Have you ever heard of HELLP Syndrome? I hadn’t until I was laboring for four hours in the hospital and something went wrong. I was feeling woozy and got up to go to the bathroom and realized I was too dizzy. It was almost instant — a rush of really not right feelings taking over the excitement that I was going to meet my twins soon.
I also saw it on the nurses face who ran to get me a cup to pee into so she could test my urine.
HELLP syndrome used to be known as severe preeclampsia but it got its own classification as HELLP in 1982. HELLP stands for Hemolytic anemia, Elevated Liver enzymes, and Low Platelet count. It’s life threatening. It’s effed up. And it was the scariest thing I have ever gone through and I’ve been holed up in an apartment in East New York when there was a shooting rampage outside, so yeah, it was worse than that.
But I think it was all worse on my husband. Oh gosh. Could you imagine? Any of you women reading this (you’re probably mostly all women, right?) imagine if your babies were in your husband’s belly and something was going really wrong!! Okay, that’s weird. Cancel that. But you know what I mean. Even though my husband wasn’t feeling a mix of extreme heat and the urge to nod out, he was watching as his wife was in danger along with the two babies inside. What the heck was happening?
There is a part of me that is angry I have never heard of HELLP before the doctors told me I had it and we had to terminate the pregnancy asap. They use the term ‘terminate’ so loosely but any birth is a termination of a pregnancy, though it sounds so horrifyingly morbid. But knowing about it wouldn’t have prevented me from getting it. Unfortunately. I read a lot about pregnancy, and complications. I was 37 and having twins and (shhhh) a closet hypochondriac. I had heard of preeclampsia and suspected I had it due to my extreme swelling but my urine always tested fine.
More needs to be done. It’s happening to women who don’t have any risk factors at all. Why? Doctors need to study HELLP syndrome and preeclampsia more because it seems like there are more and more women getting preeclampsia, which can develop into HELLP, and there isn’t an explanation. HELLP and often preeclampsia steals a woman’s desire to have a natural, vaginal child birth. HELLP steals those precious moments after baby is born from the mom because she is too drugged up so she won’t have a seizure or stroke to really feel. HELLP can derail breastfeeding plans. HELLP can increase postpartum depression. HELLP can orphan children before they have a chance to know their mom. More absolutely without a doubt needs to be done.
Have you heard of HELLP syndrome before? Do you know someone affected by preeclampsia or HELLP?
Tags: HELLP syndrome, preeclampsia
Twitter: RanaAurora
says:
The first time I heard of it was after your had your babies, your birth. And that picture of you made me want to cry.
Christie recently posted..Talking about the Fall Equinox with Kitchen Witch Joni Rae
I had this with the birth of my first child. My blood pressure shot up to 200 over 120 and they had me on magnesium. I had no risk factors. They said I could have died even with the magnesium. I barely remember the birth and don’t have all the normal emotions surrounding the birth because you are so out of it. It is really sad. I am pregnant again and am upping my protein to 100 grams a day to try to prevent it…while the medical community scratches their heads and do nothing (except get tons of cash once you are sick..hmmmm) I have decided to try what the homeopaths are saying cause it which is low protein. It is pretty interesting if you read about it. We will see how it goes! Praying for the natural birth I always wanted this time! But I have a fear I did not have before of orphaning my family this time around
I’m in the exact same boat, Jennifer. I was 220/140 at 34 weeks, admitted, induced, mag’d, and then attempted to recover with a baby in NICU. Due again in Feb and struggling with fears, but combating them with being proactive with diet(high protein and low sugar). Good luck to us both, and at the very least, we’re obviously more informed and educated this time. Wishing you the best!
Sara
I have heard of help before. my cousin had it while pregnant with her first born. the scary thing is they told her it was related to the cancer she had had before. but now I see it was a form of bad preeclampsia. so glad that you are ok and that your babies are ok and she is ok and so is her baby.
awww. you are a very strong woman. not only did you go through it, you wrote about it for the world to know and be aware. i will certainly do my part in the ‘more needs to be done’ part. god bless.
katie recently posted..Physical Therapy Assistant
This is a great thing to share, hopefully it will really help and benifit some people who have to share your experiance.
Lessa recently posted..Quick insurance quote
Yes I’ve heard of it. I had severe preeclampsia with my first which manifested itself in 24 hours and ended with me having a seizure and my daughter being born by c-section at 32 weeks. I didn’t have any risk factors but after doing research it seems related to diet somehow and my diet was not ideal during the pregnancy…I was sick the whole time and couldn’t stand to eat any fruit, veggies or protein. With my second pregnancy I felt better and was committed to eating a lot more protein as well as fruits and veggies…that pregnancy went to term and I was able to have a drug-free VBAC. It was a wonderful experience but it made me even more sad to know how much of the amazing bonding that I missed out on with my first baby as a newborn.
I just realized this is what I had, and my doctor never told me. I woke up seeing spots, dizzy, could hardly walk and my bp was 220/185. She just told me I had sever preeclampsia even though, after 3 24 hour urine tests I never had protein in my urine. I ended in a c-section after 25 hours of magnesium and pitocin. Couldn’t breastfeed and dealt with ppd. I feel like if my doctor had told me, it would have helped. Does anyone know if having it once raises your risk of having it again?
I had pre-eclampsia with my first – we attempted a vaginal delivery at 27 weeks, but I developed HELLP during the induction, so we had a very urgent c-section (they didn’t put me under, but one of my doctors did say it’s the fastest they’ve done a c-section without just knocking mom out).
I had pre-eclampsia with my second, spent 4 1/2 weeks on bedrest in the hospital trying to manage blood pressure, and delivered via “we should probably do this tomorrow” c-section at 28 weeks. Avoided HELLP that time, but no one was willing to push too hard to continue the pregnancy because of my history.
There’s so few answers on pre-e to begin with – research just keeps turning up things that aren’t as helpful as they’d hope. HELLP is even worse.
kadiera recently posted..ch-ch-ch-changes
I had HELLP and it was a VERY scarey experience. I had been perfectly healthy my entire pregnancy, and had had an appointment with my obstetrician 4 days earlier and he was quite happy with the way things were going, except that I had sacro-illiac dysfnction. I had no idea that I had HELLP Syndrome, I also had never heard of it. I went to hospital thinking I was a “sook” wanting something to stop my vomitting I had had for the previous 3 days. I was not at all prepared for what I was told when I got there. They started asking my a few questions to which I kept answering “YES”..It was then I realised things were pretty serious. I had put my right sided abdomen pain, flank pain to the baby pushing on things, and my blurry vision to not wearing my glasses. I had a failing liver and kidneys, high blood pressure and was told I would be having the baby ASAP. I was only 33 weeks pregnant, so you can imagine my panic. I had an emergency c-section and had a huge haemorrage after it due to my very low platelets. I had to have a general anesthetic for the c-section so my husband and I both missed the birth of our first child, something I still can not get over. I was on a magnesium infusion for 3 days, and only seen my son for 15 minutes in total in those 3 days. I am still dealing with the experience. I wanted to have more babies, but after having HELLP Syndrome, I’m not sure I can risk having it happen again. I am absolutley besotted by healthy 7 month old son, I feel blessed that nothing terrible happened.
I have heard about and it’s really alarming, this condition base on statistics strikes 25% of every pregnant women. Pre-natal counselling is much more needed for early detection of this HELLP syndrome.
Jenny recently posted..hair loss during pregnancy
Have you ever heard of HELLP Syndrome? I hadn’t until I was laboring for four hours in the hospital and something went wrong. I was feeling woozy and got up to go to the bathroom and realized I was too dizzy. It was almost instant — a rush of really not right feelings taking over the excitement that I was going to meet my twins soon.
Alexandria recently posted..Kupovina preko interneta
I had never heard of it till I was in the ER with it. I had a Dr.s appt a few days befor that and everything was perfect. The. I woke up early one morning (last day of my 32nd week)with severe back pain. I thought it may have been what people say back labor feels like, but later found out it was my liver swelling and being close to rupturing. I had a bp of 180/100 and as soon as the nurses saw that they called for an emergancy transport to take me to a hospital with a NICU that could handle us, and told me I would be having the baby in 24-48 hours because I was severely preeclamptic. I then had to call my husband, who was home with our other two daughters, and told him what was going on and to meet me at the hospital after the girls went to school. Once at the new hospital they ran more blood tests and ended up telling me I had class 3 HELLP syndrome. The Dr.s were completely confounded by my case though because this was my third pregnancy, by the same man, and the only one I had issues with. They said it was extremely rare to have HELLP with a third pregnancy and not the first, and they would repeatedly ask me if my husband was the father of this baby too. After mag sulf, steroid shots, many “team” meetings and plan changes we only made it three more days. I had our little girl at 33 weeks & 3 days. She was wrapped up in the umbilical cord and we found out that the placenta was too small. She was only 3lbs 10oz, which I believe makes her a growth restricted baby. She got 8 & 9 apgars and didn’t need O2. We ended up with a 36 day stay in the NICU due to growin and feeding issues.
I had never heard of it till I was in the ER with it. I had a Dr.s appt a few days befor that and everything was perfect. The. I woke up early one morning (last day of my 32nd week)with severe back pain. I thought it may have been what people say back labor feels like, but later found out it was my liver swelling and being close to rupturing. I had a bp of 180/100 and as soon as the nurses saw that they called for an emergancy transport to take me to a hospital with a NICU that could handle us, and told me I would be having the baby in 24-48 hours because I was severely preeclamptic. I then had to call my husband, who was home with our other two daughters, and told him what was going on and to meet me at the hospital after the girls went to school. Once at the new hospital they ran more blood tests and ended up telling me I had class 3 HELLP syndrome. The Dr.s were completely confounded by my case though because this was my third pregnancy, by the same man, and the only one I had issues with. They said it was extremely rare to have HELLP with a third pregnancy and not the first, and they would repeatedly ask me if my husband was the father of this baby too. After mag sulf, steroid shots, many \"team\" meetings and plan changes we only made it three more days. I had our little girl at 33 weeks & 3 days. She was wrapped up in the umbilical cord and we found out that the placenta was too small. She was only 3lbs 10oz, which I believe makes her a growth restricted baby. She got 8 & 9 apgars and didn\’t need O2. We ended up with a 36 day stay in the NICU due to growin and feeding issues.
Interesting material, thank you. I would just to point out that even the Mayo clinic agrees that vigorous exercise while pregnant can be helpful.
Great info, thanks. I would just to mention that even the Mayo clinic agrees that vigorous exercise while pregnant can be good for you.