I had been waking up in pain for a couple of weeks. It was upper quadrant pain (if anyone has had their gallbladder removed remember that sharp, stabbing pain you would get directly under your sternum from the gallstones? It was like but worse...) One night the pain was so bad I spent the entire nighth in tears. That morning my husband and I decided to go in to L&D to get it checked out. The midwife that helped me didn't run any tests, she ruled it as severe indigestion, gave me a prescription and sent me on my merry way. Another week and a half went by and I found that while the indigestion medicine did nothing, Tylenol gave me some relief! I'm a purist and haven't taken anything the entire pregnancy but I started taking Tylenol to mask the pain on a daily basis. One night I had taken my Tylenol before bed and again woke up in tears and spent the entire night crying in pain. My husband and I went back to L&D in the morning and my doctor initially said its either severe indigestion or possibly (because baby was breech) it could be her head pushing up on scar tissue from when I had my gallbladder removed. My blood pressure was good and nothing seemed wrong. I was feeling like a big baby, because I was hurting bad!!! She decided she wanted to run some blood tests... just in case. She came back to my room with another doctor and I immediately knew something was wrong. My liver enzymes were sky high and my platelet count scary low. (An average platelet count is 150+ I was at 42.) My body had practically zero ability to clot blood and the pain I was feeling was my swollen liver radiating. This is the absolute last sign of a syndrome known as HELLP. Which is a severe, life threatening type of  pre-eclampsia. The only way to cure HELLP is to deliver the baby. I didn't have any symptoms other than the upper quadrant pain. No high blood pressure, nothing! I was doing more damage to my liver by taking Tylenol. This pain is a symptom before some terrible things from this disorder can occur... (stroke, seisures, and more) Thankfully we caught it in time. They put me on magnesium (to prevent seizures), hooked me up to a ton of IV's, catheter and they tried to keep baby girl in me for a full set of steroid shots. Unfortunately, when my platelets decreased and my enzymes shot up even higher they determined it unsafe. They took me to surgery where they had to put me under general anesthesia (couldn't give me an epidural because of the risk of spinal bleeds with such a low platelet count). During surgery they had to give me a platelet transfusion to ensure my body would clot as they sewed me up. The next week I spent in the hospital was a blur. Sometimes after delivery, you relapse. Which I did. My platelet count got critically low again and the liver enzymes shot up. They almost did a full blood transfusion but thankfully they didn't end up having to. My blood work was considered critical for days, until finally it corrected itself. HELLP is a very rare complication but you need to catch it before it's too late. I ask that you look it up and educate yourself on it and pre eclampsia and if you have even any of the symptoms please go get checked out. It's been a very very scary road. I just kept praying for the good lord to let me stay a little longer. I'm not ready to leave my sweet family yet. 

Im home now and doing much better. Still waiting on one liver enzyme to correct itself. I will forever be considered high risk should I ever get pregnant again because once you've had help the risk of it happening again is much higher. 

Baby girl (Aria Kalis (cuh-lease)) is doing well. She is quite the fighter. At 32 weeks she was only on Oxygen for 12 hours despite not receiving all of the steroid injections for lung development. A common result in HELLP is low birth weight'for gestational age. At 32 weeks she was born 2lbs, 11ozs. Significantly underweight. Obviously being in the NICU we are asking her to do a lot of things she shouldn't have to at this age. But she is taking mamas milk like a champ, and they have taken her off of everything except her feeding tube since she is still having trouble with the bottle. She is officially 3 lbs and I just need to her to keep growing!! It's a constant struggle, but I am so proud of our little peanut - she's making incredible strides every day. 

This was NOT how I expected her birth to be. Sadly, I don't even remember meeting her for the first time because I was so sick and they had me on all sorts of medicine to help heal me. My husband showed me pictures before I ever got to meet her in person. Having a NICU baby is tough. I lost my mind when I finally got discharged and had to pull away from the hospital for the first time. I just want others to be forewarned. I was lucky enough that my doctor (Barely) caught it in time. But some might not be so lucky. If you're having any symptoms, or any pain please don't hesitate to get it checked out.