I talk in my book about the time I was pregnant with my first child and I was unexpectedly diagnosed with HELLP Syndrome and Severe Eclampsia at 32 weeks. A full-term pregnancy is normally 40 weeks.
I had severe pain in my ribs which made me nauseous. I was in my 3rd trimester, well past the normal period where pregnancy would make a woman nauseous.
After seeing the doctor on-call in the hospital where I was admitted, I was sent back home. After waking up in pain later that night, I knew they hadn’t found the cause of my discomfort.
I somehow girded myself and withstood the pain with the goal of being on the doctor’s doorstep Monday morning until they figured out what was going on!
It was eerie when I got to the doctor’s office. It was quiet and the doctors weren’t in yet. After I explained my symptoms the nurse in the office (who I had met with previously) and after she had examined me, she made the brusque assessment that I needed to head back to the hospital.
Once there, blood tests were performed (apparently the right tests this time around). A specialist called a perinatologist who I had never met came over to me and my husband. He familarly sat on the edge of my bed and looked me in the eyes. He stated, “You have a very serious condition called HELLP Syndrome and you need to deliver….today”
I was completely unprepared for this possible outcome of our trip to the hospital. Not to mention, I hadn’t brought a packed bag for an overnight stay. As the day unfolded, we also realized we hadn’t picked out a boy’s name for the baby as we couldn’t agree upon it. Surprisingly, we had agreed on the name of Sierra if we were to have a girl.
I had also not come up with a birth plan for delivery, which as events unfolded, became irrelevant. My platelets were dangerously low which made an epidural it a risky option. I was not going to drug my premature child with some of the pain options offered and so it was decided for me that I would be planning a natural delivery. It turned out my genes from my mother were a blessing for me as she had always had fast labors and natural deliveries.
For more information on what HELLP Syndrome is and and what the doctors have learned about it since the birth of my daughter 15 years ago. At 2 pounds 13.8 ounces she had been growth restricted during my pregnancy (See IUGR discussed in article above)