I first noticed something wasn’t right when I landed in the emergency room for what I thought was premature rupture of membranes. It ended up being a false alarm, but at the time the nurse noticed my slightly elevated blood pressure and told me to go see my midwife ASAP.

When I saw the midwife on Monday my blood pressure was in the normal range and she told me the reading was likely elevated due to stress from being in the ER. I felt relieved and went home, but other symptoms started to manifest, like swelling of the hands and feet and fluid retention in the belly.

I started taking my blood pressure at home and had several high readings that led me back to the midwife’s office. I was told multiple times that these were false highs because the cuff I was using was too small.

I ended up ordering 4 or 5 different blood pressure cuffs because the midwives kept telling me the readings weren’t accurate. Each time I raised concerns they dismissed the readings for being false highs. They even went as far as to bring in every available cuff size the office had. They tried them all on me and picked the lowest reading they got (using a thigh cuff on my arm) and sent me home.

I woke up the next morning with my face swollen beyond recognition. I could barely open my eyes. I called the 24-hour midwife line and was told to come in to be seen. They sent me over to labor and delivery for more monitoring and I was diagnosed with preeclampsia without severe features. They discharged me after several hours and told me to continue monitoring at home.

The next morning the swelling in my face was worse. I started to see stars in my vision and my blood pressure was very high. My ears began to ring and my hearing got distorted. I went back to labor and delivery and was admitted for preeclampsia with severe features at 33 weeks.

The strategy then was to keep me stable enough until I reached 34 weeks and they would induce. The next week would end up being one of the hardest of my life. My blood pressure would oscillate between stable and out of control. I experienced piercing headaches, vision changes, and hearing distortion.

Luckily our baby was healthy and strong and we made it to my induction at 34 weeks. After over 24 hours of stalled labor, I had an emergency c-section and our son was born in respiratory distress.

Because of the magnesium and risk of seizure I wasn’t allowed to see my baby in the NICU until the day after he was born; I was beyond heart broken. Preeclampsia robbed me of the magic and joy of childbirth. It stole my agency and left me trauma that I still haven’t fully processed.

I feel incredibly luckily that my son and I survived this condition; too many others weren’t as lucky. I can’t help but wonder how things would have transpired if I hadn’t advocated for myself in the days leading up to my diagnosis.