Sunday, January 27, 2008

Preeclampsia/HELLP Claims Another Life

This news just makes me sick. As one of my fellow preeclampsia survivors said, there are no words for when baby twins and their daddy have to go on living their lives without their mommy/wife. Awful...simply awful.

Preeclampsia/HELLP claim another beautiful soul

4 comments:

Lindy said...

Heartbreaking... I can't imagine having to suddenly do it all on your own while grieving for your best friend. My heart goes out to this family.

Anonymous said...

Not only is there no cure, with the exception of delivery, it can come on with absolutely no warning! I had severe preeclampsia with my first pregnancy and was on the lookout for it with my second. My OB treated my pregnancy as a high-risk pregnancy from the beginning. One night, at 25 weeks, while on the phone with my sister, I started feeling really crappy. I thought, oh, well, here we go, they're going to put me on bedrest. Being late Fri night, my husband at work and having a 21 mos old to care for, I just put myself on self-imposed bedrest instead of going to the hospital or even calling the doctor. My BP continued to rise over the next 24 hrs, we finally went to the hospital with HELLP, where the baby and I almost died. They delivered him by c-sec less than 48 hours after the onset of symtoms, at 25 weeks. And, I was expecting preeclampsia, having the history of severe preeclampsia, bedrest and previous c-sec.

BTW, I was so sick, that even after he was born, my HELLP syndrome was not elleeviated.

All pregnant women need to be told what to look out for. I had no idea with the first pregnancy, and I am the daughter of a NICU RN. Thank goodness I worked at a Preschool that employed a fulltime nurse. I thought the swelling and headaches I had been experiencing were normal parts of pregnancy until almost 30 weeks, even though I had been having severe symptoms for quite some time.

There may not be a cure, or any real treatment, but so many babies do not have to be left motherless.

My heart goes out to this Father and his babies, and to all families left to pick up the pieces.

Jen said...

Michelle,
Thanks for sharing your story here. Preeclampsia/HELLP are just plain scary...so unpredictable. I'm thankful I survived and that both my children survived.
:) Jen

Anonymous said...

Just stumbled across your page, when searching for AAt linked to Severe Preeclampsia. Do you know if they have found any links to this ?