When I was in my eighth month of pregnancy, I was working and passed out for no reason. I called the doctor and told them I'm going to the ER because I just passed out. The nurse asked why and said that I just needed to come in for an appointment. I called my husband and we both went to the doctors office. I was diagnosed with high blood pressure due to pregnancy. They put me on high blood pressure medicine for the rest of my pregnancy. They told me that it was normal. We went into the hospital two days before the scheduled c-section because Charlotte stopped moving. I had no complications during the c-section or for two days after. On the third day I was having problems breathing and told me nurse. She told me that I might have a cold and that there was nothing wrong with me. I slept upright in the bed so that I could breathe better. The day we were to leave came and I was still have troubles breathing, but thought it was just a cold I could have caught. The OB on duty came by and I told her. She checked me for swelling and said I was a little swollen but it was due to being brepgnant and it would go away.
We went home and everything was fine for most of the day. As evening was approaching i started to feel short of breath. I was starting to feel weak, but attributed it to having a cold. I cooked dinner and was looking forward to eating something besides hospital food. I tried to eat, but was too weak to feed myself. I told my husband something was wrong and he said it was just post partum depression. I told it wasn't because I didn't want to hurt Charlotte. We called the OB on duty and explained what was going on. She said you need to be in the hospital now and do not wait. She also told me she was calling them to get me admitted, so I could just walk in. When I got there they checked my BP and it was in the 200s. Something like 240/189. They did tests all the while I still couldn't breathe. Finally, they told me I was in heart failure and I was being moved to ICU. Immediately they started me on a concotion of medications. I don't really remember the first day. BUt that night the OB came to see me at 3am, or there abouts. She said you have PPCM and she explained what it was. She went on to tell me she had only seen it 4 times in her career. She also said that she was at home with her daughter and thought of me being a new mom without my baby going through this and she had to see me. She said she thought about me everytime she saw her daughter and couldn't stay home.
My Details
- Date Diagnosed: 22/02/2013
- Child: 1
- Initial EF: 70
- Current EF: NULL
Story By Katie Powers
