around 24 weeks, I started having significant swelling in my hands and feet. The swelling in my hands was impacting the sensation in my fingertips and impacted my ability to do my job as a nurse. I repeatedly brought the swelling up with at my appointments and was repeatedly brushed off because my blood pressure was within normal range, with comments like “you’re pregnant, you’re going to be uncomfortable”. My weeks of reporting contractions were also dismissed. at my 33 week appointment, I was finally able to see a different provider, who took one look at me and decided to send me to L&D for a pre-e work up.

My blood pressure at that appointment was 138/88, so still “within normal limits”. Once at the hospital, I was admitted immediately for pre-term labor. The protein in my urine was 4x higher than what it should have been, and my liver and kidney function was poor. I spent 2 days in the hospital trying to have my labor stopped before I suffered a placental abruption and was sent to the OR to deliver my daughter at 34+0. She spent 2 weeks in the NICU but has had no longer term issues. She turns 3 in April. Every day I am grateful for that provider who finally listened. He is the same provider who caught my abruption and kept both of us alive through delivery and I am fully convinced that without him, our outcome would have been far different.