My son Donovan was born late on a Friday evening in early October in the nearest hospital to our house by a doctor I had never met. My son weighed in at 3 lbs. 2 oz at 32 weeks with an initial APGAR score of 3. At this point, my husband did not know what was wrong with us and though I was “awake” to some extent, I was not aware of where I was or what was happening. By the time I had arrived at the hospital, I had been having eclamptic seizures off and on for several hours alone on the floor of my kitchen. A family friend found me and called 911. The OB on call arrived shortly after I was brought in by ambulance. Donovan was delivered by emergency c-section less than 45 minutes later.
For me, eclampsia hit with very little warning. I felt sick for a day or two before, but not outside the realm of normal nausea and a mild headache. This was my second pregnancy after a relatively normal first pregnancy that ended in a c-section at 39 weeks because my son wanted to come out feet first. Although I had heard of preeclampsia before, I truly did not understand how serious it could be. Everything I read indicated that I was not at high risk as a second time mom with no previous history. I was not diagnosed with preeclampsia or eclampsia (and eventually HELLP syndrome, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), and sepsis) until after he was born. It caught everyone, including my original OB, off guard.