Jemma's story

I was told I was a one in ten thousand case as it was so rare due to the fact that I had no signs of pre-eclampsia and a perfectly normal pregnancy.
Although I had a lot of swelling, spots infront of my eyes and blurred vision the midwife put it down to bad eyesight and said to expect swelling in the later stages as it was perfectly normal. I also had a pain under my ribs on the right hand side which i was told it was just my babys bottom putting pressure on my ribs.

On Thursday 20th June 2002 I delivered a baby boy weighing 4.69kg/10lb5oz.
Two hours after i deleivered I had a seizure and my blood pressure shot up and protein appeared in my urine. Once i had been stablised I then had another seizure lasting 5 minutes and was seriously ill.
I was told it was very rare to develop all the warning signals afterwards.

It took a 5 weeks for my blood pressure to return to normal and even now I still have twitching in my arms and legs although I am returning to Addenbrokes Hospital in Cambridge (UK) for a brain scan to make certain that it was eclampsia that caused my fits. I am also returning to the Rosie Maternity Hospital in Cambridge for counselling with my partner as he saw the whole event and it was a very frightning and traumatic experience for us both and has put me off having any more children.

I also had to be treated for stress and anxiety after I started having panic attacks due to fear of having another fit as I have this constant twitching.It is a lot to deal with as I am only 20 and once I had given birth I thought everything was over and a I could relax with my partner Dean and my son Harry. You never imagine something like this would happen. My mother also developed eclampsia and went into a coma however the midwife who looked after me during my pregnancy did not take this into consideration even though I had blurred vision, swelling and pain under my ribs which are all signs of pre eclampsia. I still think she is to blame and I have been told that had she of sent me to hospital just to check it wasnt pre eclampsia none of this would of happened as they would of picked it up and I would of had a c section.

It is nice to know there are other people I can talk to about this as I didnt realise it was so common.

Jemma