On July 19, 2019, I woke up at 3am with severe pain in my upper abdomen; this also happened to be our baby's "due date."  The pain was so severe, I could not sleep the rest of the night. Instead, I made my way to the couch and cried from the pain. I told Eric about the pain around 8am, and he said we needed to call the doctor and make our way to the hospital. After being connected to monitors and explaining my symptoms, the doctor on call(we belonged to a practice of four doctors) chalked  it up as heart burn and to take Pepcid. Eric and I left the hospital defeated because I knew it was more than just heartburn. I had been healthy and never experienced heartburn in my life. But, your body changes during pregnancy, and we didn't know any better than to believe the person with the medical degree. The pain persisted for 3 more days and it increased in severity. I would wake up at the same time, 3am, hunched over in pain with tears in my eyes. By this time, I knew it was more than heartburn. Monday, July 22, 2019, I go into Labor and Delivery again early in the morning because I cannot stand the pain. At this point, I had not slept in 3 days and had also not eaten much of anything. The same doctor claimed I should take tums and a higher dosage of Pepcid. Later that afternoon, I go in for my prenatal visit and my usual doctor says my blood pressure was higher than usual and she would like to get blood drawn just to be safe. Now, why didn't the doctor on Friday, when I first came in complaining about the pain, say anything about my blood pressure.  Because, to him, my blood pressure was normal. He did not see me on a consistent basis during my prenatal visits and did not bother to ask his colleague who did about my blood pressure readings over the last few visits.  For his lack of diligence, I went three to four days enduring this awful pain. Well, my nurse finally draws my blood and it gets sent to the lab. Tuesday, July 23, 2019, my blood work come back around 6am, and I get a call from the same doctor who claimed I had heartburn and says I need to come to the hospital right now. Sure enough, I get to the hospital, and I am diagnosed with HELLP syndrome. My platelet count dropped down to 25k, my blood was not coagulating, my liver enzymes were severely elevated, and my bed was padded in case I seizured. I received magnesium through an IV, had a port in my arm in case I needed a blood transfusion, I had a catheter put in because I hadn't gone to the bathroom in 10+ hours, and had blood work done every 4 hours. My husband and I were so naive to what was happening to me, to us. I am beyond grateful our son was born without any issues or complications and after a few days in the hospital, by the grace of God we were all able to go home together. Weak and high on magnesium, I gave birth to our son Everett Leonard on Wednesday, July 24,2019, at 12:41pm; I was induced at 10am on Tuesday. Over a year later, I think back and cannot fathom how this all unfolded for us. But, our faith carried us through such a scary time in our lives. Now, we want to continue to learn more about what happened to me and how we can further support research efforts. No mother or baby deserves to lose or almost lose their lives.