This was my first pregnancy & I had no risk factors other than that. My pregnancy was relatively unproblematic until I started waking up with daily headaches. The nurse practitioner that I saw ruled these out as dehydration and told me to drink more. They continued. I began having severe kidney pain and had to be administered codeine, which did not even help. No one mentioned Pre-eclampsia, and I didn't even know what it was. One day while working from home, I suddenly lost vision and could not see my laptop in front of me. I called an emergency line & they were able to look at my file and see my history with daily headaches and told me to get to an emergency room ASAP. When I arrived my blood pressure was 170/110. I was pumped full of meds and as soon as it stabilized, I was released. This cycle would continue for weeks beginning at 29 weeks pregnancy. My blood pressure would sky rocket (I got an at-home kit), and I'd go to emergency, they would adjust my meds and send me home. At 33 weeks they decided to admit me to the hospital (without still haven't diagnosed me with pre-e). I would remain there until induction at 36 weeks - when I was taking 11 labetalol pills per day and still maintaining a BP of 140/95. Once I gave birth (traumatic in itself due to use of vacuum as baby's heart rate dropped), my blood pressure did not drop for 8 weeks and I remained on these medications which made me tired and dizzy and hard to care for a newborn. Luckily my baby was fine! My BP has since returned to normal (10 months pp).
I wish I was told about preeclampsia when I got pregnant and what to look out for. I also wish the doctors had communicated to me and told me what was happening instead of talking about me. No one even mentioned the term 'preeclampsia' until I had given birth and was to remain in hospital to monitor my blood pressure and try to wean me off the medication.
I wish there were more readily available resources and I know make sure other women know about it.