In October 2025, my husband and I found out we were expecting our first child, shortly after returning from our honeymoon. We were so excited to add a tiny human to our family and even more excited to find out we were having a little boy!

Throughout my entire pregnancy, I was considered low risk, with little to no complications. The blood work looked fine, and our anatomy scan was great. I strugged with morning sickness in the first trimester, but by the 2nd, I felt like a human again. The entire 2nd trimester was great - I felt great and was starting to get so excited.

Almost immediately after reaching the 3rd trimester, I started feeling pretty rough. On April 1, 2026, I had a routine OB appointment and everything was normal. I asked questions about my pain, tiredness, swelling, etc and all seemed normal for the 3rd trimester. The very next day, I woke up with a migraine I couldn't shake and began vomiting. We decided to go to our local hospital, and it was there that I was diagnosed with severe preeclampsia and was being transferred to a larger hospital to deliver my baby. I was given a steriod shot to help the baby's lungs develop and put on magnesium.

The goal at the larger hospital was to keep the baby in until I was 34 weeks (I was just over 29 weeks at the time). Unfortunately, baby's heart rate kept dropping and my BP kept rising, so on Saturday, April 4th, my son was born via emergency c section at just 29 weeks and 6 days.
We spent the entirety of 6 weeks driving back and forth from our home to the hosptial (an hour each way) to be with our baby in the NICU. We are extremely lucky that neither of us had any major complications. After 6 weeks in the NICU, our son came home May 20th, still almost 4 weeks earlier than his due date.

While we are now home navigating the newborn stages and learning to be first time parents, the weight of birth trauma hasn't really gone away. So many people ask "so when's the next baby." & while I know it is not meant to be a hurtful question, it takes me back to that day in the operating room. I didn't get the pregnancy and birth experience that I'd hoped for, but I am so so grateful my son is home and healthy.