I was fortunate enough to have a healthy pregnancy and delivery with my son Dante. I had to have a scheduled c-section but everything went smoothly and I had no problems. That's not the case for everyone.
My blogger friend, Sarah Hughes, dealt with preeclampsia postpartum and now serves as an advocate to find a cause and a cure. Will you join here? Hear her story.
We mothers are
so used to being the nurturers and caregivers that very often we make light of
what we are feeling in order to continue on with the routine. So when I
woke up 6 days after my c-section unable to catch my breath, with blurry vision
and a dull headache I thought I was just tired. I had a newborn and a toddler,
I didn’t have time to think something was wrong with me or what I could do to
fix it, but my husband Rob insisted I call my OBGYN.
Hayley was my
second baby. She arrived full term via scheduled c-section on October 25th.
Our little princess had arrived and even my son Derek, at just 26 months old,
was thrilled for our family. I was released from the hospital and spent
two days in that post baby honeymoon phase. When I agreed to called my OBGYN I
was surprised at the stern immediacy in her voice when she insisted I get to
the hospital right away.
My in-laws
rushed over and I kissed my babies good-bye trying to be strong but unable to
hold back the tears. Derek was going to be a fireman for Halloween that day,
plus my brand new Hayley Jane, I needed to be home and dress Hayley in pink and
cuddle her…would she forget me? Would we never bond? I didn’t realize then that
it would be 3 hellish days till I saw them again.
Preeclampsia.
I heard the word, I knew it had to do with pregnancy and headaches and blood
pressure (mine was 220/110)……but I wasn’t pregnant!!!! There I was, a
mother of two, about to be hooked up to a Magnesium IV so I wouldn’t have a
seizure or stroke due to preeclampsia and I had NEVER even heard of having
preeclampsia postpartum!
A very sweet
nurse sat down next to me and grabbed my hand firmly. She asked me to tell her
what I was thinking. I told her, “I’m scared, I just want to be home with
my babies and I’m nervous what will happen to me and I’m afraid that I might
die”. That was the honest truth, I was petrified that I would seize and
die.
The first
night I was on the magnesium I saw 5 of everything. I had to wear an oxygen
tube because my oxygen saturation levels kept dropping so low that every time I
would drift into sleep I would wake up gasping for my breath. I was pumping
every two hours, unable to get out of bed and hooked up to a catheter.
I felt so
sick, oh so sick. The magnesium makes you so so so sickly feeling. After
I came off the Magnesium I felt “better”. My blood pressure was still high but
low enough that I could go home eventually.
It took a few
weeks for my BP and me to get back to normal. I feel so lucky that my
preeclampsia story only involves me and that Hayley was unharmed by it all.
Most people aren’t so lucky since Preeclampsia is the leading known cause
of prematurity.
Thousands of
women and babies die or get very sick each year from this dangerous condition
called preeclampsia, a life-threatening disorder that occurs only during
pregnancy and the postpartum period. Affecting at least 5-8% of all
pregnancies, preeclampsia and related disorders such as HELLP syndrome and
eclampsia are most often characterized by the presence of protein in the urine
and a rapid rise in blood pressure that can lead to seizure, stroke, multiple
organ failure and death of the mother and/or baby. Swelling, sudden weight
gain, headaches and changes in vision are important symptoms; however, some women with rapidly advancing disease
report few symptoms.
Typically, preeclampsia occurs after
20 weeks gestation (in the late 2nd or 3rd trimesters or middle to late
pregnancy), though it can occur earlier. Proper prenatal care is essential to
diagnose and manage preeclampsia. Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH) and
toxemia are outdated terms for preeclampsia. Globally, preeclampsia and
other hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are a leading cause of maternal and
infant illness and death. The Preeclampsia Foundation www.preeclampsia.org the only non-profit in the US devoted to
hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, serving the 10 million women worldwide who
develop preeclampsia each year.
In the 5-15 years after having had
preeclampsia I am now twice as likely to develop heart disease. According to
the Preeclampsia Foundation there
are an estimated 4.5M US women alive today who are at risk to die from Cardio
Vascular Disease or stroke because of their preeclampsia history. Both Hayley and
Derek’s future wife are at a higher risk for developing preeclampsia because
yes it is hereditary. I have hope that
one day we will find a cause and a cure for preeclampsia. I will forever being trying to help in the
education of preeclampsia and raise money for The Preeclampsia Foundation.
I am the volunteer walk coordinator for the Promise Walk for Preeclampsia Philadelphia/South Jersey. May is officially
Preeclampsia Awareness Month. Won’t you
join our walk on Saturday, May 11th, 2013 at Challenge Grove Park in
Cherry Hill, New Jersey. We walk on
Mother’s Day Weekend to celebrate Mothers and Babies!! If you aren’t local to
the Philadelphia area you can find a walk
closer to you at www.promisewalk.org We
can’t do it alone!
Sarah grew up in Staten Island, New York. When she escaped working in New York City for a new life in Philadelphia she started dating her now husband Rob. Rob and Sarah have two children, Derek is 4 and Hayley is 2. Finnegan is their 5 year old Australian Shepherd and really more like a third child than a dog. All of Rob and Sarah’s children love to sleep in their bed!! Sarah is a Shot@Life Champion and a Preeclampsia Foundation Walk Coordinator. She blogs over at www.finneganandthehughes.com
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