This is a firsthand account submitted through SWHR’s Share Your Story portal, as part of SWHR’s Women’s Health Perspective series.
I had a healthy, active pregnancy, but that changed with the birthing process. During labor, the baby’s heart rate decreased to a dangerously low level when I pushed, so I ended up needing a C-section. Things went smoothly from there until it was time for the baby and me to go home.
As I prepared to discharge from the hospital after giving birth, I told the nurse and physician that I didn’t know if I would fit into the shoes and maternity pants I’d worn to the hospital because my feet and legs were so swollen. I also noticed my blood pressure readings and told the nurse that my blood pressure was high compared to my normal blood pressure. No one seemed to think that either of these things was unusual. I am petite and normally have low blood pressure, and I hadn’t gained much weight during pregnancy, so perhaps they didn’t listen to me because my “normal” didn’t fit other patients’ “normal.” I went home, focused on the joy of having a healthy baby.
I’m a health care professional as well as a scientist who studies blood pressure responses, so just for fun, I tracked my weight and vital signs weekly during pregnancy to see if my pregnancy changes were similar to published norms. Because of this, I knew both my normal and pregnancy blood pressures.
A few days after going home, I started to have severe abdominal pain. I’m used to abdominal pain because of a chronic gastrointestinal disorder I have, but this was worse than I’d ever had. Thinking it was due to the gut disorder, I initially called the gastroenterologist, who referred me to the obstetrician due to my recent delivery. The obstetrician seemed to think it was incisional pain from the C-section, but the pain didn’t go away or improve with time. Due to my training, I decided to check my blood pressure. It was high for me, so I again called the obstetrician. Maybe because my normal blood pressure is low, they didn’t seem to think it was serious.
I ended up checking the clinical criteria for preeclampsia and waiting until my blood pressure numbers clearly fit the criteria and then called my doctor again. I also shared my weekly pregnancy blood pressures and weights with the physician. At this point, they agreed that I should go to the hospital again. I got readmitted, and I weighed more than I had weighed the day before I gave birth to a full-term baby. They were able to treat my high blood pressure there. I’m grateful that the clinicians were able to bring my blood pressure down to a healthy level before I had any serious symptoms, and that my child and I are both alive and healthy now.
Looking back on this time is painful. I’m grateful to be alive but also angry that no one seemed to listen to me. I knew something wasn’t right, and I had the data to back it up. In the United States, we often do a great job caring about the health of the baby, but we’re not always great at caring about the health of the mother. Why didn’t anyone pay attention to my weight gain and increased blood pressure, even when I pointed them out? If I hadn’t been trained in the field and known to keep calling and keep being concerned, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be alive right now.
A decade later, I still cry when I think about it, and I still get angry if I dwell on it, neither of which is my norm. I’ve tried to channel my emotions into making positive changes – educating nurses and physicians about the importance of listening to their peripartum and postpartum patients and educating anyone I know who is pregnant about the possibility of postpartum preeclampsia.
I am fortunate to have had a positive outcome. I’m sharing my story because I want to raise awareness of what postpartum preeclampsia can look like. Everyone has the right to stay alive after giving birth.
If you are a clinician, listen to your patients. Women know our own bodies. If you are pregnant or postpartum and something doesn’t feel right, be persistent in telling health care providers about it. You know your body, you know if something is wrong, and you will eventually be heard.