Jennifer's story

I was having a great first pregnancy. At about 34 weeks, my ankles and feet started to swell up during the day, but the swelling would go down at night. At about 35 weeks, it wouldn't go down at night. I bought shoes 2 sizes larger. The OB/GYN wasn't concerned and said it was common. I kept working, being on my feet for 6 - 8 hours a day. BP was fine. Protein and sugar were fine.

I went into labour the day before my due date. I had a "good" labour, hardly 12 hours long. BP was fine. I showered after the baby was born and ate a hearty supper. Life was great.

The next morning, about 4:00, I had a horrible headache. The baby was rooming in with me, so I was getting up and nursing him and changing him every couple hours. Tylenol, Tylenol 2's and then Tylenol 3's did nothing for the pain. I went and showered about 8:00 am, (I'm pretty stubborn) but couldn't eat any breakfast (not even the special cappachino my husband brought me from Tim Horton's coffee!) Finally, about 10:00 am, the nurses realized my blood pressure was 210/120. No wonder I had a headache!

I remember a doctor (not mine, the one on call) standing at the foot of the bed, telling me she was going to give me magnesium sulphate to prevent convulsions. I started convulsing, and remember saying, sarcastically, "Like this?" My husband and the nurses held me down and the mag. sulph. IV was started. I was completely out of it by now.

I'm missing a couple hours of memory. The next thing I know, I'm in the intensive care unit, hooked up to monitors, babbling away to a nurse about my job (I hope I didn't give away any company secrets). My husband comes in the room, looking pale. It was worse for him than me, seeing me go into convulsions and lose consciousness. He had to help hold me down (which explained the bruises I found all over my arms and legs the next day). I had also bitten my tongue quite badly.

That afternoon, when I held my 24 hour old son, it was like holding him the moment after he was born. Life is truly a miracle to behold.

I recovered incredibly quickly. The next week, on a visit to my new family doctor, he realized I had an irregular heart beat pattern. God bless him every day. The OB/GYN who discharged me from the hospital (on a Friday afternoon) never noticed it! The family doctor put the wheels in motion, got the high-tech tests ordered and completed and analysed in record time. The eclampsia had damaged my heart, but it was caught in time. Six months of heart and blood pressure drugs fixed it back to its original strong condition.

It took me a while to realize the severity of what happened. Pregnancy books discuss pre-eclampsia, but never eclampsia that happens 12 hours AFTER the baby is born. The specialist says I have a 30% chance of it happening again in a subsequent pregnancy. Today, 11 months after it happened, I am shaking a bit, thinking of what could have happened. I thank God every day for my little boy, and my husband thanks Him every day for looking after his son's mother.

Advise to anyone else? Feet swelling up 2 shoe sizes is not "normal". Excruitiating head aches are not "normal". Question authority. It is your body!

Jennifer