When I was pregnant with Saydi, who is now 6,  and absolutely perfect in every single way, I felt that something was “off” around 22 weeks or so. Of course I mentioned my swelling, uncomfortableness, and rising blood pressure to my OB, but nothing was really further discussed until each new appointment to check for a heartbeat. At each appointment, my blood pressure was higher, I felt really awful, and my swelling was significantly increased. At my 37 week appointment, my doctor took one look at me and my readings, and had me do a 24 hour test for pre eclampsia. 

The day I got my results, I worked my typical day treating my patients, and my husband met me at home to drive me to my appointment for my test results. My appointment was at 4pm, and by 6pm, I was in the labor and delivery unit being emergency induced due to severe pre eclampsia. 

Until my complications with delivery, I had NO IDEA the severity of the condition I had. I didn’t read the “hospital trainings” because I thought “how could my pregnancy not be healthy?” I was on magnesium immediately, DVT leg pumps, bed rest, face mask oxygen, had 2 epidurals, lots of medication for the induction itself and pain, had my blood pressure to over 180/120, and we were both really, really scared. 

After 24 hours of labor, I delivered my beautiful baby girl Saydi Rose. My birth plan went out the window, the NICU drs took her before I could hold her or nurse her right away. They gave her a once over, and let my husband hold her before I did. 

Long story short, we got lucky. We all left the hospital (fairly) healthy, I still had blood pressure meds but after everything else, that was minimal in my book. Even then, I didn’t really know the entire severity of my situation on my baby, and myself.

We attended our first Lehigh Valley promise walk for pre eclampsia after Saydi was born, and at that point in my life, I was taught more about the severity of pre eclampsia, realized how lucky my family really really was, and was so proud to be a part of an amazing group of people to increase awareness of this condition.