I am so happy to be a mom to a healthy baby girl. My husband and I wanted to grow our family, and got pregnant Fall 2019. I felt great throughout most of my pregnancy - exercised regularly and even continued to go to SoulCycle, my favorite workout class. I was diagnosed with pregnancy related hypothyroid very early on and started on a low dose of Synthroid. My thyroid levels were monitored closely and I saw an endocrinologist regularly. Once this was under control, I experienced no issues until 28 weeks when I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. This required me to monitor my diet, see a nutritionist and check my sugar levels four times a day. I was already eating pretty healthy and so while this was not ideal, it didn’t affect me all that much day to day.

My mom had preeclampsia with me, and I was born at 28 weeks. Therefore my doctors watched my BP closely and I did multiple 24 hour urine checks. I was also taking my BP multiple times a day and reporting to my ObGyn. My BP was slowly creeping up and at 34w5d it skyrocketed. I called my Doctor who recommended we go to triage at the hospital. I walked the three avenues and two blocks with my husband and I’ll never forget that as we walked in, sick patients were going in the ER entrance - coughing badly, presumably suffering from COVID.

We walked into the hospital at 5:30 pm and my daughter was born via emergency c-section a little after 9 pm. I hemorrhaged and lost a lot of blood. I was on magnesium for 24 hours. I was then able to see my daughter in the NICU for the first time alone. We were kept in the hospital because despite being on medication, my BP skyrocketed again three days postpartum. I was put back on the magnesium. I was discharged three days later on two medications. My daughter stayed in the NICU for five more days.

I contracted a very bad UTI. My husband would walk with me to the hospital and I would have to sit a few times on the way because between the c-section and UTI I was in so much pain. We couldn’t take taxis because of COVID and we didn’t have a car. We both couldn’t see our baby at the same time due to restrictions. We went in the main entrance, knowing that on the street behind the hospital there were freezer semi-trucks. All of this just steps from “glamorous” Park Avenue on the Upper East Side.

When my daughter was discharged, we were so happy to be together but continued to wear masks at home for two weeks. While we were in the hospital, we were told the L&D floor may need to take COVID patients due to space and that the NICU would have to share a floor with those patients. This was quite scary to think about and we were lucky that the rates in NYC declined enough and this move wasn’t needed. I was on blood pressure medication for three months postpartum and still check my BP twice a day. Ultimately, we are all home and healthy (knock on wood) almost five months later. I credit my amazing team of doctors for being so vigilant and making all of the right decisions for me and my family. I also would say that being proactive about my own health and being aware of the symptoms, and checking my BP was critical.