At 40 weeks pregnant, I went in for a routine check and monitoring appointment. I had a mild headache, nothing alarming. My urine sample showed protein. At first, my nurse practitioner wasn’t overly concerned. She asked about headaches and abdominal pain — symptoms I had experienced over the previous few days but hadn’t taken seriously.

As the appointment continued, she began to worry. She initially planned to wait for the lab results the next day, but when she noticed the swelling in my feet, everything shifted. She immediately called the on-call OB at the hospital and told me to drive there right away.

When I arrived, my blood pressure was through the roof — even though it had been completely normal less than 30 minutes earlier. I was started on magnesium and prepared for induction. I was developing HELLP syndrome. Despite the severity, the team agreed to wait four hours to give me a chance at a vaginal delivery.

Thankfully, my body responded quickly to the induction, and I delivered my daughter very quickly. Mahault was born slightly growth-restricted. The birth was further complicated by a postpartum hemorrhage that affected me.

In the days that followed, my blood pressure remained dangerously high. I was kept under close medical supervision with repeated monitoring and was ultimately placed on antihypertensive medication for several weeks.

Because this was my second delivery complicated by a hemorrhage — my first birth had also involved significant bleeding — I was strongly advised against pursuing a third pregnancy. The combination of recurrent hemorrhage and severe preeclampsia with HELLP syndrome places me at high risk if I were to carry another child.

This was not just a difficult delivery. It was a life-threatening event that has lasting implications for my health and our family’s future.