Like many of you on here, I am sharing my experience in hopes that it will help lighten the load for someone else. I also sharing because I believe it is an important part of healing for all NICU and Pre-E mothers and families. My pregnancy was like any other. The endless trips to the bathroom to pee, the lack of sleep from never getting 100% comfy and the infamous bottle of Tums haha All of my prenatal checkups were normal and showed no signs of high blood pressure. Towards the beginning of the 27th week mark is when I finally noticed swelling. My feet and legs first and the slowly my face and hands. Since there were never any issues with BP before I didn't think twice about the swollen hands and face. Several days later I noticed I had a terrible headache. Took some medicine and went about my day. Later that evening I took a nap and when I woke up my head hurt ten times worse. My fiance (a nurse) thought at that point it would be a good idea to check my BP. We used an at home machine to take the reading. When the results popped up I noticed his face turned to one of worry. He said, "let's check that again." Again, I waited for the results and this time he said, "we need to go to a clinic now." I still had no idea what the reading was. We rushed to a near by Emergency Clinic. There they coordinated with LND to have a transport come and transfer me to the hospital.

When the LND team gets in they immediately start MAG infusions and BP meds (i still dont know what the reading is). I start getting anxious at this point because I realize some thing must be really serious for everyone to be rushing like this. MAG continues on the ambulance ride and BP readings are being done every 5 minutes at this point. When we arrive to the hospital I receive one more round of MAG and not too long after that the Doctor arrives to speak to me and my fiance. The doctor holds me hand and tells me that I had a severe case of preeclampsia and that my BP was so high I was at risk for having a stroke. She tells us I will have to stay in the hospital until 32-34 weeks and at that point they would induce and still have the baby naturally. My fiance and I sit in silence trying to process the severity of the situation. All the while, doctors are monitoring our angels stats to make sure she wasnt in distress. Not too long after the initial shock, doctors flooded back in the room to tell us our little girl had two significant heart rate drops in the past 10 minutes so they would need to do an emergency c-section that very night. As many of you know, soon after that, the room was filled with anesthesiologist, NICu specialists, residents, surgeon, nurses; all explaining the many dangers of the delivering a 27 week old baby and having surgery. It all happened so fast, I felt like I was in a bad dream. I had a terrible episode of the "shakes" from the MAG and fear/ anxiety of the unknown that awaited us. After, the baby was successfully delivered, she was of course wisked away to the NICU. The heartache of not being able to feel your baby on your chest after birth is something only this group of women would understand. When I was finally able to see my angel she was of course all hooked up to machines and in such a delicate state. I wasnt able to hold her for 7 days. I was fortunate to not have a serious case of post partum preeclampsia. After 3 months of BP meds I was back to healthy BP.

Our sweet girl is now 6 months and thriving. She is small for her age but mighty and strong! Our 3 months in the NICU made us a resilient family. Reading your stories have helped more then you know. Knowing I wasnt alone, made all difference in the world. So, stay strong mommas! Our babies are fighters and so are we!