In my last trimester I began getting very swollen from my feet and hands. I even got a carpal tunnel. I tried so many different ways to reduce how swollen I was but no matter what I did I was still swollen. I told my OB about my symptoms but she brushed them off as regular pregnancy symptoms. I began seeing stars. On my 37th week appointment I told my OB again about my symptoms and my blood pressure was very high. My OB had me do a urine test and it came out high with protein. I was rushed to the hospital. I had no time to get my bags. I began to get induced. I panicked this was not in my birth plan! My OB called me on the nurse’s phone while at the hospital and said the words, “You have severe preeclampsia.” I felt like my world was suddenly ending. I remember reading about it online last week and I felt like I had all the symptoms for it. I took out my phone while crying and began googling it again to refresh my memory on it.

When I saw the words “Preeclampsia is the leading cause of Maternal Death” I began to panic and I showed my husband and he had a blank look on his eyes and didn't know what to tell me but I could see his eyes getting watery while he whispered it would be ok.The nurses finally took me to my own room. The doctor said that after I gave birth my blood pressure would go back down. The nurses were constantly checking me for dilation every hour. It was awful. I was crying to my husband telling him, “Please let's go home.” I want to go home to our daughter.” He hugged me as he also cried. We both had not slept for two days.

I was finally able to get the epidural. As my baby girl was coming out I got a third degree tear and had to get stitches after. Thankfully she came out healthy and did not need to stay. My blood pressure did not go down and actually started getting higher. I was rushed to another room and my bed was covered in case I had a seizure. They put me on the mag drip with medication. They kept taking blood out of me every three hours for days, and I began to feel very weak. My husband asked the doctor, “What was happening? What was going on?” The doctor said,”Her cells are fighting and are not cooperating with her, she might look fine from the outside but not the inside.” My mother and husband began crying and the doctor gave my mother a hug and said, “I'm going to save your baby so she can take care of her baby.”

After a couple more hours the doctor came and handed me paperwork with a pamphlet that read “Blood Transfusion” I was so nervous but I signed it while crying. The nurses put one bag of blood in me and three bags of iron. Then my baby had to go home. My older daughter stayed at grandma's house. I cried every single day I was at the hospital. I missed my girls. It took two days to give birth to a healthy baby girl, two days I got to hold her, and one week stuck at the hospital without my girls all alone. I finally got to go home on meds.I am now six months postpartum and still on medication with constant doctor visits. In the end I am grateful I get to go home to my family.