This story has been in the works for a while now and I’m finally finding the courage to sit down and write it. The day Jack came into the world, and the 2 days leading up to it, were very rough. I was heading to my 39 week appointment with Josh, it was at 10am I believe. The weather was awful, super rainy and chilly. I was running really behind on getting ready for the appointment and didn’t have time to eat or really drink anything so I stopped at Starbucks before the appointment. I figured Id eat when we were on the way back from Baltimore. I didn’t end up eating until Monday morning. Anyway, traffic on 95 was awful and we were running late (as usual). My anxiety was really high and I hadn’t slept in about 2 days from being in a lot of pain and feeling sick. We finally get to the appointment, on time somehow, and we wait. I get called back and they take my blood pressure was originally 139/86 with a repeat of 149/95, which wasn’t great. I ended up having to go to L&D to rule out preeclampsia (which they did not tell me until I looked at my paperwork…). Josh and I went up to L&D, was triaged and my BP taken again. I ended up with Preeclampsia with severe features and was induced that day. There were a few times my blood pressure went up to 160/104, 165/97, and 170/93 all within a half hour. 

Any way, I was induced on a Friday evening and ended up with an unplanned c section Sunday morning. 

I was on bedrest due to the Magnesium drip I was on to prevent seizures. They put me on Pitocin very soon afterwards to help me progress since I wasn’t able to progress as fast as they would’ve liked. It made the contractions a lot more painful and closer together. On Saturday afternoon they broke my water as the next step in the L&D process. I let them (which I now look back on and shouldn’t have let them.) and we went from there. I honestly cannot really remember the times, I just know that It was around 11 when I got an epidural. The pain from the contractions and not being able to move around and get up made things so painful. I finally got some relief for about an hour. Finally getting comfy I had a bunch of drs and nurses come into my room having me sit up and move into a different position. Jack’s heart rate had dropped significantly and they were very worried. I ended up having to stay on my left side for a while. I then unfortunately started to feel the contractions on my right side (since all of the medicine was going to my left side) and I couldn’t move onto my back. Any time I moved into a different position Jack’s heart rate dropped and they made me stay there. This happened a couple of times. Finally the dr who delivered Jack came in and talked to me about a c section. His heart rate continued to drop multiple times and we were at a spot where we could either do the c section so its not an emergency putting either of us in danger or wait and see if it stops. I made the decision to have a c section to possibly save Jack’s life. We didn’t know much about his heart condition at the time and with the constant HR drops, we were concerned it could put more stress on his heart and cause complications. I also didn’t want him in distress anymore than he had to be (its birth, they’re in distress but I didn’t want him in more than he had to be). So I was wheeled off to the operating room with Josh by my side. I asked for a lot of drugs to relax me otherwise I would’ve freaked out knowing I was being cut open while I was awake. I can’t really remember much during the surgery besides being super loopy and Josh not being able to take pictures. Jack was born on April 30th, 2023 at 2:14am. I wasn’t able to see him until 10am that day, and I only saw a little bit of his face when the nurse put him by me. He was taken to the NICU and Josh went with him to comfort and love him. I was taken back to L&D to recover. I spent a total of 5 days in the hospital being monitored and poked and sliced open. And if I had received the proper prenatal care, all of this could’ve been avoided. John’s Hopkins really dropped the ball on making sure me and my baby were safe. I am grateful to live in a time where c sections are a life saving surgery and where both mom and baby survive. John’s Hopkins needs to do better when taking care of their high risk patients, or really any patient for that matter. I now have lifelong health complications due to having preeclampsia and we are unable to expand our family because I know I would end up back at John’s Hopkins again. I do not want to put my life at risk again because of malpractice. 

This is why I am walking on Saturday and why I am constantly trying to raise money for The Preeclampsia Foundation. This disorder kills 500,000 babies and 70,000 moms worldwide each year. Jack and I were very close to being apart of that statistic that I want to make sure that no other mom has to go through what I did. Granted, mine was so severe due to lack of proper care, even mothers who have great prenatal care can get preeclampsia. That’s why I walk and raise money and talk about it all the time because I want other moms to know what to look for and what they need to be concerned about. I found a quote one day that said “I recover loudly because I almost died in silence”. This is why I talk about preeclampsia. This is why I walk.