During my second pregnancy I was worried about a second preterm delivery. My high-risk doctor was concerned about my white coat hypertension and indicated that I was at risk for preeclampsia. I never thought preeclampsia would be a part of my story.
I experience no hypertension or symptoms of preeclampsia prior to delivery, we were discharged and went home to enjoy life as a family of four. I listened to the discharge instructions but figured being our second there was nothing to be concerned about. Then 5 days postpartum I walked up stairs to change our baby's diaper and a few steps up lost feeling on the right side of my face and vision in my right eye. I ignored it and figured it was nothing and probably because of the headache I'd been dealing with. I went out to pick some tomatoes shortly after and squating down reaching for tomatoes when I lost feeling in my right arm and hand. I told my husband and he asked me to reach out to my doctor. A few hours later my symptoms had resolved and we went for a walk, I was so tired. The nurse called me and asked that I take my BP, I didn't believe the number so I took it a second time and the number went down a little. They asked that I head to the ER or urgent care. I told my husband I would be home for dinner and drove myself to the hospital (he wasn't allowed in as it was 2020).
Anyone who has been to an ER waiting room generally knows the longer you wait the more likely you are ok. As I waited without being triaged in a very full ER waiting room I convinced myself it was dumb that I'd even come because clearly I was fine. When I got called to be triaged my blood pressure was 220/110. I was seen by an ER doc within a few minutes. They drew labs, started magnesium and indicated they would call OB and the stroke floor. Less than 10 minutes in the ER and I was admitted to the hospital. I was brought to a room and they politely asked me to take off my shoes I still hadn't processed that I wasn't going home. I earned myself lots of BP meds, 24 hrs of magnesium and lots of monitoring.
When we considered having a third we had open eyes as to the risk both to myself and any child we carried. So we weren't surprised when I had postpartum preeclampsia 6 days postpartum with our third.
Preeclampsia is still not well understood and there were not any preventative measures for me to try and stop postpartum preeclampsia. All we could do was monitor and wait. Help me support the preeclampsia foundation, preeclampsia research, and programs to support pregnant individuals at risk for preeclampsia.