Women who have had Preeclampsia have double the risk for heart disease and stroke over their next 5 to 15 years

I hate this statistic.  I'm only 4 years out from my experience with preeclampsia, so I've still got 1 to 14 years left of this increased risk.  Blah.

Did you know May is Preeclampsia Awareness Month?  If you're expecting or know someone who is, please  visit http://preeclampsia.org/ and take a few minutes to learn the signs and symptoms.  I wish I'd known more.  I was fortunate to have great doctors paying close attention to me.  Some women and babies aren't so lucky.

Back in November, I shared that my baby was born  2 months premature. Preeclampsia was the reason.

3lbs 2oz

Here is that story:

Three months before my due date, my hands swelled so much that I couldn't wear my wedding ring.  My feet were so big that I could barely wear shoes.  The pregnancy books said "swelling was normal" so I ignored this symptom.   More than 2 months before my due date, I experienced contractions that required a visit to Labor and Delivery.  While being monitored and treated, my doctors grew concerned about my blood pressure.  I was sent home in the middle of an ice storm and told to rest and return in 24 hours for an ultrasound and further monitoring of my blood pressure under less stressful circumstances.

When I returned to the hospital, they took my blood pressure and then immediately told me to lay down.  Then the doctor came in.  When I asked if I could sit up to talk, he told me, very sternly, "No."  He told me that my blood pressure was dangerously high and that I wasn't leaving the hospital.  I was scared for my baby.

I spent more than week laying on my left side with constant monitoring of my blood pressure and the baby until they determined that one or both of us was too sick for me to continue to be pregnant.  It was the baby - he didn't have enough fluid at 32 weeks and I was quickly sent to the operating room.  My husband rushed to the hospital.

The next 24 hours are a morphine and magnesium induced blur where I was so ill that I repeatedly forgot that I had delivered a baby.  My husband was torn between a sick wife and a sick baby in the NICU.  My mother took care of us both.

My story has a happy ending, today, we are both happy and healthy.  But, still I wish there were no stories like mine.  I wish there were no stories without happy endings.  I wish there were no preeclampsia.

Me - the day after my son was born.  (My face isn't usually that puffy!)

While you're looking at http://preeclampsia.org/, please also consider making a donation to The Promise Walk to help promote awareness and support research to find the cause and eventually a cure for this disease.