On Valentine's Day 2022, I went to the OB because I had been feeling off all weekend. At this appointment, my blood pressure was dangerously high and I was instructed to go to the hospital immediately. I thought this was just for some additional tests. Little did I realize I was going to be set up to be induced to deliver immediately! This involved a lot of scrambling by Michael to get a hospital bag ready for me and to make plans for Hodges. I was put on a magnesium drip (absolutely no fun) and had devices attached to both legs to prevent blood clots. This wasn't the labor and delivery experience I had prepared for (with a 12 hour online childbirth class a few weeks prior). It took about 36 hours from the time I got to the hospital until the arrival of little Celeste on Wednesday, Feb. 16 at 4:04 am. Despite being 5 weeks premature, she was in great shape! Because they could not get my blood pressure down, I was in the hospital for about a week and then released on pretty high doses of blood pressure medication. After a few months my blood pressure returned to normal, but this is an issue I will have to monitor for the rest of my life. What I didn't know at the time was how common this particular complication is in pregnancy, especially for mothers 35 and older.