In September 2021, at my 36 week OB appointment, I was sent to L&D Triage with elevated blood pressure. As the labs were running, my blood pressure shot up and I was admitted for an inducement due to severe preeclampsia. My daughter, Rosemary, was born the next morning at 36 weeks and 5 days -- just shy of full term, but healthy. We were thrown into parenting weeks earlier than we expected; not only did I have to take care of a newborn for the first time, but also regularly check on my blood pressure to make sure the preeclampsia didn't return postpartum.
I knew that I wanted to have one more child, but I was afraid -- would my preeclampsia come back? What would a second pregnancy, at my even-more advanced maternal age, be like?
With my second pregnancy in 2023, I was escalated to a higher risk profile, but I also was able to benefit from the research and progress on preeclampsia that had been made just since 2021 -- I was put on baby aspirin at 12 weeks, and with a diagnosis of gestational diabetes (a potential comorbidity of preeclampsia), I was scheduled for a 38 week induction.
Just a few days before my induction date, in the early days of January 2024, I'd been having contractions throughout the day; my home blood pressure reading ticked over the 140/90 threshold I'd been carefully watching throughout my pregnancy, and I called L&D, who told me to come in. Once again my labs came back with preeclampsia -- non-severe, but preeclampsia all the same -- and once again, I had a baby the next morning, my son John, born at 38 weeks to the day.
I am so grateful to the Preeclampsia Foundation for their continuing work for pregnancies, postpartum, and survivors.
