My name is Shannon Johnson. From a small village on the Aleutian chain of Alaska. I experienced preeclampsia at 33-34 weeks pregnant with my son who is now a perfect 9 month old baby. My experience was traumatizing because I had no idea what was going on with me I got sent out of the village because my blood pressure got in the 150-160’s over 80-90 and I was so afraid that they wanted me out to the hospital the next day, mind you we only have a clinic in our village so I have to travel 600 miles to Anchorage Alaska which is the next city with a hospital. On top of that I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes at I believe 25 or 28 weeks. Soons I got there my bp was perfect and they let me go. My next prenatal was the following week and I was positive it was going to go well and I would be fine and baby was good.

All that took a turn in the middle of getting my bp checked when it got sky high again and I was sent to triage to be monitored as scared as I was I started to panic and didn’t know if my baby or I would survive. Thankfully the magnesium(which hurt going into my iv) got in my system and bp meds at least every 5 minutes where finally a few hours into monitoring it regulated. Also they injected me with a steroid to speed up babies lung development because we weren’t sure if I would have to deliver then. I was on stronger meds for my blood pressure for the next few weeks where I was monitored every Monday at maternal fetal medicine. I started suffering from severe anxiety and needed behavorial health and anti anxiety medication to help me because I never knew when the bp would strike again an I would be hospitalized. I suffered through it an made it to 37 weeks after many triage visits either because I was afraid of my bp or I was having a panic attack as I fought between both. June 11th, 2024 after an unsuccessful induction I decided to get a c-section as that was the only option to birth him and our baby boy was born at 4lbs 12oz that day. No nicu time he was healthy. I stayed in the hospital for 5 days and they released us. I still wonder to this day why preeclampsia happens or where its developed but I hope that my story helps other moms an theirs helps me understand why.