My name is Holly Borrelle and I am a 33-year-old Peripartum Cardiomyopathy survivor. I am only recently diagnosed in October 2011. Prior to my diagnosis I had never heard of PPCM and, looking back, I believe I had the “classic” symptoms as early as 32 weeks into my pregnancy but
• 9 min readHi, my name is Rya, I am 34 years old. I have a beautiful 6 year old daughter, a 2 year old son, and a baby boy who will be 3 months old this Friday. I was diagnosed with ppcm 3 weeks postpartum on May 11, 2012 with an EF
• 2 min readIt all starts six years ago when I got married. After our honeymoon I went to the ER for possible heart failure. They found "nothing" wrong. Soon we found out I was pregnant. The pregnancy was hard the whole way through. At 20 weeks I knew something wasn&
• 2 min readMy beautiful daughter, Gwendolyn Grace, was born at 3:16pm via c-section on January 8, 2012. Even though my entire birth plan went out the window (no drugs...definately no epidural & vaginal birth) I was very excited to FINALLY be a mommy after wanting for 7 years to have
• 4 min readI am a childhood cancer survivor who at age 11 had to make the choice either to have my leg amputated or bone replaced. They said if I were to have the bone replaced the cancer would likely return and I wasn't able to be active. So I
• 3 min readSo I dont know really know where to start. I had bad swelling from the end of the 2nd trimester, but my midwife sent me to the womens hospital a few times with swelling and a bit of protein and they checked me over and sent me home. It wasnt
• 3 min readI was diagnosed with PPCM in September 2011. I had my second son 2 weeks early on 08/25/11. He was a beautiful boy weighing in at 9 lbs, 3 oz. I was so excited that our little family would be complete. My pregnancy was pretty uneventful until the
• 4 min readWell it's been a year. Two days before fathers day last year this time I was in the ER. I never wrote my story before because I don't like to remember that I like to pretend it never happened. This was my third pregnancy ( not expected)
• 4 min readFirstly I would like to say there are so many Amazing stories to read on my heart sisters.com Thank you for all sharing them with us! My story begins I think back in 2008 when we lost a baby at 14 weeks gestation (a missed misscarriage is what they
• 10 min readI'm not even sure how to start my story. It is quite long so here goes. I had my first baby in 2004 when I was 18 years old, still a senior in highschool. I had no problems whatsoever, he was perfectly healthy, I was perfectly healthy. I
• 3 min readFor me, this journey started eight months after my tubal ligation when I was told that somehow it had failed and I was now pregnant with baby number 6! I couldn't believe it! This would mean in a few short months I would have children ages 16, 9,
• 3 min readMy water broke Monday, May 9th but labor didn't start until Thursday night. By Friday morning I was ready to go to the birth center. I had started swelling about half way through my pregnancy. It seemed excessive (I gained about 60 pounds) but my blood pressure was
• 3 min readIn September of 2000, I found myself in the emergency room at five in the morning. Nights of not being able to breathe right led me to this. I was told I was in congestive heart failure and that was it. Hindsight is 20/20 and if I knew then
• 4 min readIn May 14, 2009 I had my daughter Tessa, She was 8lbs 10 oz and my second baby. I left the hospital after 24 hrs, and 4 days later we were at Children's hospital in St.Louis, Mo becuase she was jaundice. I was feeling bloated but I
• 5 min readIt is hard to know where to begin my story and how I ended up with heart failure in pregnancy. It certainly wasn't something I expected and I usually had great pregnancies, vigorous births (2-8 contractions 10 minutes apart), and dream babies. If I were to compare my
• 88 min read