After I had Covid-19, my blood pressure started to slowly increase. I was told I needed to keep an eye on it, so I bought my own home blood pressure monitor. I tested it out and it said 194/125. I thought it was a fluke because it was a brand new machine and my blood pressure couldn't possibly be that high because I felt totally fine.

A day goes by and I notice I start feeling off; really itchy, swollen, not using the bathroom much, and upper abdominal pain. Everything I chalked up to 3rd trimester problems, it was my first pregnancy so I didn't have anything to compare it to. My husband urged that we go to the hospital to get checked, but I told him I feel okay enough and I'll just call the next day.

When I called the next day they calmly asked if I could leave work early, and I assumed everything would be okay because they didn't sound worried, I even told my husband no need for him to leave work early because I assumed they'd run a test and I'd go home. Luckily he disregarded what I had said because I was admitted not even 20 minutes after I had gotten there.

We found out my blood pressure was 160/120 and climbing, my kidneys had shut down, and I was going into liver failure; we were then told it was HELLP syndrome. I instantly started bawling because I thought it was something I did to cause it, and luckily the OB told me there was nothing I could have done to cause it or prevent it. We were then transported by EMS to a bigger hospital with a NICU because I would be having my baby within days and I was only 36 weeks.

About 24 hours after being admitted we decided to go with a c-section because I hadn't dilated past 1cm and my health was rapidly deteriorating; I couldn't keep going on in the state that I was. At 3:59pm February 10, 2021, weighing 6 pounds and 7 ounces, our beautiful Olivia Laine was brought into this world. Luckily she didn't have any NICU time, and I was finally able to start getting better.