7 days after giving birth to my daughter I was hospitalized for 4 days due to having Postpartum Preeclampsia

I went through my entire pregnancy with no swelling or no high blood pressure…granted I did have hyperemesis my first trimester, but not one time did my blood pressure ever get slightly high…after laboring for 20 hours I was extremely exhausted after giving birth and noticed that I was swollen but was told to elevate my feet because I could be having postpartum edema. Even when the nurses would come check my vitals after giving birth my blood pressure was normal and my swelling wasn’t bad. I went through a lot during labor & delivery which caused me to have a spinal headache so I had special care in the postpartum unit and I will continue to say that my blood pressure was never high…once I was discharged 8 hours after being home I had to be rushed back to the hospital from having an intense spinal headache which caused my OBGYN and a Anesthesiologist to have to have to monitor me for 4 hours before discharging me again…once again my blood pressure was not high…I got back home and started my postpartum journey and started noticing that I was extremely out of breath and having shortness of breath everytime I would talk…breastfeeding was so hard for me because I was uncomfortable from being swollen and having shortness of breath…bathing myself was hard because standing on my swollen feet for a short period of time was painful…I called my OBGYN everyday and she kept advising me to elevate my feet…it wasn’t until a well trained Doula DM’ed me on instagram 7 days later to congratulate and check on me that I realized something was really wrong…when I tell this story I can NEVER leave her out of it because she literally saved my life…she wrote me saying “if I have any questions or concerns to please not hesitate to ask her”. I told her I was fine that I was just having excessive swelling…she then voice noted me back saying “if your swelling is paired with shortness of breath you need to go to the ER immediately” my husband was laying on the floor massaging my feet and he jumped up and said “what did she just say” and my mom immediately took her stethoscope to check my heart and it was beating slow

My husband and I rushed out the house, literally rushed out the house I didn’t get to change or try to look presentable before leaving, we just left and went to the hospital immediately. As soon as I got to labor & delivery they took me right back and immediately took my blood pressure. My blood pressure was 185 over 120 and the nurse that discharged me after giving birth was the same nurse who was looking after me now, she didn’t even recognize me because at this point I was so swollen all over. They gave me medicine to bring down my blood pressure and ran test and x rays on me. On the x rays it showed that my lungs were full of fluid and the fluid was moving towards my heart. I was immediately admitted into the hospital and began the treatments to recovery…it was the most traumatic experience I’ve ever been through and I’m lucky and grateful to still be alive…if that doula wouldn’t have advised me the way she did I wouldn’t have taken immediate action the way that I did. I was in the hospital for 4 days until my blood pressure stabilized and was put on blood pressure medicine for 2 months after that. Due to my blood pressure being so high my vision changed and I now have to wear glasses. It truly has changed my life. It took longer for my body to heal and has caused me to have a miscarriage 5 months after giving birth due to my body still not being properly healed. I want to bring awareness to women who are oblivious to the signs of preeclampsia, even if the signs and symptoms are mild we as women cannot take it lightly. I hope my story helps women to pay attention and not wait until it’s too late. It’s important to check your blood pressure before and after pregnancy.