In her own words:
Post partum eclampsia and pre-eclampsia…
In 2019 I fell pregnant with my first child, due In December of that year. The pregnancy wasn’t the most easiest I suffered with terrible sickness and fatigue (fatigue due to low iron levels).
My blood pressure has always been very low, and it remained out of the Midwifes/Doctors danger zon. However, in my last midwife check up 5 days before I went into labour my blood pressure rose above my normal (though remained below 140/90, so the midwife was not pverly concerned). At this time I also had a Trace of protein in my urine and significant swelling in my hands, ankles and feet. Despite this my midwife was not concerned and I returned home. I ended up going into labour (5 days before my due date) which was quick (just 40 Minutes of active labour in total). During the birth my blood pressure rose dangerously high, though it came back down with a dose of blood pressure medication.
I was told I’d be kept in hospital for a couple of nights mainly because I was on medication for anxiety at this time and they wanted to ensure this hadn’t affected the baby. 35 hours after the birth I had a seizure. About 5 hours before the seizure I had a severe headache that would not go away despite midwifes in the hospital giving me paracetamol for the pain. I also was really sensitive to light especially as I came round from the seizure. I remained on the high dependency unit for 4 days with the lights dimmed down very low. It took me 30 minutes to come around and had to be issued magnesium to be able to come out of the seizure. My partner was luckily holding the baby at the time and called the midwifes for help. I woke up to around 15 drs and midwife’s around me. My liver, and kidneys were affected, and was put on medication for this many months after giving birth. I was taken to an intensive care ward and put on oxygen support for 24 Hours as my lungs had also been affected and I was having trouble breathing. My blood pressure remained high despite being out on a number of different medications including Linsinopril, labetelol and nefedipin. The doctors would test my reflexes daily which were extremely brisk!
I remained on these medications for 6 months after I had given birth. I was in hospital for nearly two weeks as it took time for my blood pressure to stabilize and for my liver function to be at a normal/safe level. My baby was monitored closely and I was very lucky he was not physically affected. It took my months / years to physically and emotionally recover from the traumatic incident..my partner also. I feel I missed out on the first few days of my baby’s life as I was just so out of it and poorly from the effects of Eclampsia and the medication I was also prescribed as a result.
Fast forward to January 2025 baby number two arrived 3 weeks early, again during pregnancy signs at all of pre-elcampsia..this time the pregnancy was a little easier in that I had no sickness. I was prescribed Aspirin from week 12 as the consultant advised this would keep the blood pressure down during pregnancy, I was also given extra scans for consultants to measure the blood flow and growth of the baby. There were no concerns during pregnancy although maybe that the baby was a little on the smaller side. Again there was no raised blood pressure or traces of protein in my urine during this pregnancy, though I did have some swelling in my hands which would always become worse overnight! Due to my 2nd baby being breech I had to have an elective C section, despite this I went into early labour my waters broke 3 weeks before my baby’s due date (party again due to undiagnosed pre-elcampsia). During the section my blood pressure rose again very high (though nowhere near as high at the time of my seizure in 2019), this time knowing my history they were on it and carefully monitored me and put me on the blood pressure medication and thankfully I have not had a seizure this time. After a 7 day stay in hospital this time I am now gradually being weaned off the blood pressure medication that I have been currently prescribed (Enalapril). Baby number two had a low birth weight, but he is doing really well and quickly put went back up to his birth weight!
I feel that the symptoms of Pre-clampsia, Eclampsia and HELLP are not shared or really discussed by community midwifes, I certainly knew very little about pre-elcampsia during my first pregnancy and was unaware of the signs and symptoms to look out for.
