fine up till 32 weeks yet again. My blood pressure went up and my blood tests were showing some mild problems. They then started testing me weekly and found that although my platelet levels were lower than normal and my liver enzymes were higher than normal they were both going up and down all the time instead of just getting worse (which they would do if it were HELLP). They then decided at 35 weeks to induce me at 36 weeks before everything went the same way as it had with my first pregnancy. (I didn't actually have any symptoms ie migraines, itchy skin this time round). So on the 18th December 2008 at 36 weeks & 1 day I gave birth to our daughter Amelia weighing in at 6 pound 6 ounces. She spent one night in special care and we went home after spending two nights in hospital - she was perfectly healthy. She did end up with Jaundice and nearly ended up back in hospital on Christmas Eve but luckily her billy reuben (spelling??) levels dropped slightly in a day.

I would have to say I am a lot more anxious this pregnancy than my daughters, probably because the midwives and doctors don't believe anything will go wrong this time. Although I have had some symptoms which some of you have described plus some the same as my first pregancy already. I am currently 28 weeks and hope everything goes well. I will keep you all up to date with whats going on and will let you know if I do end up with HELLP again or something similar. Wish me luck :-)

Candace - posted on 09/08/2010

My name is Candace and I have son named Jaidyn. He was born seven weeks early at 33 weeks due to Eclampsia. His due date was June 18, 2010 but he was born May 1st. Around 24 weeks I started to have pain in my ribs and when I mentioned this to my doctor he just told me to take tylenol which I did. The pain would come and go and he would just tell me that I needed to rest. Around 28 weeks my blood pressure was high at an office visit but my doctor didnt seem to worry and told me to take my blood pressure three times a day at home and if it was ever 140/90 then to go to the hospital and go straight to labor and delivery. My mom came to check it every day just to make sure I was fine and I was. When I went back to the doctor it was still a little high but again the doctor said it was still ok. At my last visit before having my son my doctor said that there might have been protein in my urine but she wasnt sure so she'd send if off and then call me to let me know if she found anything. Well I never got a call so I assumed everything was fine and was preparing to go see her in a few days but i never had the chance to make it to that visit. The day before I turned 33 weeks I woke up with the pain in my ribs only this time it seem to hurt a little more than it had before. I was also having shortness of breath. I told my mom about it and she said that maybe I needed to go to the hospital but since my doctor had been telling me that the pain was normal and to take tylenol I didnt think much of it. My mom called my hubby and tried to get him to convince me to go to the hospital but I wouldnt budge so he bought me some tylenol and I took that and started to feel a little better so i went to bed. What happened next I dont remember so this is what I was told by my mom, sister and hubby. My hubby usually gets up at 5:30am for work only this time he got up he wouldnt be getting up for work. He woke up to me having a seizure so he called for an ambulance and then of course called my parents and siblings. On the way to the hospital I had another seizure in the ambulance. When I got to the hospital they discovered that my blood pressure was extremely high and that the only way they could get it down was to deliver the baby. I had to have an emergency c section because my blood had stopped clotting and it would have been too risky to just do the bikini cut. After my son was born my blood pressure still would not come down and they discovered that my kidneys had begun shutting down and that was the cause of the rib pain and shortness of breath. I had to spend the night in the ICU and couldnt have any visitors. My husband was allowed to stay in the ICU with me because he told them he was not leaving, he was staying even if he had to stay in the waiting room all night. They worked something out so that he could stay in the ICU with me. The following day I was moved to my recovery room because my blood pressure had come down and I was able to have visitors. For most of my stay which was almost a week, I remember nothing but two and a half days of being there. I had to be released on blood pressure medicine as my pressure was still a little and I also had to have my platlet level checked because it was still a little high. My son was born weighing 3lbs 5oz and 16 inches long. it was determined that I also had IUGR which means my son was small for his gestational age likely due to the fact that I had high blood pressure and placenta previa, so he wasn't getting all of the nutrients that he needed. He was on oxygen for two days following his birth. Other than that he was fine, just had to remain in the NICU until he was 4pds and able to take all of his feedings from a bottle and not use a feeding tube. He was in the NICU for 29 days and was released weighing 4lbs 13oz

Kristi - posted on 09/03/2010

I'm Kristi, and really feel extremely fortunate about our situation, especially after reading some of these other stories.

I had never even heard of preeclampsia until week 25 of my most recent pregnancy (I also have an 11-year-old). Oh boy, I've definitely heard about it now though. I was at a normal prenatal appointment, and they informed me that I was spilling too much protein and my BP was 190/110... quite a shocker there... so of course they tell me to go to the hospital immediately. I stayed in that hospital for three days being monitored, doing all kinds of tests, etc. They did glucose tests all over again, liver function tests, kidney function tests, x-rays, organ ultrasounds, you name it, because I had no symptoms other than high BP & proteinuria.... none of the dizziness, upper right abdominal pain, etc, etc, you guys all know the symptoms they look for. lol So they weren't even positive for quite a while that preeclampsia was what we were really dealing with. I felt PERFECTLY FINE, which I'm sure contributed to my being so argumentative about it all... I gave the medical staff a hard time, I'm not going to lie... as far as I could see it, I had high BP, so give me some BP meds & send me home... it took a while for it to sink in just exactly how BAD this could potentially be, possibly with no warning before it could take a severe turn for the worst... I don't know if I didn't fully understand what was going on, or if I was just in denial..... not sure. I mean they HAD just told me I might have to deliver before I hit 26 weeks... freaking scary news right there, I tell ya, especially when they start throwing around the statistics of a birth at 26 weeks. It didn't help either that the doctor I was dealing with in the beginning was so completely cold and uncaring, without the slightest shred of tact and with terrible bedside manner... her telling me I might have to deliver at 25 1/2 weeks and that my baby might not make it seemed like about as big of a deal to her as if she were telling me I had to have a wart removed from my nose. So I told her I didn't want to see her in my room again, that if my issue is high blood pressure she certainly wasn't helping the situation, so she didn't come back.

Anyway, that hospital doesn't deal with "high-risk" pregnancies, so I was transferred to a nearby hospital that is "THE place to go to have babies" in our area, and I stayed there on bed rest for 25 days until they released me to be monitored at home. They wanted me to stay in the hospital until I hit 28 weeks so I'd be there through the riskiest portion. But while I was in the hospital I had the 2 steroid shots which felt like I was being branded, and the Mag Sulfate in case I had to deliver... isn't THAT crap freaking miserable? I felt like I was on fire. Other than that, I chilled out in the hospital for almost a month, being poked & prodded by an endless parade of doctors nurses & lab people & med students, until they let me out.

So I was released to go home, still on bedrest, taking blood pressure meds twice daily, having a home-care nurse come check my BP & Protein on Monday, wednesday and friday, and I had to go into the office for non-stress tests on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It was an interesting few weeks. Well, the day I hit 35 weeks, the home-care nurse checked my BP and it was 170/100... needless to say I ended up back in the hospital. They did an amniocentesis to check the baby's lung development to see if they could deliver then, or if we should wait until 36 weeks. They decided her lungs could use an extra few days, so they scheduled my induction for one week later when I hit 36 wks.

They started inducing me on that Monday afternoon.... by midnight Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I was dilated to 4 only because they basically forced me to dilate with a foley catheter inflated inside my cervix, they broke my water, and I was contracting like crazy but not really making any progress, and my BP started creeping up again and they were going to give me Mag Sulfate again... so after a day and a half of induced labor, I asked for a c-section. I knew that as soon as she was OUT, all risks to her ended, and the risks to me became fewer and slightly less serious, and since we weren't making progress and had no way of knowing if it might be another couple hours or another couple days, so against all my original desires about how things were going to go BEFORE that point, I asked for a c-section.... less than an hour later, I had a beautiful wonderful baby girl in my arms and I was numb from the ribs down and doped to the gills on spinal morphine, laying in recovery.

SO, that was July 14, at 36wks 2 days... 12:31 a.m., 18.5", 6lbs, 5 ozs... There were NICU people on hand when she was born, and they left the OR before I was even sewn up... they looked her over and she was perfectly healthy. Now I have a wonderful almost-8-week-old baby girl, Emily Josephine, and we are so blessed. I get choked up often, thinking about how bad things MIGHT have been, and how fortunate we are that I managed to stay stable long enough to keep that bun in the oven a little longer.

Anyway, that's my story. First pregnancy (11 years ago) was picture-perfect, not so much as a single day of morning sickness or heartburn, I worked retail through the christmas shopping season when i was 8 months pregnant, didn't have an issue at ALL... at 39 weeks my water broke & 12 hours later I pushed for 5 minutes & a baby came out. This time was DRASTICALLY different, needless to say. :-)

Gabrielle - posted on 09/02/2010

I had a normal pregnancy up until about 28 weeks when I woke up in the middle of the night with the worst heartburn I've ever had in my life. I couldn't sleep, couldn't get relief, and ultimately was vomiting stomach acid. I had a Dr's appt in a few days so I just hung in there and took tums to keep the worst of it at bay. I think at that point my blood pressure was little high, but they weren't concerned. I also had an ultrasound that visit. They called a few days later to say that the baby was small for her gestational age and they wanted to do an ultrasound every week to monitor growth. They also set me up to do a NST in a few weeks. The next week I went in for the ultrasound/BPP and the baby didn't seem quite right, but not in distress. They sent me to another office to do a NST just to make sure. During the test, my blood pressure was extremely high. The nurse kept asking if I normally had high blood pressure. I told her no, that it was just the stress of being in the hospital. They took a urine sample and I didn't have any protein in my urine, so she thought well, maybe I was right. They had me stay to see if it would go back to normal, but it never did. They never told me an exact but it was in the high 200's/high 100's. They kept asking if I had any symptoms like headaches or vision trouble. I thought they were crazy because the only problem I had been having was heartburn, which may have really been chest pains, but no one really knows. They contacted my OB who decided to admit me and they would give me magnesium and induce labor. But a little bit later my CBC came back and I had the elevated Liver enzymes and low platelets, so they diagnosed me with HELLP syndrome and decided that it was too dangerous to deliver vaginally. For the same reason they also determined it would be best to have me under general anesthesia instead of an epidural. I was so sick even though I felt fine. The Dr's lined up at my bedside to tell me what they would do during the surgery and the risks involved while my husband frantically tried to contact family members on a dying cell phone. There was no time to try steroids for the baby's lungs because they were concerned I would have a seizure. I had to be awake until the very last minute because they didn't want to risk the baby getting any of the anesthesia since it would hurt her ability to breathe. She was 1lb 13 oz and 13 in long at birth. It was such a crazy day. I had her on Thursday and by Monday my CBC was normal and my blood pressure was under control with medication. I was released. So far my daughter has been in the NICU for 6 weeks. They tried to extubate her after only a few days but she was not breathing well on the CPAP. They re-intubated her and after 3 weeks tried unsuccessfully again. She then had a minor lung infection which weakened her for a few days and she relied heavily on the ventilator. She is doing well again and they have begun weaning her off the ventilator again. They believe she may have chronic lung disease, but so far has no other health issues. She has grown two inches and gained 1 and a half pounds. We hope this time she will be strong enough to successfully move to the CPAP when she is ready to extubate again. I do wish there had been time for steroids, but she is still our miracle baby. (as of today, Sept 9, she spent 2 days on SiPap and 2 days on CPap and is now on nasal cannula--she's really progressed!)

Kim - posted on 08/28/2010

My name is Kim and I was diagnosed with HELLP Syndrome at 41 weeks.

My pregnancy was such a breeze. It didn't really feel like I was even pregnant that is how easy it was. All of my check-ups went by without any problems. My BP was perfect.

At about 36 weeks I started to swell. I just thought it was because of the hot weather in July. But I still went to my doctor to see what he thought. He took my BP again and it was fine so he sent me home and told me to keep my feet up when I could. Another two weeks went by and then I broke out in a rash all over my stomach. I thought it was because of a new cream I was trying. So I started putting Aloe on my stomach to help with the itching.
The rash then spread to the rest of my body. I had to soak my feet in cold water to help relieve the itching. I went to the doctors again to see what he thought. He checked my BP again and everything was still fine. So he sent me home again.

At 41 weeks I went in for my check-up. Everything still looked fine so my doctor told me that in about 4 days they would start trying to induce me. I went home. About 2 hours after my appointment I started to get cramping behind my right ribcage. It felt like I was having a gallbladder attack which was impossible seeing as I had my gallbladder removed about 10 years ago. So I laid in bed for the rest of the day. When my husband got home from work I told him about the cramping. He told me to call the nurses help line. So I did and they told me to call an ambulance asap. I didn't call the ambulance but went to emergency right away. I got there about 8pm. They took a urine sample and eventually a blood sample. They sent me up to maternity to do a Non Stress Test. Kolby was fine. They sent me back down to emergency. When they came in to see me again they sent me back up to maternity because they were going to break my water and induce me.
They broke my water at 11pm and started me on the drip. At about 6am my gynecologist came in to check me. I was only about 3cm dilated. They took more blood and when the results for that test came back they checked to see how far I was again. I was now at 5cm. They were going to send me out to Vancouver but couldn't because of how far I was. Thank God! So instead they had to get blood sent up from Prince George. When that finally came in I was 7cm dilated and had been in labour for 18 hours. They finally started getting me ready for an emergency c-section.

After the c-section they gave me the blood transfusion and about an hour later in ICU I got to hold my baby girl.

At the time I did not realize how serious the situation was but when I talked to one of the nurses that I knew she told me that they had cancelled all other c-sections to get me in and that all the maternity nurses were assigned to me. That is so crazy.

I am now pregnant with my second child and will be having a scheduled c-section this time. They don't want to take any chances this time.

Toni - posted on 06/15/2010

Sorry I know not short at all lol

Toni - posted on 06/15/2010

After reading all your stories it seems I had it relatively easy but here is my story I will try and keep it short.

Really my whole pregnancy was troublesome, I had 3 bleeds in my 1st trimester (which on a positive note meant I got to see my son from 6 weeks old - he was a dot - I had 3 scans before my usual 12 week scan) and I had awful morning sickness throughout my entire pregnancy (which now I think was probably to do with my pre-e).

My problems really began when I was 32 weeks pregnant, I went for a normal appointment with my midwife (luckily she was on holiday and I had a community one who was very thourogh) she felt that at 140/87 my BP was mildly high, so suggested she give me a home visit in 2 days time (I then had an appointment at hospital day assessment unit or a home visit every other day for 2 weeks - my boss was fab about it though). At 34 weeks I had an appointment at day assessment to check my BP (the monday of my final week at work - I had my final assessment for my management course and my leaving do (which they held without me cheers guys)) they found that as was expected my BP had risen again, but also for the first time I had +2 protein in my water and raised Uric acid in my bloods (I also had swollen ankles - I had put this down to the weather though as it was very warm) so they decided I needed to be admitted immediately.

I then spent 15 days in hospital - where most days I felt awful, I had blood tests twice a day to keep a check on my Uric acid levels and had to pee in a cup 4 times a day (oh and I had to do 3 24hr urine samples (should have been 2 but they lost one)).They gave me steriod injections to strenghten my son's lungs as they knew he was small for gestation and they was very seriously considering giving me a c-section (and the possibility I may have an emergency c-section). I was put on Labetalol BP tablets (started as 1 a day very quickly raised to 8 a day) to try and control my BP (at one point they raised it too quickly and I went too far under and felt awful so ill it was unreal) and one night I was so ill I kept trembling for no reason which was terrifying I was so worried about my baby. Finally they got my BP under control enough to release me home (36 weeks).

I spent 5 days at home in my own bed but still poorly. On the sunday after I was released we had to go into triage because I was felling very very ill - I was nauseous and very dizzy (with pain in my upper abdomen). I was induced on the Monday at exactly 37 weeks, after a 45 minute labour my son was welcomed to the world at 17.11pm a healthy 5lb 6 1/2oz we were so overwhelmed by love for him.

I have been told by the midwives that Pre-e is hereditry, my nan had it with my uncle, my mom had me at 32 wks by emergency c-section because of pre-e and so if I have a daughter the liklihood is she will have it too. Even though my pregnancy was what most people would think of as a nightmare I loved it so much (we were told we could not have children so to be pregnant was amazing).

Kelly - posted on 04/22/2010

thank u for posting this, it almost sound word for word like my story. I was just put in the hospital yesterday and I am looking for some helpful information. thanks again.

Leah - posted on 01/31/2010

forgot to mention in my right hand my thumb and first 3 fingers were numb almost my whole pregnancy... did anyone else experience this? i heard it was a symptom of carpal tunnel but just curious....

Leah - posted on 01/31/2010

my name is leah i have one daughter, Aurora, she's about 2 1/2 now, to start my story i have to go back a few years! i was on a birth control was recalled (i'm not sure why but probably for gal bladder disease as they found out during my pregnancy i had that too but thats a different story,..) so they put me on a different one i gained 60 lbs in less then 3 months! i went from 140 to 200 lbs! so in the beginning of my pregnancy my blood pressure was about 130/90 which for me was not normal! normal was about 116/70 but they just said walking or working probably elevated it. ok. so i continue my OB visits everything is fine except the blood pressure is still pretty high. i was living in los banos at the time and went to san jose for my baby shower it was when i was there that i started swelling like crazy! and then i started retaining water and gaining weight which my Dr. was glad i was gaining weight because at my 28 wk apt i had only gained about 5 lbs but had lost 10 in the begining and i had to see nutritionist and keep eating logs. i mentioned the swelling to him he said just elevate your feet drinking lots of water. between my 28 wk and my 32 wk apt i was tired all the time. i started sleeping about 16hrs a day from about 11 pm till around 2 pm and i was still tired! at my 32 wk appointment i had protein in my urine and my BP was 220/190! he was surprised i hadn't had a stroke! he said you need to go to the hospital for further tests. so i walk down the street and i'm admitted they have me set up right away for an emergency c section! only thankfully my blood pressure went down enough that they could hold it off and they put me on a blood pressure medication and i was put on bedrest in the hospital for 2 days before they admitted me they gave me a steroid shot to mature Rories lungs faster (which i think helped!) so i went home on a friday and had a appointment on monday for a follow up i got worse in just 2 days! so i was admitted again, this time for 5 days (forgot to mention i had a 5 month old puppy at home which i had to take care of... not a good idea when your suppose to be on bedrest but i didn't understand my situation... he forgot to mention i could die!) but on sept 21 (the 5th day), the protein got REALLY high and my kidneys were failing. i had to have a C section and i was not liking it. i was at the point were i wanted to refuse, but i called my best friends mom, who had a c section with my friend because of narrow hips, and she said "do you want to see your daughter live and watch her grow up and watch her get married?" i said "of course!" she said "then you HAVE to have that c section. besides babies born ceserean are cuter because they aren't squashed!" (i love her!) so i had to call my husband and tell him "it's time" so the dr. held it off till he got there. everything went fine i was scared of course and i had some side effects with the epidural (any one else vomit??) but other than that i didn't feel a thing and call me crazy but i woulda loved to watch them cut me open and take her out! LOL her APGARs were 8 and 9 which was awesome for a 34 wk gestation period. they brought her to me i gave her a kiss and sent my husband with her to make sure she was ok and to make any decisions if they needed one. she was transfered to a hospital 2 hrs away (her first ambulance ride and hopefully her last!!) since i couldn't leave i had Josh go with her to again, be there and make sure she was ok and to make any decisions on my behalf. he was amazing for the biginning but i guess with most fathers it became too hard for him to see her in the hospital so he hardly went she was on oxygen for 12 hrs and in the incubator for i think about 5 days. i didn't get to hold her for 2 days after i was released from the hospital and wow what a feeling it was to hold her!!! about the BC history in the beginning my OB thinks that since i gained weight really fast in a small amount of time that my body was still trying to compensate for the extra weight and trying to pump the blood so they think that might've been a factor, i noticed the signs after i traveled so with this pregnancy i don't want to do any traveling just in case and NO puppies! just a toddler!

Lisa - posted on 01/11/2010

Hi, my name is Lisa and my daughter, Abbey was delivered via emergency c section almost 13 weeks early due to Pre E & HELLP. My entire pregnancy was a rollercoaster of health issues. I only gained 4 lbs my entire pregnancy due to severe vomiting. My lowest blood pressure reading was 160/90 and that was when I was 5 weeks pregnant. I had horrible pains in my right side my whole pregnancy as well. I addressed my nausea and pains with my ob/gyn and was told that I was just a worrying first time mom and that I was young...I was 20 at the time.



A month before Abbey was born, I was in the grocery store and started feeling light headed and my husband said my speech was slurred. A few minutes went by and my whole left side went numb before I passed out. When I woke up I was at the ER and my OB/GYN dianosed it as an "A typical migraine." I had migraines my entire life and this was not it. I found out later that it was a mini stroke.



So, four weeks later, I woke in the middle of the night with the pains in my right side. I went downstairs on the couch so I wouldn't wake my husband. He came down stairs looking for me about 30 minutes later and found me unconscious. I was taken by ambulance to the hospital. By that time, my lungs, kidneys and liver had shut down completely and I was having seizures. They decided to do the c section...dr's said it was pre e and when they delivered my daughter everything would be fine. They were wrong, it got worse. As soon as my daughter was born, I began to bleed from every orfice in my body. Over the course of a week, I had to have 12 blood transfusions and numerous units of plasma. By this time I was in a coma and my husband was told to make funeral arrangements. My daughter weighed 2lbs 11 oz. and had no other problems.



I am from Central PA and was initially taken to Altoona Hospital...it is a large hospital and my ob gyn refused to admit he did not know what was wrong with me. A nurse on the ICU floor urged my husband to demand I be taken to another hospital. That took 2 more days and I was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital and then another b/c the first one did not have a dialysis unit.



As soon as I was admitted to the 2nd hospital, the dr immediately diagnosed me with HELLP but said since I had gone several weeks like this he was unsure if there was anything that could be done for me. Two days after being admitted, I went into cardiac arrest and my internal body temperature was 84.3 degrees.



My husband was torn b/c he had a newborn baby 100 miles away from me....he didn't know whether he was coming or going. I was in a coma, on a ventilator and dialysis for 7 months. My body eventually healed its self and afterward I went through 3 months of physical & occupational therapy. I could not walk, hold a pen or eating utensil and my speech was severely impaired. I did not get to meet Abbey until she was almost 8 months old and when I awoke I didn't even remember being pregnant. Ten years later, we are all happy and healthy for the most part. I have very limited short term memory, high blood pressure and chronic fatigue and this is all attributed to the HELLP.

Misty - posted on 01/02/2010

My name is Misty & my daughter Courtney Hope was born @ 24 weeks due to my preeclampsia & severe HELLP. It was interesting to read your story, I had some of the same symptoms and was just like you, brushed off as a being a paranoid mom to be. I felt horrible from the day I found out I was pregnant. Due to my age of 35 at delivery & this being my first baby, I had roughly 6 ultrasounds throughout my pregnancy. My prenatal check ups were always fine as was my blood pressures. I went for my 6 month check up on a Tuesday telling the OB that I was having a lot of "bloating" feelings, again, it was brushed off & I was told to take tums & gas pills. I like you, was having a lot of eye issues, dizziness, upset stomach, & heart racing episodes. That whole week I started having pain in my upper right side, by Friday night it was so bad I went to the ER. After monitoring the baby for over an hour (she was fine) they sent me back down to the ER & after they got labs back & took my blood pressure (180/100) I was transferred to a level 1 high risk womans hospital and NICU. I was terrified, at the time I was only 23 weeks. I was started on multiple drugs for the increased blood pressure & was not able to get out of bed. I was fortunate to get both steroid injections to help her lungs before delivering by emergency c-section at 24 weeks 1 day, my platelet counts had dipped down to 13,000. Courtney weighed only 1 pound 2 ounces & was 11 3/4 inches long. She spent 142 days in the NICU & I'm blessed to say she just turned 14 months old and the only issue she has is she wears glasses now after multiple eye surgeries. I still have ongoing hypertension that I'm on medications for and I'm terrified to have another one. The doctor reassured me that I would be closely monitored with another one, the only restriction is that I would have no choice but to have a scheduled c-section due to the way my uterus was cut to get her out quickly and minimize bleeding with me, I am not to labor at all according to the doctor. It will take some time before I'm ready to try for one more, I don't know how I could do the NICU thing again having one at home now. Right now, I'm just focused on her needs and thank God everyday that she is a happy healthy little girl. Thanks for sharing your story!!

Pamela - posted on 11/30/2009

My name is Pamela and I have two miracle boys. Trevor was born at 28 weeks due to me having severe preeclampsia. I didn't know anything was wrong except I was swelling in my feet, hands, and face. I called my ob and when the nurse took my blood pressure she said "o dear lay down and I'll go get the doctor" The doc came in and asked me if I had any vision problems, which I told her yea in my right eye it's blurry but I thought it was just my contact. My blood pressure was 190/115. They sent me across the street for a biophysical profile on my baby and a few hours later they sent me to Wichita to have a baby. I was so scared I didn't know what was going on. I got to Wichita by ambulance and there they immediately hooked me up to magnesium sulfate(that stuff sucks, makes you feel like crap). I had my baby by emergency c-secion at 3:58a.m., he weighed 2lbs 5.7oz and was 13 1/4 inches long. He was in the NICU for 2.5 months. He's now 4 years old. The only problem he has is that he has asthma and allergies.

My second son Ethan was also born at 28 weeks due to preeclampsia. I was at work and had my co-workers take my blood pressure and it was 160/107. I called my ob and they wanted to see me immediately. When I got there it was still high so they admitted me in to the hospital. I was there for only a few hours when they sent me by ambulance to Wichita. I was on complete bed rest until I had him (the doctors wanted me to stay on bed rest for 9 weeks). Well 5 days after being admitted and put on bed rest my blood pressure spiked it got up to 201/133, so they decided to take me emergency c-section. Halloween 2009 my son was born at 9:45pm weighing 2lbs 1oz and was 13 1/2 inches long. He is currently in the NICU.

Elizabeth - posted on 11/20/2009

My pregnancy was going great all the way up to 36w 4d. I remember my dad telling me that because i am having such an easy pregnancy that I may not be so lucky in the end. My story isn't as dramatic as some, but it definitely took me by surprise.

I went to my doctor's appointment on a Thursday afternoon. I did the routine urine test, and by the time they got done with the bp check i knew there was something not right, because the nurse checked it 3 times. She never did that. Then the doctor came in and checked it two more times and asked me to lay on my left side while he checked it. He left and came back in and told me that my urine was not a "clean catch" which it had protein in it. So, he proceeded to explain to me what pre-eclampsia was, which like some of the other girls i had heard of it, but never thought that it was going to happen to me. So the doc sent me to L&D to observe me, and later that evening they sent me home on bedrest and had me do a 24 hour urine test.

So I took the urine test back to the hospital on Saturday Morning, dropped it off and they did another blood test on me for some reason. After we left we went on with our day as planned. I went up to see our niece who had just been born that same day. Then the next day was pretty normal until we got home late that night. My OB called earlier and wanted me in the hospital, but we didnt get the message until 11:30.

So when we got to L&D they induced me right away, and put me on IV's and Magnesium and Pitocin. So I was on all of that all night and then the next morning my water broke on its own. and then i was starting to feel the contractions stronger. But, I wasn't dilating as fast as the wanted me too, plus my son wasnt taking it to well, his heart rate kept dropping, so the OB came in and told me they had to do an emergency c-section, because baby wasn't taking to well, plus my pre-eclampsia just kept getting worse. I was so swollen that i don't even recognize myself in those pictures everyone took at the hospital.

This whole ordeal has my husband terrified to have another one. But, no matter what I went through that day, I am just glad and very blessed to have my lil' boy

Lori - posted on 11/09/2009

Hello, my name is Lori and I lost my son Ian to HELLP. To make a long story short, basically what happened is I had many wrong diagnosises and not enough of the right symptoms and so I ended up losing my son because of it. I was 8 1/2 months pregnant and he weighed 3lbs., 2 oz. I was not rightly diagnosed until after I had him. Then all of a sudden everyone knew. I am happy to say that I did go on to have 2 wonderful boys. I was of course high risk and got lots of blood work done, many ultrasounds, and also was at the dr. almost more than at home it seemed but it was so worth it. I do have to say that my 8 year old does have aspergers and I have heard alot about this maybe having to do with the HELLP thing but I did not get help again after my first son that I lost so who knows. I can't believe I found a community like this. Thanks.

Jenette - posted on 09/08/2009

I also forgot to mention he was IUGR

Jenette - posted on 09/08/2009

My name is Jenette and I had severe Pre-e with elevated liver enzymes. Like many of you I didn't know I had symptoms until after I knew what Pre-e was. I remember 2-3 weeks before going to the hospital saying there was glitter in the sky at school. It literally looked like someone dumped glitter from the 2nd level. I'll try giving you the short story.

On the evening Monday March 3rd 2008 (24 weeks 3 days) my mom decided to take my BP after a week of me complaining of headaches. She also said I was swelling too much for how far along I was (she's an LVN so I trust her w/ medical stuff). We found out the reading was about 160/107. We called the dr. and they told me to go to the hospital. They hooked me up and taking my BP every 15 minutes. I ended up staying the night and saw the doc the next morning. She told me I had high BP and to be on strict bed rest, t. I could only go to the bathroom and get a quick meal. Thats it. I also had to do a 24 hr urine tes Having just turned 19 the week before, it was no fun.My Bp's were going down a bit around 130-160/90-100. But it was still high.

Thursday evening March 6 2008 (24 weeks 6 days) I wasn't feeling good. I was nauseous and had a huge headache. I took my BP and it was 180/120!! We went to the hospital again. I was monitored and did another urine sample. The doctor came in and said I have severe preeclampsia and I needed to transfer to another hospital. they did not have the equipment to treat me or my son if he was going to be born.

Friday morning March 7th (25 weeks) I was transferred via ambulance to Loma Linda. The first thing they did was give me a steriod shot my his lungs. I had magnesium and another drug for my headaches. By the end of that day my eyes got really blurry.

Saturday March 8 (25 1) They gave me another steriod shot. I was told that I had a very severe case, but they will do their best to keep Anthony cooking. My protein levels were in the ten thousands! That evening my liver enzymes were also rising. So my liver and kidneys weren't functioning properly. The docs said if they go up any more I will be delivered that night. If they stay the same the next morning.

Sunday March 9th 2008 my son Anthony Arturo was born screaming at 25 weeks 2 days. He was 1 lb 6 oz and 12.5 inches long.His Apgars were 8/9 He had my nose, my hands, and my feet. The nurses called him "Tiny but Mighty".

I didn't get to see him until the next day since I was still on the mag. He was definitly a fighter. He kicked my sister and the nurses had to sedate him a bit because he was moving too much for his little body. On the 4th day they even started giving him 1cc of my breast milk! He was doing great. I was discharged March 13th. My husband and I stayed at the Ronald McDonald House.

March 15th 2008 we came back from dinner and the doctors were pumping his little chest, his heart rate was dropping and he was losing oxygen. The whole day he was fighting off an infection. He bled into his lungs and his stomach. At around 7 PM my son passed away in my arms. The first and last time I ever got to hold him. We miss him so much. We think about him every day.

We are now blessed with a healthy daughter, Gabriella who is now almost 4 months. She was born at 37 weeks 4 days with a scheduled c/s. Preeclampsia free

Courtney - posted on 08/03/2009

My name is Courtney and my son is Jacob who is now about 29 months old. I had high blood pressure before getting pregnant due to a childhood illness and weight problems. We knew it would be risky. At 29 weeks I went in for a checkup and for whatever reason felt the need to pack my bags because I knew I was going to be admitted because I hadn't been feeling well(headaches, nauseous). I knew the "feelings" of high blood pressure since I've had it all my life. My husband and I made the hour drive to the hospital(where my OBs office was) and they did a test to determine how much my little guy was moving and it wasn't enough. My BP was in the 130/85 range.

I was admitted and the stress and nervousness about everything made my BP sky rocket to about 150/100 so I was put on magnesium. They also found protein. We're stationed in Idaho and our families are on the East Coast so we were going through all of this on our own! The magnesium was awful but it helped. I did get the steroid shots for Jake's lungs. I lasted about a week or so in there and was moved to the long term stay unit. The goal was to keep me on bed rest and in the hospital until I was 34 weeks..which didn't happen. The night of Feb.13 I wasn't feeling well, my BP was unstable. My husband and I were watching Titanic and a few nurses came in and asked how I was feeling. Apparently I was having contractions due to a loss of amniotic fluid. I was put on oxygen and sent over to labor & delivery and my OB was brought in at 11:30pm. I was apologizing for her being there so late! lol! She did an ultrasound and determined that Jake would be coming into the world that night by c-section. I had little amniotic fluid, he was breech, and he had the cord around his neck. By the time we got back there it was sometime around midnight. Before I knew it Jacob was born at 1:15am on Feb.14th...the best Valentine's Day present ever. It took a while for him to cry but other than that he was good. He never needed oxygen or any additional help. The only problem he had was weight gain and was put on a PICC line for nutrition. I was kept in for about a week while my blood pressure leveled and then Jake was kept for about another 3 or so weeks after that. When we took him home he weighed about 4lbs even.

Jake is doing great now but is having developmental delays. He is in speech therapy and going to be put in early intervention soon. He started crawling when he was a year old, walked when he was about 2, and is just now talking. He has his own schedule for everything!

Elaine - posted on 07/09/2009

MTHFR gene may cause miscarriage it may be because MTHFR mutations can cause elevated homocysteine, which increases risk of blood clots, an MTHFR gene mutation. This mutation may increase the risk of miscarriage by creating tiny blood clots that block nutrient flow to the placenta and so they include MTHFR gene mutations in this category. Doctors may prescribe anti-clotting therapy such as heparin and low dose "baby" aspirin to reduce the risk of blood clots. Others may recommend high doses of folic acid and possibly other B vitamins with the idea that this will reduce homocysteine levels and eliminate any added risk on that front. APA can also cause blood clots. In my first pregnancy the doctor said that I had a clot to the placenta the resulted in Emily's stunted growth and maybe resulting in the PE and HELLP. I have the MTHGR C677T mutation and it may result in neural tube defect like I had with my second baby. This is why I take 4mg of folic acid daily. Thank you for all your support.

Anna - posted on 07/09/2009

Hi Elaine, You have been through quite a bit. Hang in there. Thank goodness for laptop computers when you have to be on bedrest. I wondered if there was any connection between MTHFR and preeclampsia. I was tested a few years ago after my sister lost 3 babies. I carry one of the genes but not both of them, but they still had me on extra folic acid when I was pregnant. Good luck, I hope everything works out and you can hold on till 36 weeks.

Elaine - posted on 07/09/2009

I was diagnosed with HELLP and Preeclampsia at 24 weeks during my 1st pregnancy with Emily Elnora. I had an appointment on Friday 2006 and I was very puffy and swollen and my blood pressure was very high. The send me home with 24hr collection kit and put me on bedrest at home for the weekend. They admitted me to the hospital on Monday. They gave me steroid shots to strengthen Emily’s lungs. I delivered Emily that evening. Her growth was showing at 21 weeks. She was 15 ounces and 10 1/2 inches long. She lived for two hours. I held her in my arms after surgery when she had already passed away. After my recovery the doctors did some blood test to look for some underlying disorders. They found MTHFR and another clotting disorder (APA). During my second pregnancy they had me on Lovenox and baby aspirin including some other prenatal medicines. We lost our baby at 12 weeks due to severe spina bifida. MTHFR does not allow me to absorb folic acid properly. Now during my third pregnancy I am on 4mg for folic acid (Folgard), Lovenox, baby aspirin, and prenatal. We are now 33 weeks along. We had a scare due to high blood pressure and they admitted me to the hospital. They gave two steroids shots to strengthen the babies lungs just incase I had to deliver early. We are on bedrest at home now. A few weeks later I went to L&D at the hospital for spotting and cramping. When they put me on the monitors and I was having contractions. They put me on an IV with magnesium sulfate to stop contraction and this seemed to work. This is the same medicine the put me on after I delivered Emily to help prevent seizures. They also gave me a booster steroid shot to strengthen the baby lungs just in case I went into labor. The doctor checked me two hours later and I was 1 cm dilated. I am home now on strict bedrest taking Nifedipine to stop contractions. We are hoping to go to 36 weeks.

Kristi - posted on 01/27/2009

Being knocked out was terrible. They were trying, with the first 3 platelet bags, to try to get it high enough to let me be awake. They quickly realized that wasn't going to happen, so they had to knock me out. Unfortunately, I was so out of it that I didn't realize that I had a son or how big he was until the next morning. Apparently my husband came into my room to tell about about Wes, but I was a little loopy. He still talks about how he wishes that we had that moment of "it's a ..." together! 

I guess I shouldn't think that Wes is so big that your little man grew so much in 9.5 weeks. Wes is 13.5 pounds today, and he is 11 weeks old ... I can't believe how big he is, or how big he was!

Tara - posted on 01/27/2009

Aw Krisit! What an amazing story! I was so scared that I was going to have to be knocked out. They wanted to and I kept saying please please don't. I didn't think I was going to be able to surrender myself to do it! SEVEN POUNDS!? Your little Wes is a football player in the making! ha ha! My son was born 3 pounds 14 ounces at 9.5 weeks early but at his due date he weighed almost 15 pounds! Maybe we need to get a team going! ha ha!

I love your little entourage too! My family followed me from section to section in our hospital. And I totally understand the fear of having another one. My husband doesn't say it, but I know that Floyd has in the back of his mind loosing me completely and being a single dad. The thought of being a single mom terrifies me, so I can't imagine what it does to them... :o(

Kristi - posted on 01/27/2009

I forgot to mention that Wes was 19 inches long at birth.

I should point out that now Wes is 11 weeks old (today) and weighs almost 13 pounds and is almost 24 inches long ... he's huge and no one believes that he is a preemie. He still has some feeding issues, but that's it. A little behind in his milestones, but I have no concerns right now!

Kristi - posted on 01/27/2009

I will try to give a short version of my story ... sometimes that's hard to do :) 

My name is Kristi, and my husband's name is Don. Wesley is our first baby. Wes was born on November 11, 2008 at 35+3 weeks. I had a completely healthy pregnancy up until 34+6 weeks. I went into the hospital that night because I thought I was having bad gas pain ... yeah right!  I was admitted immediately and put on bed rest. My small town hospital was not equipped for a preemie baby, so I would have to be transferred. All my blood work showed bad things - protein in my urine, stupidly high blood pressure (200/150), low platelet count, liver ezymes out of whack - all classic signs of HELLP Syndrome. So they took me by ambulance to a mid-sized city hospital, where they were apparently equipped to deal with a preemie, and were also equipped to deal with HELLP issues. Turned out that wasn't true at all. They tried to induce me on Sunday afternoon, tried to break my water twice. First time, I wasn't even dilated 1 cm, the second time was on Monday evening about 6pm the doctor pulled out a blood clot that was from his hand to his elbow.

It was decided that they couldnt' do anything for me at that hospital, and I would need to be taken by ambulance to a big city hospital who had a great NICU, and all the blood products necessary to deal with me. I should mention that during all of this, my son was doing really well - steady heartrate, moving fine - THANK GOODNESS. I had an entourage of people - my husband, my mom, my best friend and my dad ... they were all following me everywhere, it was like a procession on the highway!

So, I finally made it to the big city hospital at 9pm on the Monday ... the doctors and nurses had to spend the next 2.5 hours trying to stabilize me enough to have this baby. When I got to the hospital my platelet count was 14 - I was given 3 bags of platelets and it only increased my count to 17. Doc's said we didn't have anymore time, if we waited any longer I would die. I had to sign a form saying that if they weren't able to stop the bleeding they would perform a hysterectomy. I was knocked out cold and the baby was taken. He was born just after midnight on Nov 11, 2008 (35+3 weeks). He weighed an amazing 7 pounds. 

I was in the ICU (where I ended up receiving 3 more bags of platelets) from immediately after surgery to Wednesday night at 11pm, when I was transferred to the Postpartum unit. I had tubes coming out of everywhere, and was on a Fentenol (spelling) drip. My husband wasn't able to stay at the hospital with me, but luckily was able to find a hotel close to us. Wes was in the NICU until Friday afternoon around 2pm. He didn't really need to be there for more than 2 days, he was there because I wasn't able to take care of him, I was a pretty hurting unit.

Eventually I got myself better, had my drains removed (there was SO much blood inside). My platelet level increased to 229, and the doc was super happy. I was still bleeding a bit from part of my c-section incision where they should have put another staple, but I begged the doctor to let me go home. My husband had to go back home to be with our animals (we have a virtual zoo in our house), and I was sick and tired of the hospital. I forced myself to do things because I wanted to prove I was doing well (even though I was feeling like crap). I just wanted to be home!!

In the end, we were all healthy and safe. I hope that the next time we decide to have a baby that all is well. I don't ever want to put my husband and family through what they went through with Wes. My husband still talks about how he almost lost me, and worries that with the next one, he might have to be the father of two by himself. I just let him talk it out, and he lets me. Thank goodness for amazing husbands and families.

Ashley - posted on 01/24/2009

really eh....wow that's pretty scary for sure...ya i do it's called Factor V Leiden....i have a 35% chance in my life of getting one but because i'm pregnant i am considered at a higher risk of developing one...i can also develop one if i go on long trips without getting up and walking.....i have to be on something called Fragmin for the first 6 wks after the baby is born...it's a needle that i have to give myself daily in my stomach......ya they thought that my son had a stroke and that's why the began testing us and that's what they found.....do your babies have a chance of getting it as well?...because mine have a 50% chance of getting it but Jackson doesnt have it....

Tara - posted on 01/24/2009

Oh my gosh Ashley! I just found out that I have a blood clotting disorder! They think I might be having strokes, I just posted a thread about it last night! Do you know the name of what you have?

Ashley - posted on 01/24/2009

wow..what you guys went through is def scary...my story isnt near as scary.....i wasnt diagnosed until i was 39 weeks so my little guy was all ready to come out. A couple of the symptoms that you guys had earlier on though now that i think about it i had them too just never thought anything of it. My eyes was one...i remember saying there's something wrong with my eyes but just thought it was my contacts...i never mentioned it to my dr .....i would also get very dizzy....if i walked up stairs i had to stop and wait a second until it passed.........my blood pressure the last week was about 160/100...i was admitted immediately and was induced on the saturday. They had me on blood pressure meds immediately and had me very closely monitored. I gave birth to my son on the sunday which happened to be mothers day. A wonderful mothers day present. He ended up having to go to the hospital at 2 wks with severe bacterial meningitis in his brain where they also found a bit of brain damage which we think was caused by delivery......he spent two months in the hospital but is now doing absolutely wonderful.....we wont be able to tell how the brain damage is going to affect him until he gets older but for an 8 month old he's exactly where he should be for his age...i am currently pregnant with our 2nd and due July 17th. I am scared i will get it earlier this time around but from what the dr has told me i will be monitored by high-risk....i also have a blood disorder where i can get blood clots and being pregnant puts me at a much higher risk of developing one than normally......which we didnt know for my first pregnancy...we only found out because my son was in the hospital and they thought he had a stroke so they did some testing.....it's def scary but we take it day by day and hope for nothing but the best!!....

Abi - posted on 01/23/2009

We found out in December 2005 that we were going to have our third child. We surprised our families by sharing the news at Christmas. Our daughter and son were excited and predicted it would be a baby sister. Abi’s pregnancies with the first two had been uneventful. This first trimester of this pregnancy was not so. Abi suffered from severe headaches and migraines. Time would tell that these were the first signs of complications to come.

The second trimester began and we were happy to confirm by sonogram that it was indeed a baby girl. Our family was fortunate to take advantage of a week’s vacation in San Antonio through Michael’s work. We all really enjoyed ourselves and played really hard. On return from our trip Abi noticed a distinct decline in her energy. She just attributed it to being pregnant and that she had been really busy with work and the children. By mid-April, Abi began having severe chest pains that she thought were bad cases of heartburn.

The baby’s due date still was August 11, and by the time May rolled around we were really anticipating a fun summer of getting ready for her arrival. The newest 3-D sonogram technology was now available in Waco, so we jumped at the chance to view the baby inside the womb. On Wednesday May 10, the whole family went to view the baby together.

The mood of the room became tense when the technician began asking some odd questions. Abi was especially alarmed when she was asked if she had been leaking fluid. The sonogram technician told us all to wait outside while she put the images on CD. Meanwhile, the sonogram technician contacted our doctor. We were then advised to head directly to Labor & Delivery at the hospital. Just two days short of 27 weeks, we were all very worried that the baby would have to be delivered early. Abi was admitted to the hospital for 2 days to rest and be monitored closely. Steroid shots were given to her as a precaution and to help the baby’s lungs develop. By Friday, a sonogram revealed that the bedrest had caused the amniotic fluid to increase. Her blood pressure was elevated now, and Abi was sent home to be on bedrest indefinitely.

Two days later the chest pains became unbearable and by Monday afternoon Abi had another migraine and was vomiting uncontrollably. She spent five days at home being very sick, unable to eat; she lost 7 lbs. On Friday morning May 19, Abi returned to her doctor’s office. Abi was not getting better, and the doctor decided she must be readmitted to the hospital for a ‘weekend stay’ for tests and observation.

Within two hours, two blood tests revealed Abi was suffering from HELLP syndrome. An emergecy C-Section was performed within an hour of the diagnosis and our baby girl was born at 28 weeks gestation. Anya Ella Aars weighed 1 lb. 12 oz. and was only 13″ long.

She subsequently spent 65 days in the Neonatal ICU at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center and finally came home to be with us on July 24 when she was just 4 lbs. 5 oz..
Our blog "Angel Kisses for Anya" on www.thedigitaleasel.com currently includes all of the updates that we emailed to friends and family.

She was diagnosed at 15 months with Mild Cerebral Palsy (Spastic Diplegia).  Through God's Grace, all other medical conditions have been resolved.  She's still learning to walk, but one day I know this little fighter will make it.  She's a miracle!

Dawn - posted on 01/23/2009

Your kids are all so beautiful!

Dawn - posted on 01/23/2009

Hi all-



Kim, I am like you. I don't feel like my story is as scary, but it still amazes me on this experience.



I didn't start having trouble until about 30 weeks when my BP started creeping up. I a workaholic by nature so I attributed the increase to my work. With a warning from my dr I went home from my appointment, and promised to try and go easy at work.



And in retrospect, I too had symptoms that should have been blatently obvious that there were bp issues going on. I really remember the morning I was packing my lunch for work and would have sworn that there was a swarm of gnats in the kitchen. Gross I know but it passed. By 34 1/2 weeks my bp was high enough that the OBGYN ordered restricted activity and modified bed rest. No more work for me.



I was 36 w 6d on the day I was admited. DH and I went to the doctor for my appointment, ns test and some other testing. BP was looking ok - not great but o.k. and we even talked about inducing me around 38 w. That appointment was at 11 AM. We went to my mom's to have lunch - I remember trying to eat but feeling really sick to my stomach. By the time we left at 1:00 PM I was puking my guts out.



DH took me home and we thought I was just sick with the flu or something. I kept throwing up and had a lot of pain in my right side. I had had that pain quite a bit throughout my pregnancy but never mentioned it. I thought it might have just been associated with being pregnant. My mom called and convinced me to call the triage nurse at the dr office. By that time it was 4:30 - the nursed called me back and recommended I go to L&D. She said she just didn't think it was a good idea to wait overnight to be seen by someone. The hospital was 30 minutes from our house - to be honest we thought they were going to send us home - and we debated not even going. It was 30 minutes, plus we "knew" it was the stomache flu. So we put step son (SS) in the car and off we went.



At L&D they hooked me up to the blood pressure cuff, monitor and drew some blood. By then I had stopped throwing up and SS and I watched the monitors - light contractions but nothing I could feel. At 6:30, dr came in and said - I think we should probably induce you. That's when they called the symptoms what they were - HELLP syndrome and pre-e. They gave me some magnesium to keep me from having a seizure to which I promptly started throwing up again. They got me settled in an L&D room and gave me Cirvidil and kept me hooked up to the monitors. They also did another blood draw.



DH and I were resting quietly waiting for the Cirvidil to kick in and at midnight the lab came in to draw more blood. While they were processing the sample, I remember looking at the bp monitor and seeing 150/110 - and it was blinking. As I started to think - that's awfully high maybe I should buzz the nurse the doctor comes in. It was time to do an emergency c-section - we couldn't wait for the Cirvidil to get my contractions going. My platelett counts were low enough that the anestesiaologist recommended me being put all the way under to do the section. Against his recommendation, I said I wanted to be awake and the dr said o.k. I remember being strapped down and shaking so badly that the bp cuff cut off circulation to my arm. I asked the anestesiaologist to make sure my DH knew I was o.k. - he wasn't in the room yet - poor DH I've never seen him so worried. At 2:12 AM, Kaitlyn Anne was delivered.



DH went with Kaitlyn while they were stitching me up. She was diagnosed with Respirtory Distress Syndrome which they told us was from the magnesium. She went to be monitored in the NICU.



They called me "toxic" because of the HELLP syndrom- a bad term. 18 hours after delivery I still hadn't held my daughter and I was determined to go to the NICU. The doctor told me nurse that if I could go from the bed to the wheel chair by myself then I could go. I stood up and promptly passed out. It was almost 36 hours from her birth that I got to hold my baby girl.



She had a little jaundice, had some RSD initially but the main reason she ended up staying in the NICU for 14 days was because she wasn't eatting. The entire time we were in the NICU I kept thinking my daughter is so big compared to the adorable triplets boys that were born the same day as Kate or the sweep little girl that had been born at 30 weeks and was so tiny. She started eatting a little at a time and the day before we took her home she pulled the feeding tube out of her nose 3 times - the nurses said it was a sign she wanted to go home.



We are extremely blessed in how thing all turned out. She is a joy and a blessing!

Julie - posted on 01/23/2009

I started showing at about 6 weeks...I always thought it was a little early to show.  I was out of my normal close at two months.  It had taken nearly a year for my husband and I to get pregnant, going through one 2 months 3 weeks miscarriage.  When we finally got that positive test we didn't believe it and I took two more and then another at the doctors office.

The pregnancy started off great!  I almost got through without morning sickness, just nausia, but at 13 weeks I was hit with BAD morning sickness...I could not go near a dog with out losing my lunch!  So our dog found a new home :/ 

I was maybe three months into the pregnancy when my blood pressure went from being AMAZING to maybe something to watch.  I was totally exhausted all the time and if I bent or picked anything up I would get cramps.  That should have been my first clue I guess.

I did ok up until I was 6 months pregnant then my blood pressure climbed and stayed there.  At not quite 7 months I was put on bed rest for the rest of my pregnancy.  At 29 weeks I felt like a gush of fluid and thought my water had broke....I went into the hospital and stayed there for a little over a week...I had gone into preterm labor.  I was put on Mag Sulfate....It felt like a semi parked on my chest and then got loaded up!  I was sent home on an around the clock regiment of tributiline to stop my contractions/labor.  I couldn't get up without contracting.  I was set up with an in home uterine monitor and healthcare company.

Two weeks later I had gone in to the doctors for another 3 hour glucose test because I was showing sugar in my urine along with the protein.  Two days after taking the test I became VERY ill and was sent back to the hospital for yet another week plus.  I had gained 8 pounds in two days.  I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes, and put on a strict diet.

I was also told by my doctor that he was going to try to get me to 36 weeks and then induce.

Two days before my scheduled induction I went in  for my last prenatal doc visit The baby had been breech and had flipped yet again for the third time!....My proteins had sky rocketed and I was sent directly to the hospital.  I called my husband who was at work 2 hours away and told him to come now....Of course that was the same day as the first ice storm of the year!  It took 4 hours for him to get to me!

The next day I was induced (a day early...we were trying to wait for my OB to get back, instead his twin brother delivered me!) A balloon catheter was inserted to help me dialte and petocin was given TONS and TONS of it!!!!!!!!!!!  14 hours later I was pushing and my baby's heart rate was dropping....So my AMAZING OB used a suction cup to "help" her out.  She was born unresponsive due to her cord being wrapped around her neck twice.  It took two minutes to resesitate her.  She had a broken clavicle, hemotoma in her arm and was very weak.  They placed a feeding tube through her nose.  But after 4 days she was all better and allowed home!  She is now two and a half months old and already rolling over and talks up a storm!  She amazes me daily!

I LOVE my little miricle! I hope this story brings someone hope!

Julie - posted on 01/23/2009

I also wasn't able to see my child for 24 hours!  And I wasn't allowed to hold her for even longer...She was 36 weeks.  I can only imagine how amazing it was for you when you did get to hold your little one!

Tara - posted on 01/23/2009

Oh what a good story! I love reading these. Before I went through it myself, I was never even aware that this kind of thing happened! It makes everything seem even more special! Kyndall is absolutely beautiful Kim! :o)

Kim - posted on 01/23/2009

WOW! After reading these other stories, I feel lucky. My story is not nearly as scary.

My pregnancy was normal up until about 31 1/2 weeks. I had gone to my doctor that week and had told her that I was cramping. She checked me to make sure everything was fine-which it was so she wasn't all that worried about it. That Thursday, I went to work and didn't feel to good-it felt like my little one was squeezing every organ she could reach. I just chalked it up to being tired and not feeling good. On Friday I went to back to work, but by about 6 that evening I was in a lot of pain. I knew what it was(a kidney stone-I've had them for almost 6 years), and told myself that I only had 3 hours left before getting off. A co-worker came down to where I was about 745 and noticed I didn't look to good. He went back up to the store and told a manager who called me. When I told him I was in pain he ran down to the gas station and told me to close early. I had called my doctor that afternoon and left a message about my kidney's hurting. She called back after I left for work but left a message to come in on Monday to do lab work for a kidney infection. When I got home, my husband took me to the hospital. They took me straight up to L&D. The on-call doc came in and admitted me because we couldn't get a sono done until the next morning. Long story short, I was at the hospital all weekend. It was a kidney stone, and my uroligist put in a stent that Sunday morning. My BP was a little high, but they said it was because I was in so much pain.

At 34 weeks, my doctor put me on restricted activity and told me I couldn't stand for longer than 30 min at a time. I was still able to work because I could sit. She also told me then that she would probably go ahead and schedule us for an induction around 39 weeks so that I could get my stent removed earlier.

When I went in for my 35 week check up, I told my doctor that I was done working and put myself on voluntary home rest so that I could control my pain from the stent better without having to worry about work. Well, at the beginning of the appt. the medical tech took my blood pressure and then left the room. She came back in a couple of minutes later and wanted to take it again. She said it was a little high but thought that it was because she had taken it through my shirt. She took it again w/o my sleeve and never said anything again. My appt went as normal. My doc checked my urine-nothing, checked baby's heartrate-normal, measured me-normal, checked me- still long, closed, and hard. After I came out of the bathroom after changing back into my clothes, my husband told me that the nurse came in and wanted to check my BP again. The nurse came in and checked it, left the room to get another stethescope and checked it again. Next thing we know, the doctor is back in the room to check my BP for the 5th time! They never told us what it was, but she put me on mandatory strict bedrest. The doctor then told us that she was thinking that we would aim for 38 weeks unless something happened. She also told me to come back Friday for labs, BP check, and a non-stress stress test on the baby.

That Friday, I went in for my appt. The medical tech checked my BP and it was still higher than they'd like. She hooked me up to the monitor and wanted to get a good strip before the doctor got back from the hospital from doing rounds. The baby had a good strong heartrate, but she never had the increases they wanted to see. They tried "buzzing" her-making a loud noise to see if she would react. She didnt. By now the doc was back, and told us that she now just wanted us to get to 37 weeks-which was still about 2 weeks away. She also sent us to sono to do a biophysical on the baby-which we got an 8 out of 8 on. The doc told me to keep my appt for Monday, but to make one for the next Friday too. She was wanting us to come in twice a week until delivery.

On that next Monday (35 weeks 6 days), I went in for my appt with another doctor because my doc was out of the office for the whole week. This doctor checked my BP twice-which was still alittle high for me 125/95 the first time and 120/90 the second. She and her nurse checked my urine about 5 times with 3 different bottles of urine test strips. She asked me about headaches, which I was having. She sent us to the hospital for for labs and constant BP checks. She told me to keep my Friday appt, but she only thought we had a 50/50 chance to make it to then. I went up to the hospital, and apprently every pregnant women in the city was there too. I was the 3rd patient in a row to be sent to L&D, and then we had to sit in the waiting room until a room opened up! After about 6 hours, they sent me home.

On Christmas Eve( 2 days later, now 36 weeks 1 day), I went in on my own that morning because I thought I was having contractions and my head would randomly start shaking. I wasn't having contractions and they didn't know what was causing my head to shake so they sent me home.

That Friday(36 weeks 3 days), I went in for my 2nd appt for the week-with yet again, another doctor(remember mine was out of the office). At that appt, all the doc did was check my BP twice. It was 145/105 and 145/100 after just sitting in the waiting room. He sent us straight back to the hospital. He also told us who the on-call doc was, which just happened to be the same doctor who had sent us to the hospital on Monday. We were convinced we were going to have our baby that day. Good thing we had packed our bags and had them in the car with us! As soon as I got the the hospital, they had a room waiting and had already gotten labs ordered from the doc. That evening after the on-call doc finished up in the office, she came to see me and decided to admit me and put me on hospital bed rest to make sure that I would make it to the 37 week mark and my doctor could be there, but wanted to keep there incase something happened.

After spending the weekend in the hospital, in the same room, not being able to get out of bed except to go the the bathroom and shower, I was bored outta my mind. My BP was "under control" 120s/80s, as long as I was down, but if they checked it after going to the bathroom or taking a shower it was back up in the 140s/100s. MY doctor came in that Monday(36 weeks 6 days) and told me that I was already on the calander for an induction the next morning. She was willing to let me try and labor but didn't promise anything.

The next morning, I was induced. My doctor broke my water about 8 that morning. I was also on Magnisim and of course Pitocin and had an epidural started to help control my BP. About 2 horus or so later, 3 nurses came running into the room. One was messing with my IV and the other 2 flipped me to my side. My BP had bottomed out 80/50 and the babies heartrate was dropped below mine. Once things leveled back out, they turned the Pitocin back on. However, about an hour later the same thing happened again. This time we got lucky because my doctor was on her way up to check on how we were doing. She checked the chart and strips and came in and decided that because I was only at 3cm(I had started at a 2 when they induced labor) and nothing else had changed after 5 hours of Pitocin and the baby wasn't tolerating labor that it was time for a c-section. It was not an emergency, but she wanted it done quickly. Only about 30 min after she came in to check on me, we delivered our baby.

That night, our ped came in and said that other than her size, Kyndall was perfectly healthy considering what she and I had gone through. She even was able to go to the normal nursery and not the NICU. At her 2 week check up, she was 5lbs 6 oz. She started at 4 lbs 14 oz and left the hospital 4 oz lighter. Both she and I are doing well, and continue to get stronger every day.

Tara - posted on 01/23/2009

ANNA! HE IS A DOLL! Oh my gosh!!! I love him!

Tara - posted on 01/23/2009

Oh hunny! How scary! I'm going to check out your link in just a second. I can NOT imagine being on bedrest for 6 weeks in a hospital. When I was first admitted that was forefront on my mind...how the heck would I lay on my left side for 6-8 more weeks? And they didn't think Grady's lungs were ready either but they took him anyways because of how bad my convulsions were gettings.

I didn't get to see Grady for two days after I had him. My husband had them take a picture and I slept with it along side the railing of my bed. Even when I was able to see him for the first time, I was only there for about 5 minutes.

I would say my bp was high for around 3 months after I had Grady. Does you doctor have anything to day about it?

Anna - posted on 01/23/2009

Hi. My name is Anna and I have one son named Jesse. After this experience we are thinking he might have to be an only child. Our whole story is here http://www.babyhomepages.net/ww9ajr/. The beginning of the pregnancy went well. I started having a lot of swelling but everyone told me that was normal during pregnancy and July was really hot so that added to it. When I went in on 7/28 my blood pressure was 145/90. I was told to take it easy when I could and put my feet up. The next dr appt 8/16 my blood pressure was 120/80. We thought that was odd since I had been taking it at home and it was consistently high. So we thought the doctor knew best and didn't worry about it. I had my baby shower on 8/24. I was having a lot of swelling that day and was dizzy and couldn't see out of one eye but I kept telling myself I was just tired. The next day I went to the doctor and knew something was wrong when the nurse taking my blood pressure went out to get someone else. It was 200/105. They immediately sent me to a specialist in Indy at St. Vincent Women's Hospital.



By the time we got up there and checked in my blood pressure was 210/110 and they were really worried I was going to have a stroke. So I was admitted right away. I was 30 weeks along. They immediately started the steroid shots and got me on blood pressure medication and started a 24 hour urine collection.



After a lot of tweaking and getting the right dosage of 3 different bp medications, my bp was leveling out. It was still high but they were monitoring me and I had to lay on my left side all the time. I was there for 6 weeks before he was born. That was difficult.



The doctors didn't want to delive yet if they could avoid it, they really wanted Jesse to have more time for his lungs to develop. So I stayed in the hospital. They did an amnio at 34 weeks but it came back that his lunchs weren't ready so we waited another week. They did another amnio and his lungs were ok so they tried to induce me.



After 12 hours of no progress and the baby starting to show signs of distress they did an emergency c-section. Jesse was born 4lbs 9oz and 18 in long. He was 35 weeks so he didn't go to the NICU they took him to the CCN. If he had been a day earlier he would have gone to NICU.



I wasn't able to see him for the first 24 hours. I was still on magnesium and couldn't get out of bed. Once that time was up, I told them I didn't care how unsteady I was or how much it hurt, I was going to see my son. He had some blood sugar issues and there was a problem with his white blood count but they thought it was due to the bp meds I had been on. Once he was off the IV antibiotics for the staph infection they let us take him home. He was 4lbs 3 oz. Now he is 13lbs 4oz and his only issue is acid reflux.



I am apparently one of those weird women that will continue to have BP issues after pregnancy. They really expected it to go back down. However it have been 3 months and 3 weeks and I am still on a high dose of Procardia in order for my bp to be managed.

Tara - posted on 01/22/2009

What an incredible story Christine! I pray you get to take him home soon! He weighed as much as my son did at 31.5 weeks! That is so wonderful! I also had the magnesium drip, it was bad. But I was so delirious I don't remember much of it. I only got one steroid shot, were you able to get both?

I was admitted on a Sunday afternoon and at 7:30 AM on Monday morning the nurses changed shift. The new nurse, who was the head nurse, came in, took one look at me and called the doctor for the c-section. I had been shaking all night long and they never said anything. She looked at me and was like uh...no...you are going NOW. No waiting. lol!

Thanks so much for sharing and PLEASE keep us updated on your little trooper!

Christine - posted on 01/22/2009

My name is Christine and I have a son named Christopher. Christopher was born 6 weeks ago at 29 weeks due to preeclampsia. He was 10 and a half weeks early, his due date was February 22. He is currently living in the special care unit at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas.
Looking back, my symptoms actually started a lot earlier than I thought. I was seeing an OB at the beginning of my pregnancy and switched to another OB in Dallas when I moved mid-pregnancy. Before I switched doctors I was having extreme pain in my right shoulder blade and shortness of breath. I was working as a manager of a retail store and chalked it up to long hours on my feet but, I mentioned it to my doctor anyway. She said it was a normal "pregnancy thing" and to take some Tylenol. Two weeks later I had a new doctor and my BP was a little high.
I continued to go to work and tried heating pads and Tylenol but, still had the shoulder pain. On Tuesday, December 9, I went to McDonalds and had a 10 piece chicken nuggets and a Dr. Pepper, the meal I indulged in once a week. I went to work and I was closing that night. I started having pain on my right side and more burping than usual. I thought it was just the McDonalds.
The next morning I had to be at work at 6am to help train some employees for when I took my leave of absence. I woke up and still had the pain in my side and couldn't eat anything. I drove up to work to leave directions for the staff and came home and called my doctor. They had me come in immediately to see the nurse practitioner. She asked me a whole bunch of questions about my symptoms an then took my blood pressure. It was really high. The NP had me lay on my left side for 10 minutes and then took it again. She didn't tell me what it was but, excused herself and left me lying on my left side. At this point, I had heard of preeclampsia but, when I read about it the literature said that it rarely happens and not to worry about it. So, I had no idea what the symptoms were or what can happen.
After about 15 minutes the NP came back and said they were going to take me down to triage, my doctor is located in a huge medical center, and they weren't sure if they were going to admit me or not. They wheeled me downstairs and got me checked in and told me to keep lying on my left side. My husband kept calling my cell phone to see if he needed to come up to the hospital and I told him that I didn't know if they were going to admit me or not.
In the triage area they had me on a BP cuff that checked me every 15 minutes. My husband arrived and then my doctor came down. He said that my BP was dangerously high and I had preeclampsia. He told me that he wanted to start a magnesium drip and give me a steroid shot for the baby's lungs. The goal was to get two of these shots in in 24 hours in case we had to deliver. Worst case scenario, we would deliver on Friday via C-section if the magnesium didn't work, it was Wednesday.
Magnesium is the worst drug ever. It makes you hot and lethargic and like you're going to throw up. They put me under observation in a delivery room. I was so hot they had to keep giving me cold wash cloths and put a fan on me. My husband and mother were wearing their coats in my room. The nurses kept a close on me and told me that if I had blurred vision or a headache to let them know. About 6pm on Thursday evening I developed a headache and my BP was up to 160/100. I remember telling the doctor I had a small headache and that I thought it was a sinus headache. Within minutes I was in the delivery room getting a spinal so they could do the C-section.
Christopher was delivered at 7:09 pm on Thursday, December 11. He weighed 3lbs 7oz and was 16 1/2 inches long. He went immediately to the NICU. After the required 4 hours in the recovery room, they wheeled my bed into the NICU so I could see him for just a minute. He was hooked up to a ventilator and all kinds of other stuff I don't remember.
Christopher is a fighter and has been a miracle baby. Right now he is breastfeeding as well as bottle feeding and the doctors expect him to be able to come home next week. I think this syndrome needs more publicity and recognition because it is detrimental to so many of us and it's not talked about. I look forward to hearing more from all of you as well!!