On June 18, 2024, our second daughter Evie was born - a healthy, beautiful girl. My pregnancy was largely uneventful and without issue. Around 35 weeks. I began to notice edema around my ankles, occasional blurry vision, and that my blood pressure was hovering around 140/100. I knew that these symptoms were worth getting checked out, as I was induced for high blood pressure and intrauterine growth restriction with my first child. With this second pregnancy I had been taking baby aspirin daily since 12 weeks to try to prevent preeclampsia.

I called my OB, and she advised that I go to the hospital to be evaluated. It’s funny, despite my symptoms I told myself that everything would come back normal and then we’d be sent home. However, after getting the urinalysis results back I learned I was being admitted to be induced as I had developed preeclampsia.

Evie was born the next evening after about 27 hours of labor. About two hours after delivery I began to bleed heavily. I was rushed to an operating room and had a balloon device inserted to stop the hemorrhaging, but still required a total of 8 transfusions over the next day.

After the hemorrhage was stopped, I was transferred to the ICU. I began to experience the most unimaginable pain in my shoulders, under my ribs, and in around my abdomen. It would come in waves of pain every few minutes, waking me up from an exhausted sleep and would leave me screaming in pain. It was one of the hardest nights to get through —being in debilitating pain and being away from my newborn baby. I’d only held her for just a few minutes before we had been separated.

I managed to get through the night, and speaking with a team of doctors the next morning, it was discovered that in addition to the postpartum hemorrhage, I had developed HELLP syndrome and acute kidney failure.

I had a catheter placed in my neck and immediately began emergency dialysis. I stayed in the hospital for 10 days. I was only able to see Evie for about 15 minutes a day while in the ICU, and for just an hour or two after being moved to a step down unit. My husband was there for me and our girls in every way possible, being with me as much as possible while caring for our oldest and a newborn by himself. Our family was such a big support too, helping us take care of the girls and visiting me often.

After being discharged from the hospital, I began outpatient dialysis at a clinic three times a week. I was so sick and weak in those first few weeks at home — needing a walker to get around the house, barely able to keep food down, and retaining so much excess fluid because I’d lost the ability to urinate.

Slowly, my strength began to come back and my symptoms got better, although my kidneys were still not functioning. At one point, I was hospitalized a second time for an infection in my dialysis catheter, struggled with excruciating dialysis migraines, and had a severe allergic reaction to anemia medication. After nearly 4 months, my kidney function improved to a minimum level to be able to stop dialysis.

I’m now considered stable but currently have Stage 4 kidney disease. It took me quite some time to reconcile and come to terms with everything I endured, and I often wondered why I developed such a severe case of HELLP during this pregnancy. Looking back at old lab work from my first pregnancy and conferring with my care team, it seems I may have had preeclampsia or a mild class of HELLP with my first pregnancy and it was not caught at the time. It’s made me realize how important it is to advocate for yourself and never ignore any signs or symptoms you may be having.

Ultimately, my faith in God is what has carried me through this experience and I stand in faith that my kidney function will continue to improve. This season of life has taught me to take nothing for granted, and I’m so thankful to be alive and healing for my two girls.