I did not have a typical pregnancy. It was an unplanned pregnancy, and I found out at 13 weeks when I was experiencing a threatened miscarriage due to a hematoma inside of my uterus. The doctor said there was an 8% chance of my baby surviving, and we miraculously made it to 16, 20, and 27 weeks without any further issues. At 28 weeks my mom pointed out that I looked like I had ballooned overnight, and I was constantly getting winded from the smallest activities. My brother’s girlfriend checked my blood pressure 3 times over the course of 45 minutes, and my blood pressure was high but not alarmingly high. I reached out to my midwife, and she sent me to labor and delivery to ease my anxiety- she had chalked it up to first time mom nerves.

The L&D nurses monitored me for 6 hours and monitored my blood pressure- still high, pitting on my skin from the swelling, but no other classic symptoms of preeclampsia. They sent me home and told me to return to my midwife for my routine NST at 30 weeks. After failing the NST, I was sent back to labor and delivery where they monitored myself and my baby for four hours, and sent me home with a urine collection jug with instructions to return in 24 hours. Because I didn’t have all of the classic symptoms of preeclampsia (just the bloating, high blood pressure, one headache that went away over an hour after I took 1000mg of Tylenol, and no sharp pains in the upper right quadrant) they said I just had gestational hypertension. When I returned 24 hours later with my urine jug, my blood pressure was 190/108 and my urine protein ratio was greater than 100. At that time they admitted me to the hospital and finally gave me the diagnosis of preeclampsia with severe features at 31 weeks. I received the steroid injections, magnesium drip, blood pressure checks every 2-3 hours, and recheck labs too. One of the nurses even noticed my oxygen levels dropped while I was asleep, so I was sent for a CT scan, x-ray, and an echocardiogram. They found out I was also suffering from pulmonary edema secondary to the severe preeclampsia, but the medical team was determined to get me to 37 weeks GA.

By the next day 37 weeks turned into 34 weeks, and at 32 weeks and 4 days I was woken up at 1:30 in the morning to the night shift doctor telling me my baby’s heart was decelerating and we needed to deliver him now. At 3:18am my little miracle arrived via emergency c-section, and I waited 7 weeks to finally take him home from the NICU. In all honesty my medical team was competent, but they didn’t take me seriously because I was a first time mom with only a few of the classic preeclampsia symptoms. If it weren’t for my mom and my brother’s girlfriend advocating for me to the nurses and doctors, my baby and I could have had an even more traumatic outcome. I am grateful for them and for my baby overcoming so much adversity just to be here with me.