Stories

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 they were dismissed and chalked up as “normal” pregnancy symptoms.  Here’s my story with PPCM: I gave birth to my first, and now possibly

Hi, 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 of 50%, BP of 160/100, and a Bnp of 778.3. Doctor put me on Torsemide 20mg and Lisinopril 10mg .  On May 15, 2012

It 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't right, but my doctor just said it was "normal" I only gained 5lbs the first 20 weeks. After that I blew

My 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 a child. She was a beautiful 8lb 11oz baby, but had to be rushed to NICU since her blood sugar had dangerously dropped causing her

I 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 chose to have my leg amputated. They said due to the chemo I might not be able to have children, at age 11 I wasn&

So 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 until i woke up just over 2 weeks before i was due with what i thought was a horrendous chest infection i also have athsma,

I 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 swelling began at about 7 months.  It continued to get worse each day.  I swelled a lot with my first son, but this was much

Well 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)  and I was 39. I have two boys now 11 and 13. I always wanted a daughter and used to say if I don'

Firstly 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 called it). It wasn't discovered until my 19 week growth scan, when they notice baby hadn't grown and there was confirmed,

I'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 ended up starving myself after he was born to lose the weight which I think played a part in developing PPCM in my next pregnancy.

For 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, 8, 4, 18 mths, and a newborn to take care of, while teaching third grade in public school!  I like a busy life, but WOW,

My 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 90/60 for most of my pregnancy only starting to go up during the third trimester. When I arived in labor, my pressure was still

In 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 what I know now, I might have been able to get better.  My symptoms started when I was 32 weeks pregnant.  My feet had swelled

In 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 thought it was just after a pregnancy, and i figured I was feeling normal, because honestly i didn't remember how i felt after

It 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 pregnancies, this was the most stressful and there were so many things that potentially could have contributed to developing PPCM like finding and moving house,