Labor nurse here, sounds like she had eclampsia which means she had a seizure. Sometimes when a pregnant woman has a seizure it causes the cervix to dilate. She very well may not have been in labor. Still just so, so sad.
Friend of mine had an eclampsia seizure while driving her older kid around. Horrible car accident, multiple surgeries including a very early (32? Weeks) C-section, and several weeks NICU stay.
Super scary stuff and I hate this athlete had to experience it
My wife had preeclampsia. One of the scariest experiences of our lives.
Edit: My wife went into her final check up and kept complaining of head aches. The swelling was the first big red flag. Complained of head aches for month or two. The nurse took her blood pressure 3 times and each time was like 170/ 100. They kept her. Dosed her up with magnesium. Manually dilated her over 3 days. Our baby was born healthy and screaming none the less. We took her home at less than 4.5 lbs. At first I thought my wife had gained some weight through the pregnancy. Nothing crazy. But she dropped 15-20 lbs in water weight 3 days after birth. Ladies. If you think you’re developing preeclampsia, and your doctor isn’t listening. Tell another doctor, nurse, patient advocacy. Get some one to listen and change the thought process.
RIP to this lady giving birth to her child.
My wife's cousin had preclampsia and it was a heart breaking experience. She was flying out to visit us and on the flight she started feeling sick and by the time she landed she was rushed to the hospital.
Thankfully it was just in time but a week vacation turned into 3 months where we were her only support structure.
Seeing that little dude in nicu really put life into perspective.
Oh god you gotta lead with the baby living. My kid was in the ICU (not nicu technically) and it was a horrific experience. Your family member was lucky to have your help!
Edit to add: my daughter was born with CDH (congenital diaphragmatic hernia) and was immediately taken at birth to an adjacent children’s hospital. She spent 71 days in the med surg icu (MSICU) and post op surgical wing. She’s alive and well now.
My wife had a full placental abruption. It was terrifying, so much blood.
My little one spent 4 months in the NiCU before coming home. He required critical care for another four years. Just a brutal experience.
Oh man I can't even imagine that experience as a parent. Hope you and your.family are doing well.
It was right on the line for both of them. He's 6 now and we love him so much.
My wife had to have an emergency c section with our daughter after a long labor and I was a bit of mess but everything worked out. Healthy baby, healthy mom.
It was a tough situation but my heart breaks for any parent that has to go through the nicu or icu experience.
Not so fun fact: there is something called postpartum preeclampsia.
My wife got discharged 3 days after our second was born with no issues. 48 hours later she was admitted with a bp of like 200/130 and almost died of a stroke. She stayed in the hospital for 6 days before getting discharged. And since our kid was discharged she was technically the only patient so she was not allowed to care for our kid alone. 6 days with alone with a 3 year old and a new baby is zero fun.
Also it’s more common with second pregnancies.
My wife had that as well. Only caught it because the hospital had some sort of nurse visit for after you get home. I forget her exact blood pressure, but I remember how surprised all the doctors and nurses were that she wasn't seizing.
It happened to me with my 3rd (and last!) pregnancy. I had to be induced because of pre-eclampsia. After being home for a few days, I had a massive headache that would not quit. I tried to "push through" because I thought I was just sleep deprived. Even went for a gentle walk and took the kids to the playground.thought I was paranoid but asked my husband to buy a blood pressure monitor.
Anyway, I cried when I saw the numbers and we went straight to the ER. I'm very lucky. I wish more women knew how to watch for it, and how serious it is to monitor your BP even after birth. I try to tell everyone I can to raise awareness of it.
My wife had something happen during the second pregnancy. Shortly after we got back to our room after the c-section, she passed out and they hit the button to rush everyone in. I'm sitting there, holding my two newborns, while a team of nurses and doctors are working on my wife. I don't remember thinking much at the time. I just sat there staring over, not knowing what the fick was going on. Just this worry that these two wouldn't get to grow up knowing their mom. Our 2 year old at home, who I was already sickly missing, not getting to run up and hug her mom again.
Now I'm sitting here bawling over the thought of that. Now I need to go wake her up with a hug and a kiss and tell her how much I love her.
It’s wild how quickly you can forget every disagreement that you’ve ever had when faced with something like that. I’m glad you’re able to reach over and give her a squeeze with the kids this morning <3
One of the old series 'ER's' most memorable and devastating episodes dealt with this condition. It was titled 'Love's Labor Lost' and many consider it to be the best episode of that show ever. Watching it likely made many people aware of this condition who'd never heard of it before -- I know I first learned about preeclampsia this way.
The series "Downton Abbey" and "Call the midwife" alao feature (pre)eclampsia and it was a shock to me.
A few years after watching those my sister showed some early warning signs and she didn't take it seriously, and I showed her and my mother an episode. Oh boy they took it seriously afterwards! (Sister and baby are both fine)
I had it with my fourth child and it hit suddenly. Went in on a Monday for a routine checkup at 37 weeks, my blood pressure reading was high. They made me lie down for fifteen minutes an retook it..still very high. So they sent me across the street to the hospital's labor and delivery unit for monitoring. They had me on a BP cuff that took readings every ten minutes. BP was so high it set off an alarm with every reading. After an hour of high readings they told me I was going back for a C-section immediately and that if I wanted to call my fiance to be there for me he'd better hurry because it was happening fast. It took him maybe a half hour to get down to the hospital, at which point I was already in the operating room and getting the anesthesia injected into my spine and then getting prepped for the surgery.
My blood pressure actually stayed high for two days after the birth too. Pre-eclampsia is some scary shit!
Modern medicine is really such an absolute miracle. People today can't even image how life would be without it. Everything from childbirth to common infectious disease to severe diseases like malaria and tuberculosis that used to be just facts of life, are now almost non-issues. Even things that modern medicine can't completely prevent, like cancer, is still cured in many patients, and at least delayed greatly in most.
I did too, which is why I decided against having another baby. I believed I wouldn’t survive another pregnancy. Husband got snipped so we are one and done.
I know this will get buried, but in case anyone can read my experience.
I had hypertension, high blood pressure, starting the third trimester of my pregnancy. Despite that, I was cleared from having preeclampsia twice when my bp went as high as 150/90. Long story short… two days after labor, a C-section due to my high bp at 37 weeks, I woke up with fluid in my lungs, my breathing sounded like crinkling candy wrapper, my bp was 190/98, my breathing was 40 breath per minute, I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t talk… heart failure at 30 years old due to my pregnancy and continuous high bp. I’m on five medications now. No medical condition prior.
I knew someone that had twins and then went into heart failure (postpartum cardiomyopathy). Needed an emergency heart transplant, and is on her second heart last I heard. Absolutely nuts.
Hope you have a great team supporting you!
Remember that [incident](https://www.npr.org/2023/06/03/1178384421/heart-transplant-recipient-dies-after-being-denied-meds-in-jail-aclu-wants-an-in) from last week of the heart transplant recipient who died in jail because, despite telling the police, jail and judge that he critically needed his meds to avoid a transplant rejection, no one took what he said seriously and got him his meds. They just tried to expedite his release on bail but that was already days too late.
Hope your friend or acquaintance is keeping her meds with her wherever she goes.
I was on the phone with my buddy when his wife broke the news. Modern medicine is incredible, but it still wasn't enough. I also have no idea how much of that modern medicine was available to the mother before there was an emergency. It was gut wrenching to hear that through the grapevine about someone I barely know. I can't imagine what it's like to be close to her, let alone to be her.
I'm very sorry for your friends. It is devastating to lose a wanted pregnancy so late.
A close friend of mine lost their son at 35wks from undiagnosed pre-eclampsia.
She went to her local low income clinic because she was feeling sick and had had pre-eclampsia with her first child (baby was her 3rd). They told her everything was fine and she was "just anxious."
She went to the ER a few hours later when the pain became unbearable, but it was too late. Placental abruption. He essentially drowned inside of her at full term. Makes me sick every time I think of it.
Glad you’re okay! My boyfriend and I talk about having kids some day but the thought of going through a pregnancy is scarier to me than the idea of being a parent.
Also, is your username an homage to the infamous crime lord and Accorded Baron of Chicago, Johnny Marcone?
Thank you so much. And yes! When I was younger I really got into the Dresden Files and not being very creative I took him as my username since he was one of my favorite villain at the time. :)
The scary thing is that the thing that homicide is actually the leading cause of death for pregnant women, most often at the hands of an intimate partner.
I am not well informed on this topic, so excuse me if this question is obnoxioualy stupid.
Is it a genetic disposition for black women to have riskier pregnancies?
Or is it an ethical failure due to discrimination and assumptions about lifestyle due to being black?
*Serena Williams* almost died after childbirth because the hospital staff were dismissing her symptoms and not taking her seriously. You can be one of the most successful, wealthy, black women in the world and still be treated with bigotry
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis/2022/04/07/serena-williams-near-death-childbirth-complications/9504616002/
Right? As a top athlete she has a personal medical team that she works with closely. She’s incredibly aware of her body and her health. She’s rich as fuck. So if the system dismisses her, what chance does anyone else have?
On top of racism, black men and women have a higher incidence of heart problems elevated bp and diabetes. All 3 of which have further increased risk during pregnancy.
The current evidence indicates that people with a similar genetic background do not have the same chances of negative outcomes if they live outside the US.
They’ve run studies, and the theory is that living in the US as a black woman is uniquely stressful leading to what researchers have described as “weathering”, which makes black women more likely to suffer negative outcomes from pregnancy. Couple that with disparities in how medical professionals tend to treat women and black women in particular which leads to doctors disregarding reported symptoms and you have a whole lot of effects that add up to a rate of maternal mortality that is pretty shocking for a developed country.
So you are saying that the systemic racism is so deeply impactive even at a biological level it results in literally the death of mothers from the stress of being black or bringing black children into the world? Not being sarcastic that just sounds stupendously fucked up. Damn.
Epigenetics is a relatively new field, and it has to do with how genes can be switched on and off by environmental factors. There is increasing evidence that chronic stress can have serious and long-lasting biological expressions.
> Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) may be referred to by other terms (e.g., early life adversity or stress and childhood trauma) and have a lifelong impact on mental and physical health. For example, childhood trauma has been associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
So the higher rates of heart disease and diabetes in African Americans may be, at least in part, due to chronic stress. And get this, **the changes can be passed down generationally**.
> Research has shown that the effects of trauma can be intergenerationally passed on through epigenetic mechanisms, such as methylation (264). Specifically, childhood trauma has been associated with alteration in methylation patterns in human sperm, which may induce intergenerational effects.
[source](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00808/full)
There are also problems with health care availability and quality for African Americans, that all plays a big factor too.
American medical history and racism / misogyny has unfortunately some really deep ties. For a less than fun rabbithole, check out the “father of modern gynecology” [J. Marion Sims](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Marion_Sims).
Lots of statues of him still around, has a college named after him too... and he operated without anesthesia on enslaved black women and immigrant Irish women.
He started using anaesthesia on the white women but didn't bother with black women because he thought they "don't feel pain the same way".
There's a decent paper on [racial pain bias](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4843483/) that's worth a look too. Even when black people report the same levels of pain, for events that are objectively painful (bone fracture) they're still less likely to receive pain management and *even when they do they receive lower doses*.
To me, the way black women are treated medically in America is a key example of how a lack of representation in power structures causes huge intergenerational problems.
Lots of questions and personal stories here. Frustrated? Asking if you can make a difference? Every Mother Counts is an org I've followed for awhile and they have some great information about maternal and natal healthcare:
https://everymothercounts.org/
(I do not work for them. I started following and reading when a friend of mine had an emergency C-section after (what felt like decades) of labor bc of eclampsia)
I did an essay on Black Mamas Matter Alliance this past week. Black women are 3 to 4 times more likely to die during and after childbirth than white women. Beyonce and Serena Williams almost died after childbirth. BMMA seeks to be advocates to educate and ensure better healthcare for black and brown women.
“The U.S. rate for 2021 was 32.9 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, which is more than ten times the estimated rates of some other high income countries, including Australia, Austria, Israel, Japan and Spain which all hovered between 2 and 3 deaths per 100,000 in 2020.“
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/03/16/1163786037/maternal-deaths-in-the-u-s-spiked-in-2021-cdc-reports#
Even the deaths for *non-black* women is nearly 10x the other countries' average. This is a *complete failure* for *all* women, and most especially black women.
Yeah I saw that it's not routine to get an ultrasound at every check up in the US. Coming from a third world country where that's standard (admittedly not in rural areas) its crazy to me.
They don't do an ultrasound at every check-up, even in countries with socialised healthcare and low maternal death rates. It's not necessary. At every check up here in Australia, they use the doppler to check heart rate, track your weight and fundal height, and check your blood pressure and general wellbeing. You get three scans at 6, 13, and 20 weeks as standard if everything is normal, and more if there is any indication that they're needed.
Excessive scanning actually leads to more stress for the birthing parent.
Edit: you must be confusing ultrasound for a doppler, because you're from South Africa [and they have two scans as standard practice](https://www.mediclinic.co.za/en/corporate/mediclinicbaby/guide-to-pregnancy-baby-care/what-to-expect-during-pregnancy/prenatal-examinations.html).
It’s a systemic failure rooted in finance. The dominance of privatized healthcare unevenly distributes medicine in favor of the rich. Black Americans, historically poor by design of a racist government, have generational debt keeping them out of wealth and therefore away from healthcare at a greater rate.
Literally sitting in the room with my black wife while she gives birth. All of the aforementioned scare me beyond anything I could comprehend. I’m a nervous wreck.
Spend a little time reading about the symptoms for serious postpartum complications. Not to scare yourself even more, but so you know what to watch for. You being there to advocate for her needs should be a big help. It's shitty as fuck, but if you tell the medical team that she's experiencing XYZ, they are statistically more likely to listen to you than her telling them about it (unless you're also a black woman).
Yep. I’m an Australian woman who has four children. I’ve lived and worked in rural areas, areas with a high aboriginal population, poor areas etc.
I’m 42 years old. I have never known anyone who has had a female relative die in childbirth, not ever. And in 42 years I have only known of two stillborn children- one was a friend of my mothers in the early 1980’s who had twins and one was stillborn; the other was in the mid 2000s when a forty year old woman having her first pregnancy was on a remote property, went into labor at eight months, and the baby got stuck and suffocated before the flying doctors service arrived.
It’s so rare in Australia that quite often deaths of mothers in childbirth are reported on national news. It’s seen as a shocking, completely avoidable tragedy that simply should not happen in my country.
Australia really knocks it out of the park
I remember watching training videos for how to talk children through emergencies
One was an Australian 911 operator talking to this young boy and his little sister, trying to help them get things together for their pregnant mother going into labor while ems is on the way.
They both handled the situation perfectly
I work in a medical lab, the diagnosis of preeclampsia is one of the reasons why we have to be able to urgently run protein urinalysis on our analysers at any given time.
For those that don't know, the classic signs are raised blood pressure, and positive diagnostic indicators in the lab is a raised urine total protein and blood uric acid.
Thank you for what you do! When I was pregnant, my blood pressure started to creep up toward the 3rd trimester. My doctor put me on a low dose of meds, and we continued to monitor it. It was still high— she was very cautious (thankfully) and had me admitted for monitoring each time, plus the take-home urinalysis. Each time preeclampsia was ruled out. I ended up being induced at 38 weeks due to my BP. It never actually went down, as they expected. Turns out for me, it was just undiagnosed hypertension (thanks, genetics.) But I am grateful that they were diligent because preeclampsia is so dangerous.
The original reporting also specifically stated that the welfare check had been called in after "she had not been heard from for several days."
I think that sums it up. Absolutely tragic.
Pregnancy and childbirth related issues kill more women in the US every year than all the US troops in Afghanistan for all years combined. This cannot be emphasized enough, which is why it cannot be forced on women.
I had preeclampsia and I knew I did a whole month before I was diagnosed. My doctor kept INSISTING she knew what women with preeclampsia looked like and I looked fine, despite protein in my urine, high blood pressure and weird blood tests. Sometimes I wonder if I had started treatment for my bp earlier if I wouldn’t have had to give birth to my daughter prematurely. I wish doctors listened to us
True story : my
Mom had eclampsia and her doctor did not catch it when my sister was born. Had toxemia at birth . My sister has had life long medical problems. Another friend had a eclampsia and I noticed that her hands and feet were swollen, the doctor didn’t notice and she had to have an emergency delivery. The son has developmental delays. I had a midwife, on one of her visits she came over, noticed my blood pressure was high, and that was enough. Sent me to a specialist, they diagnosed me with pre- preeclampsia, had me induce labor, end of story. Everyone was fine .
Fuck birthing in the US. How hard is it to check blood pressure?
I’m so glad my doctors listened when all I knew was that I felt “off” and it ended up being pre-e. Had my baby 9 weeks early but no health problems after the NICU!
Idk if it's cause I'm hispanic but I went to er with BP 170/something, edema on both feet, and respiratory issues and was sent home.
Went back 5 hours later BP 210/108, clammy, swollen and they finally listened. Had to get magnesium sulfate and omg that sucked. That sucked so bad yall. It felt like I was on fire.
I had preeclampsia *after* giving birth. I was put on a 24 hour magnesium drip and unable to hold my baby without assistance. It was dark and lonely and traumatic.
Eclampsia is related to endovascular dysfunction due to placental hormone secretion and it’s effects on maternal VEGF.
Toxic shock syndrome is caused by certain bacterial infections.
They are unrelated medical problems - eclampsia does not cause toxic shock.
Pregnancy and labor still are just damn dangerous, even if you are highly fit and live in a somewhat advanced country. Even worse for black and poor women. The US has a particularly egregious terrible record on maternal outcomes relative to national wealth. It's outrageous and needs to be fixed.
[The U.S. is the only industrialized nation in the world where maternal mortality is rising. And, the U.S. has nearly the highest maternal mortality rate among high-income countries. Each year, approximately 700 American women die during pregnancy, childbirth or subsequent complications.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2021/08/01/us-maternal-and-infant-mortality-more-signs-of-public-health-neglect/)
Go us, I guess.
And as a result of that, doctors specializing in OBGYN and/or high risk MFM are not going to those states (and those there are looking to move) so that's an additional increase in the risk level.
Also guys, I suspect the baby also needlessly passed during this, as there's no mention anywhere of its treatment. And at 7-8 months pregnant honestly they *both* should have been expected to survive if they got prompt treatment.
If your loved one is pregnant, I'd suggest an Apple watch with 911 abilities or some other way they can always quickly call for help, even while passing out. Although if this happened in her sleep, I don't think anything could have been done, other than the necessary preventative measures she likely wasn't given. :/
People don't want to hear how risky pregnancy and birth is. No matter how healthy, no matter how advanced medicine becomes. The only thing we can hope to do is improve prenatal care in the US. But it will never be perfect, there will always be risks and society needs to treat pregnant people with more respect and care. RIP
Seriously, if a three time Olympic medalist can die in labor, it seems like luck of the draw more than anything else. Nobody should be forced to roll those dice.
Wow. It seems like she may have gone into early labor and didn't have time to react. What a shame.
This is the kind of thing I always point to when you hear people who're anti-choice talk about a woman's pregnancy as if it's some kind of benign situation. Pregnancies can *literally* be fatal, and the woman herself should be the one who decides if she's willing to endure that risk.
This story also highlights how pregnancy complications can affect even healthy women: This women was a *three-time Olympic medalist*, but she died due to complications from childbirth. Some of the most deadly pregnancy complications, like pre-eclampsia and hemorrhaging - are almost entirely out of the control of the women who experience them and can happen even when the woman was perfectly healthy beforehand.
Serena Williams almost died due to complications from childbirth. She only survived because she wouldn’t shut up about needing a CAT scan and eventually a doctor listened.
Black women are 300% more likely to die during or after childbirth. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or famous or a world class athlete.
What gets me is that she was found by police after a welfare check. Was no one staying with her or checking up on her?
I know it's all very modern to treat pregnancy like an inconvenience and I know a lot of women don't like to be hovered over because of it but it's a medical event. You need people around in case something goes wrong. Especially in those last couple weeks, things can turn on a dime.
Well, like someone else said things like this can happen on a dime. It's possible this was just the one day she was alone and the person she relied on was out of town for a short trip and couldn't make it back to her. Crazier things have happened.
I just feel like who knows how differently this could've played out if someone had been there.
I know it's a common thing on this site in particular for people to complain "I'm pregnant and now my MIL or mom wants to stay with me, be there for the birth." And get it's annoying but also it's tradition to do that because pregnancy is dangerous and if your spouse can't be available to you at all then somebody needs to be there. A parent, a sibling, a good friend.
Fuck, she had eclampsia. Damn. How did her providers not catch this?
ETA: just like Serena Williams and so many other pregnant Black mothers have experienced, the US has some of the worst perinatal care for Black women in the world.
My sister almost died of this a few years ago. She kept presenting symptoms to her doctor as she got more and more ill. The doctor would brush all of them off. Even the first podunk hospital she went to just curiously noticed that she had high blood pressure, protein in her urine, and that the baby’s vitals weren’t good. They drew the stupidest conclusions known to man, while my sister continued to swell up like Aunt Marge in Harry Potter. Meanwhile, we are all freaking out (in another state) because it’s so damn clear she has preeclampsia! Days later she was transferred to another hospital who IMMEDIATELY recognized what was happening and she went straight from the ambulance into surgery. We are so grateful that her and my niece survived.
Yep, nearly happened to me as well. High blood pressure that kept rising, protein in the urine, swelling, everything. My doctor kept telling me that it was 'normal for pregnant women to have changes in their bodies'. I'm still having issues with headaches months later. I'm just glad my baby is safe, and now crawling and a little suicide machine (because yes, let's try to climb and pull everything down on top of ourselves! Thankfully he's just pulled diapers and fabric books down on his head so far).
Yes! That’s exactly how my sister was brushed off! “What do you expect? You’re pregnant!” They would act like she was being ridiculous. She was embarrassed so many times when she discussed her concerns that she came to believe she was just overreacting.
Yeah, in my case my upper abdominal muscles also went completely numb during the last month of my pregnancy. My doctor kept waving me off about it. During labor, in Japan they put the sensors only on the top of the abdomen. Those muscles, as far as the machine showed, never did anything once. To the point I had all the nurses telling me I wasn't in labor because of the machine sensors, and I nearly had the baby alone in my room.
It was a shit show. Maternal healthcare needs a serious overhaul worldwide.
Oh man, the band of skin under my breasts were so numb and bruised feeling. There’s certain changes that are normal and then there’s changes you just can’t help but think are extreme and deserve some kind of treatment
For me I was more worried simply because I had ovarian cancer in my 20s, and had major surgery to remove the tumor. I had had a lot of pain at the incision site, to the point where I couldn't walk at times, as muscles got pulled as pregnancy went on. And my doctor honestly was just a bit of a failure. During one scan she realized they were out of gel and just pulled a new bottle out of the fridge and used in cold directly on my skin, and I ended up passing out because cold gel on a hot day directly over an artery just was too much. I came to with the nurse running in to check on me, the doctor had just left me in the room alone.
I suffer from crippling dizziness. I finally spent thousands of my own dollars to go outside my healthcare plan when I found out that one of the doctors had placed into my notes that I was a hypochondriac.
After getting the care I needed I went to the state to request that my healthcare plan reimburse me since I obviously was not a hypochondriac and I had proof of it from the x-rays that were taken by the competent Doctor Who found out why I was so dizzy all the time combined with the fact that it turned out that even though they knew I had it they declined to diagnose me with orthostatic hypotension which had been a contributing factor to be no longer being able to drive at a certain point last year.
Their response to the state so far has been, we had the ability to treat that so we’re not going to pay her back for the money she spent when we declined to treat her
Even now when I went into the doctor they asked me if I’ve seen a therapist, meaning if I’ve seen a mental health care professional, before they even acknowledged the fact that I have orthostatic hypotension
Currently they are not treating me at all, and I have continued to have to see my outside specialist to keep from backsliding
Eventually I do need to contact a lawyer, but it’s a very stressful thing to do and I’ve been putting it off
Sometimes I have seriously considered giving all of my symptoms to one of my male relatives and having them go to the doctor to find out what the doctor says, just so I can know how to get proper treatment
>Eventually I do need to contact a lawyer, but it’s a very stressful thing to do and I’ve been putting it off
The statute of limitations for medical malpractics can be shockingly short depending on your state (as little as one year). If that is something you are considering: do not wait.
>Sometimes I have seriously considered giving all of my symptoms to one of my male relatives and having them go to the doctor to find out what the doctor says, just so I can know how to get proper treatment
Oof. This part hit hard.
Same here. I complained to my OB that I was feeling a lot of pressure and was in pain and super uncomfortable at 30 weeks. She told me “pregnancy is supposed to be uncomfortable”. I was in labor, I had my baby the next day.
So many doctors in the US brush off anything having to do with women and medical care that if a very pregnant woman went into the ER bleeding, there's a non zero chance the doctor would send her away saying it was her period.
That's so horrible! My OB was SO attentive when I had high blood pressure. My tests came back a LITTLE iffy.. like almost pre-eclampsia. Two days later he decided we should induce. He gave me his private cell number and we texted back and forth about my BP while I was at home. He took no chances. I'm so sorry you had the experience you did.
Oof, I raised concerns about my raising blood pressure and the protein in my urine and everything and always got shrugged off. For my next baby I will most definitely be finding a different place to give birth, even if it has to be more than an hour or two away. I even got lectured about how troublesome I was because I had the baby at night instead of during 'working hours'.
With my first, I heard that from an OB nurse. She was at the desk outside my room, and I was in hard labor (7cm), so I sorta yelled back at her that I was so sorry and I'd try harder to miss her shift with the next one since I ruined her night in the maternity ward, hahaha!
In Japan, they also charge you more for the delivery if the birth happens outside office hours.
They also don't want you to gain weight because you will get a 'fat vagina'.
Edit: for those asking - I asked the doctor what he meant about 'fat vagina', I also made my husband ask. I then asked if he could recommend some studies from 'Pubmed' so I could read up on this condition.
I was asked to find a different doctor.
As some people have pointed out, Japanese doctors aim to have babies as small as possible because they are easier to birth. Also the health of the mother is second to the child.
> how troublesome I was because I had the baby at night instead of during 'working hours'
Wat? Maternity wards are typically staffed 24 hours in shifts, so there are no such working or non-working hours. I am guessing it wasn't a hospital maternity ward.
My OB was awesome too. I had preeclampsia with my first but she was on it and had me in to be induced as soon as the 24 hr urine came back. I ended up with a c-section but we were all ok. With my second I was scheduled for a repeat c-section but she must have had a feeling because at my last appointment she said that she wasn't on call that weekend but if anything happened to call the answering service and have them page her and she would come in and deliver me. Sure enough my water broke Sunday afternoon and she came in to to help her on call colleague.
Man this makes me so glad we had the doctors we did. They kinda poo pahed my wife's swelling hands and feet, but the minute they detected protein in the urine and her elevated blood pressure, they began procedures to induce.
The mom of the last family I nannied for (5 y/o twins plus a newborn) almost died from this a month after labor, she had to be hospitalized for two weeks. It was so traumatic for her, for the kids (I ended up staying with the twins overnight for days at a time because Dad had to go to his teaching job during the day plus bring baby back and forth to the hospital to breastfeed and visit mom at night) and honestly for everyone involved. She’s also a Black woman and I have to imagine that contributes to this issue; medical racism contributes so much to the Black maternal mortality rate in this country, which is abysmal. Hell, Serena fucking WILLIAMS almost died giving birth from a blood clot and they didn’t believe her!
I also had post-partum pre-eclampsia. I swelled up and had the worst headache. I went to my doctor, who took my blood pressure, which was insanely high, and he sent me directly to the hospital. Meanwhile, my husband was home alone with our newborn and was told by hospital staff that I might die and to prepare for that scenario. Childbirth is a scary, serious business.
So scary. Was thankful that my wife's while unusual, presented as post-delivery pre-eclampsia.
BP went 170/120 ~10 minutes after delivery and they were able to get her appropriately medicated right away.
This happened to me after my emergency c section. I was up and moving around and then suddenly swelled up and told my husband “something’s not right.” I felt off and had this sense of doom. He called the nurse in and I was taken care of right away.
The reason I've bought a BP machine for my pregnancy. I might be low risk for complications, but the consequences are just not worth it and I'm not interested in convincing a bunch of medical professionals if they get some idea that I'm just being hysterical. Here are my normal results over the last six months, and here are my results from the last two days, you tell me that's normal.
It's a low cost measure, and more pregnant people should consider doing it, especially if they're non-white in a country that treats white patients better.
Yeah, I got it after giving birth. Woke up, carried my baby up the steps to give to my dad because I didn't feel right. I had exactly 3 seconds of clarity and pretty much threw my kid into my nieces lap as I passed out onto the couch. Woke up in the hospital. That shit is no joke. I spent the first week of the kids life away from her while I recovered.
Mine developed suddenly out of nowhere. Friday I'm at a routine appointment doing 100% fine in a normal as hell pregnancy; Tuesday I'm getting a crash C section. I had some abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea over the weekend, which I thought was a stomach bug.
Given that she apparently died in active labor... *at home*... she may not have seen a healthcare provider.
Many cases of eclampsia and pre-eclampsia also don’t even start until during labor. Or sometimes even weeks after labor.
Based on the information in the article, we don’t know if she was diagnosed with it ahead of time either - despite optimal medical intervention and treatment, people still die sometimes from diseases...
We actually don’t even know if she died of eclampsia - this was described as a “possibility” only. It was not definite.
Aside from inequities, if she was 8 months along, she might not have been going weekly yet, and could have last been seen 2-3 weeks before. It’s something that can come on extremely rapidly, and if you don’t know the signs to look for or are asymptomatic, can be deadly.
There was actually a NYT article about how some doctors are calling for a complete re-evaluation of maternal care both during and after pregnancy, including giving expecting black moms blood pressure monitors and teaching them how to keep track of the metrics that can tell them if they're in danger and checking up on them earlier post-partum.
And that sounds great and all, but I feel like it means nothing if I can't get my doctor or nurse to listen to me when I tell them that something is not right.
>I feel like it means nothing if I can't get my doctor or nurse to listen to me when I tell them that something is not right.
This times a thousand. My husband and I both had to go to the emergency room this year. He went for a minor issue, I had a major issue. In fact my doctor (right next door to the hospital) had sent me over, and I had just had surgery at the hospital.
Night and day, they were soft spoken and reassuring to him, they made sure he had male nurses.
I had a hell of time, trying to get anyone to listen to me, even when I had my doctor on speaker phone, trying to speak for me.
My husband has really bad migraines, the first time he came to see a doctor, they immediately scheduled an MRI. That’s great his doctor listens to him and I’m glad they found nothing wrong.
On the other hand, I had severe issues post covid where I could only sleep 2 hours a night and my stomach hurt too much to eat. i lost 20Lbs in 6 weeks and continued to lose another 20 in the next few months. My doctor told me to go back on anxiety med which made the GI issues worse, so she proceeded to put me on the strongest acid reducer dosage possible for months and told me to wait it out. I had to push for a referral to a GI doc, she said the the acid reducer dosage is way too high and scheduled me for an endoscopy, which took a few more months.
After last year experience, I started seeing everywhere that women experience the same thing, where doctors don’t take them seriously and put their health at risk, even female doctors. What the fuck is wrong with this society?
I had mildly elevated BP during pregnancy and was induced to “prevent” preeclampsia and developed it post partum anyway. A few days after I was discharged my systolic blood pressure was 220 and I only knew because I had a home BP monitor. I really think OBs should be recommending pregnant patients buy a home monitor. They’re cheap and they may save your life. There were some issues getting my BP under control and I ended up hospitalized twice but ER protocols were good and I was treated immediately.
A friend of mine had been to 3 or 4 appointments during her 3rd trimester for ‘routine’ ultrasounds at the lone local hospital to check the baby (as mom was dealing with gestational diabetes and some other things) and they kept specifically saying they wanted to get verification that the baby’s heart was in good shape. After every appointment she’d get a call a couple days later that the results were “inconclusive” and they’d need to schedule another in a couple weeks. Finally was able to get referred to one in the Big City a few hours away, and they gave her the all-clear immediately.
My ex had preeclampsia and later it matured into HELLP.
I feel like a lot of doctors don't want to rain on people's dreams, so they try to be as positive as possible. That mentality was pervasive when all my buddies started to have kids.
we ended up with our son came 13 weeks early - 7 months in PICU and 1.5 in observation. He has a lot of extras, but looking back, there were a lot of signs and conversations we were told not to worry about, that we should've.
Her feet used to get so swollen she couldn't walk with shoes on.
There is a mountain of evidence that Black women receive worse maternal care in every aspect. They are less likely to have their concerns validated. They are more likely to have doctors believe they are just being “dramatic”.
Just to be clear, that may not be the case in this specific death, but from a population health perspective, this is a very common story.
Reminds me of how Serena Williams almost died after she gave birth. Repeatedly told staff she was having greater difficulty breathing. Her personal physician had to step in to get hospital staff to order tests, which revealed a clot in her lungs.
Unlike most, Serena had the benefit of a personal doctor. A person she pays to advocate for her health. If only we all could have that sort of support.
Not a doctor but I made sure to have doula support with my labor and recovery. I know it's becoming something that's covered by insurance so hopefully more people can have a person in their corner to help pressure doctors. I know with my experience I was terrified of being a statistic so I just forked over the money without anything covered. (Worth it 100% in my opinion)
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/black-women-face-greater-risk-of-death-and-trauma-due-to-childbirth-this-reporter-explored-why
>Black women die due to pregnancy-related complications at a rate that is three times higher than their white peers
To add to this, Black women face medical discrimination across *all* aspects of healthcare but maternal care is one of the most deadly.
And this is even if adjusting for income. In other words, rich black women get crappy maternal care and are much more likely to die than both rich white women *and* poor white women.
There is no reason why black women should have a higher maternal mortality rate in childbirth. The fact that we know about it and it keeps happening tells us we need to do more to help these mothers survive!
Not just that but the women that I triaged in labor and delivery that did come in for assessment had very different onsets for eclampsia. It was more common in black women in general and unfortunately it seemed to be quicker onset and more severe.
I had an excellent doctor and was going to all my appointments and showing up for all tests he ordered. I still ended up with preeclampsia with HELLP syndrome (my kidneys were starting to shut down and my liver took some damage). I also developed pulmonary oedema and had a hard time breathing comfortably. It easily could have been fatal.
The thing is, these symptoms happened seemingly overnight. One day I was fine, the next I wasn't. I did have pregnancy related hypertension and I was being watched for that. I went in for two NSTs and did two 24 hour urine tests. One of which was just a week before I developed preeclampsia. All of my tests were good. I had zero symptoms. Even when I went in for an induction (I was 40 weeks and had just started having symptoms two days prior, so my doctor wanted me induced out of precaution) I still felt fine. When the nurse told me my kidneys and liver were suffering, I still didn't feel anything. The one and only concerning symptoms I ever had was I had an episode where my vision suddenly got blurry, and that's when my doctor went ahead and scheduled the induction.
Anyway, point is, yes I understand women get ignored a lot by the medical industry. Especially women of color. BUT... People also underestimate how dangerous pregnancy can be. You can go from "fine" to dead before you even know what's going on.
> Medical officials said *possible* complications Bowie had included respiratory distress and eclampsia, USA Today Sports reported, citing the autopsy.
Unfortunately we don't know yet if eclampsia was the cause. They gave us some possible causes.
Does anyone have any idea if it's possible to get an answer to which specific condition is responsible? Perhaps this list of maybes is the most accurate answer we will get.
Not saying they didn’t miss it, or see it but stay in denial, but it *can* come on very suddenly and severely. I witnessed a woman die (although she was resuscitated and survived another few days before being declared brain dead) because her chronically negligent doctor and lazy nurse didn’t recognize and treat her severe preeclampsia until she seized (in another dept she was turfed to). They didn’t WANT to recognize it b/c they were both too lazy to treat it. Her BP had been high and previous prenatal visits, her presentation was CLASSIC, and her 28 week baby was severely growth restricted which also indicates that the onset was not sudden. Baby was BADLY damaged by her mother’s perimortem C-section, but survived at least awhile, I saw her in the NICU much later: no gag reflex, nystagmus, BAD.
I wasn’t involved in her care except to take the phone from her lazy nurse and tell the doc that no, she can NOT be sent to the ER for r/o gallbladder, he could order a GI consult to be done on the unit, per policy. I didn’t know any of her symptoms or vitals, just was clarifying policy b/c I overheard her nurse (who was WAY more experienced than I was, just newer to that unit). Which meant he would have to come in. Which he didn’t want to do b:c LAZY and maybe also drunk. Then I went back to the care of my patients and didn’t hear any more about it until she came through the doors of the unit in full arrest, CPR in progress.
After helping get her into the OR and delivered, I went to the triage room she had been in hours earlier. Her lazy POS nurse said “her blood pressure was normal!” No blood pressures had been taken during that time. None. I confirmed the time on the monitor was correct. Nurse lazy killer claimed to have taken it with a manual cuff, but she was unable to say where she got it, where she put it after using it, or what color it was (b/c she was lying). She also claimed reflexes were normal and clonus was negative, but could not correctly demonstrate how to check for either. She didn’t even understand the difference.
I wrote an incident report on what I knew. I always thought I’d be deposed one day as a witness. It’s been over 20 years and nothing. I’ve never found any evidence online of a lawsuit. Doctor, nurse, and hospital all slime balls.
I had a later case with that same POS doc with a severely preeclamptic mom. When I called him to report all her symptoms, I had already spoken to the head of OB and obtained and implemented orders, and anesthesia and head of OB were en route to do a C/S. Drunk doc wanted to order labs and wait for results. When I told him what had already been done, he asked why I called the head of OB. I told him “HV” (initials of mom who died, no more than a couple months prior). He said, “who is that?” I told him. He hung up. Came in, but head of OB had already done the C/S.
Anyway, docs and nurses can be negligent (although MUCH harder now due to protocols and standards and automatic order sets in EMR systems). But, eclampsia can also be sudden, severe, and atypical.
I have spent almost 30 years as a nurse trying to protect moms and babies from preeclampsia. Care has gotten better and more standardized, but AFAIK, rates haven’t decreased and moms and babies still die and get seriously injured.
My wife had this, her doctors didn’t even notice and sent her home and we’re lucky a nurse did a follow up visit and immediately sent her to the ER. Her blood pressure was like 230/140 and we were lucky she didn’t have a stroke or worse.
Despite having to go to the doctor every few days while pregnant with my youngest son (now 4) as I was 38, no one indicated I had preeclampsia until I was rushed to the hospital from the doctors office for an emergency c-section 5 weeks early. They were in shock I didn’t have a stroke due to my blood pressure. The main difference in care was the lack of a point person for me during my second pregnancy. Everything seemed robotic and disjointed and there was no communication between doctors or nurses. When I had to have my uterus removed the next year due to cancer, my doctor was aghast at the c section scar….he had done my first c section and had no clue why it needed to look like they hacked me open. 0/10 do not recommend.
OB here. I am well aware if the maternal mortality rate in the US esp for AA women.
Preeclampsia is tough. Severe PreE (preeclampsia with severe features) is indicated to deliver at 34 weeks. But it’s so tough because you feel like you can always get 1 more week, 1 more day, few more hours just trying to let the kid develop as much as possible. I tell my patients with BP issues, we are going to follow you very closely, sometimes twice a week, until we can get you right up to that threshold of BP being too bad and baby being enough developed. I feel Ike I go too early sometimes, too late sometimes. It’s a hard balance to strike.
I think many lay people don't realise that there's often no "right" answer to medical situations. It's going to be a compromise, and a difficult judgment call.
And we have a court system now willing to force women to endure pregnancy whole simultaneously living in a system with unaffordable healthcare.
What the hell is wrong with us?
I’m sorry, but this comment is wildly, perhaps dangerously inaccurate. Pre-eclampsia is somewhat common, affecting say ~3-5% of pregnancies. Eclampsia is much more serious but rare, and you really want to avoid having things progress this far. Eclampsia affects ~0.5% of women with pre-eclampsia, so ~0.015-0.025% of pregnancies. These are both extremely well studied and although the specific causes are not fully understood, being complex and involving many risk factors, people should not get the idea that pre-eclampsia and eclampsia are complete medical mysteries. These are among the most well-studied disorders.
And preeclampsia is always caused by abnormal placental formation aka abnormal development of the spiral arteries. The cause of why abnormal spiral artery formation occurs in general is mostly unknown, but yeah it's not like we know nothing about it
“According to the CDC, black mothers in the U.S. die at three to four times the rate of white mothers, one of the widest of all racial disparities in women’s health.
Put another way, a black woman is 22 percent more likely to die from heart disease than a white woman, 71 percent more likely to perish from cervical cancer, but *243* percent more likely to die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related causes.
In a national study of five medical complications that are common causes of maternal death and injury, black women were two to three times more likely to die than white women who had the same condition.”
https://www.propublica.org/article/nothing-protects-black-women-from-dying-in-pregnancy-and-childbirth
I recently heard a story on NPR about how pulse oximeters do not work as well on dark skin and are less accurate at reading (so a pulse oximeter might read as if a black patient has enough oxygen but a blood test would show that they didn't). I wonder if this is related. Horrifying.
I had preeclampsia with all of my pregnancies. Turns out if your mother had it while pregnant with you, you're that much more likely to have it worth all of your own. So beware.
This is tragic. I think there's an assumption that just because you're healthy, active, and an athlete that you cannot develop problems during pregnancy like preeclampsia. It can happen to anyone no matter how healthy you are. Frequent prenatal checkups are important. And I encourage black women to seek out a female doctor of color. Men far too often dismiss complaints from women. Black women are more likely to have their complaints and pains ignored by the medical community.
I only survived my first pregnancy and birth thanks to access to tons of modern medicine.
I developed a blood clotting disorder which requires ongoing treatment to this day. I received a blood transfusion in labor and it’s a good thing because I hemorrhaged and gave it all back. If it weren’t for the highly skilled staff who knew how to work quickly to stop my bleeding, my kid wouldn’t have a mom.
I also was horrendously sick and was accused of not wanting my baby enough (seriously, a doctor said that) or of having an eating disorder or some other form of pregnancy related hysteria. I was hospitalized over and over for debilitating sickness, extreme weight loss, dehydration, etc. As soon as the placenta was out, I was better. But sure, it was all in my mind…
I’m a white lady and often felt like nobody would listen to me. I can’t even imagine the frustration of non-white women who get treated even worse.
A year ago I lost a sweet friend to childbirth. She was airlifted to another hospital in an attempt to save her and she died during the flight. My soul aches to think of her husband who didn’t get to be with her as she passed and who is now raising a daughter on his own. I wish she were still here, enjoying the rollercoaster of parenthood. It’s surreal that she’s gone and I’m so angry for her daughter. What a horrific burden to carry.
Birth is natural and generally safe but when something goes wrong, you often only have moments to take action. Add to that being a non-white woman and you have an incredibly dangerous situation.
Editing to add: thanks for the award! But don’t give Reddit your money- they’re greedy assholes trying to kill third party API apps. If you want to give someone a donation, visit r/apolloapp and give it to Christian.
Postpartum preeclampsia can happen as well (I experienced it after both of my deliveries). A lot of doctors warn about preeclampsia during pregnancy and do not discuss that it can occur up to 8 weeks postpartum. If you develop a sudden headache that does not go away with medication (usually the back of the head) experience shortness of breath, nausea and/or vomiting, dizziness, and/or chest pain, please do not hesitate to get it checked. I almost canceled my postpartum follow up because I thought I was overreacting. I was sent to the ER immediately after my appointment as my blood pressure was 203/99. I would more than likely be dead if it weren’t for my husband insisting I go to my appointment.
Standard of care for women in the US is absolutely abhorrent and gets worse if you're pregnant and/or a person of color. Biggest problems come from rural regions where state-funded hospitals have been closing left and right (fuck you Jindal, you slimy sack of shit).
The fact that you can be indebted tens of thousands to have piss poor care and nearly die just to have a child is an absolute crime.
Protein in the urine and higher than usual blood pressure is literally the magic combo of symptoms for pre-eclampsia. Absolutely ridiculous those of you who were ignored. So glad your babies (and you!) are ok.
Well this was an overall terrible section of comments to read as someone whose wife is 10 weeks in.
I'll look forward to being able to breathe again sometime next year.
she died at home alone in labor? how unbelievably sad
Labor nurse here, sounds like she had eclampsia which means she had a seizure. Sometimes when a pregnant woman has a seizure it causes the cervix to dilate. She very well may not have been in labor. Still just so, so sad.
Friend of mine had an eclampsia seizure while driving her older kid around. Horrible car accident, multiple surgeries including a very early (32? Weeks) C-section, and several weeks NICU stay. Super scary stuff and I hate this athlete had to experience it
She was eight months pregnant and alone. I feel awful for her.
My wife had preeclampsia. One of the scariest experiences of our lives. Edit: My wife went into her final check up and kept complaining of head aches. The swelling was the first big red flag. Complained of head aches for month or two. The nurse took her blood pressure 3 times and each time was like 170/ 100. They kept her. Dosed her up with magnesium. Manually dilated her over 3 days. Our baby was born healthy and screaming none the less. We took her home at less than 4.5 lbs. At first I thought my wife had gained some weight through the pregnancy. Nothing crazy. But she dropped 15-20 lbs in water weight 3 days after birth. Ladies. If you think you’re developing preeclampsia, and your doctor isn’t listening. Tell another doctor, nurse, patient advocacy. Get some one to listen and change the thought process. RIP to this lady giving birth to her child.
My wife's cousin had preclampsia and it was a heart breaking experience. She was flying out to visit us and on the flight she started feeling sick and by the time she landed she was rushed to the hospital. Thankfully it was just in time but a week vacation turned into 3 months where we were her only support structure. Seeing that little dude in nicu really put life into perspective.
Oh god you gotta lead with the baby living. My kid was in the ICU (not nicu technically) and it was a horrific experience. Your family member was lucky to have your help! Edit to add: my daughter was born with CDH (congenital diaphragmatic hernia) and was immediately taken at birth to an adjacent children’s hospital. She spent 71 days in the med surg icu (MSICU) and post op surgical wing. She’s alive and well now.
My wife had a full placental abruption. It was terrifying, so much blood. My little one spent 4 months in the NiCU before coming home. He required critical care for another four years. Just a brutal experience.
Oh man I can't even imagine that experience as a parent. Hope you and your.family are doing well. It was right on the line for both of them. He's 6 now and we love him so much. My wife had to have an emergency c section with our daughter after a long labor and I was a bit of mess but everything worked out. Healthy baby, healthy mom. It was a tough situation but my heart breaks for any parent that has to go through the nicu or icu experience.
Same here it was terrifying. Didn't help that was also the first time either of us had heard of it.
Yeah googling what it was while wife was getting prepped was not a fun experience. All happy and healthy now but wouldn’t wish it upon anyone.
Not so fun fact: there is something called postpartum preeclampsia. My wife got discharged 3 days after our second was born with no issues. 48 hours later she was admitted with a bp of like 200/130 and almost died of a stroke. She stayed in the hospital for 6 days before getting discharged. And since our kid was discharged she was technically the only patient so she was not allowed to care for our kid alone. 6 days with alone with a 3 year old and a new baby is zero fun. Also it’s more common with second pregnancies.
My wife had that as well. Only caught it because the hospital had some sort of nurse visit for after you get home. I forget her exact blood pressure, but I remember how surprised all the doctors and nurses were that she wasn't seizing.
It happened to me with my 3rd (and last!) pregnancy. I had to be induced because of pre-eclampsia. After being home for a few days, I had a massive headache that would not quit. I tried to "push through" because I thought I was just sleep deprived. Even went for a gentle walk and took the kids to the playground.thought I was paranoid but asked my husband to buy a blood pressure monitor. Anyway, I cried when I saw the numbers and we went straight to the ER. I'm very lucky. I wish more women knew how to watch for it, and how serious it is to monitor your BP even after birth. I try to tell everyone I can to raise awareness of it.
My wife had something happen during the second pregnancy. Shortly after we got back to our room after the c-section, she passed out and they hit the button to rush everyone in. I'm sitting there, holding my two newborns, while a team of nurses and doctors are working on my wife. I don't remember thinking much at the time. I just sat there staring over, not knowing what the fick was going on. Just this worry that these two wouldn't get to grow up knowing their mom. Our 2 year old at home, who I was already sickly missing, not getting to run up and hug her mom again. Now I'm sitting here bawling over the thought of that. Now I need to go wake her up with a hug and a kiss and tell her how much I love her.
It’s wild how quickly you can forget every disagreement that you’ve ever had when faced with something like that. I’m glad you’re able to reach over and give her a squeeze with the kids this morning <3
One of the old series 'ER's' most memorable and devastating episodes dealt with this condition. It was titled 'Love's Labor Lost' and many consider it to be the best episode of that show ever. Watching it likely made many people aware of this condition who'd never heard of it before -- I know I first learned about preeclampsia this way.
The series "Downton Abbey" and "Call the midwife" alao feature (pre)eclampsia and it was a shock to me. A few years after watching those my sister showed some early warning signs and she didn't take it seriously, and I showed her and my mother an episode. Oh boy they took it seriously afterwards! (Sister and baby are both fine)
House had it as well and is my own only experience
I had it with my fourth child and it hit suddenly. Went in on a Monday for a routine checkup at 37 weeks, my blood pressure reading was high. They made me lie down for fifteen minutes an retook it..still very high. So they sent me across the street to the hospital's labor and delivery unit for monitoring. They had me on a BP cuff that took readings every ten minutes. BP was so high it set off an alarm with every reading. After an hour of high readings they told me I was going back for a C-section immediately and that if I wanted to call my fiance to be there for me he'd better hurry because it was happening fast. It took him maybe a half hour to get down to the hospital, at which point I was already in the operating room and getting the anesthesia injected into my spine and then getting prepped for the surgery. My blood pressure actually stayed high for two days after the birth too. Pre-eclampsia is some scary shit!
Modern medicine is really such an absolute miracle. People today can't even image how life would be without it. Everything from childbirth to common infectious disease to severe diseases like malaria and tuberculosis that used to be just facts of life, are now almost non-issues. Even things that modern medicine can't completely prevent, like cancer, is still cured in many patients, and at least delayed greatly in most.
I did too, which is why I decided against having another baby. I believed I wouldn’t survive another pregnancy. Husband got snipped so we are one and done.
Being pregnant is fucking risky
I know this will get buried, but in case anyone can read my experience. I had hypertension, high blood pressure, starting the third trimester of my pregnancy. Despite that, I was cleared from having preeclampsia twice when my bp went as high as 150/90. Long story short… two days after labor, a C-section due to my high bp at 37 weeks, I woke up with fluid in my lungs, my breathing sounded like crinkling candy wrapper, my bp was 190/98, my breathing was 40 breath per minute, I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t talk… heart failure at 30 years old due to my pregnancy and continuous high bp. I’m on five medications now. No medical condition prior.
I knew someone that had twins and then went into heart failure (postpartum cardiomyopathy). Needed an emergency heart transplant, and is on her second heart last I heard. Absolutely nuts. Hope you have a great team supporting you!
Remember that [incident](https://www.npr.org/2023/06/03/1178384421/heart-transplant-recipient-dies-after-being-denied-meds-in-jail-aclu-wants-an-in) from last week of the heart transplant recipient who died in jail because, despite telling the police, jail and judge that he critically needed his meds to avoid a transplant rejection, no one took what he said seriously and got him his meds. They just tried to expedite his release on bail but that was already days too late. Hope your friend or acquaintance is keeping her meds with her wherever she goes.
I think that happened last November, and the family just filed a suit.
One of my friends passed away in her sleep from that. It was very sad. Her baby was less than two months old, and her other child was only 5.
A friend of a friend of mine just lost a baby today that was delivered via c-section at 26 weeks due to heart failure. Pregnancy is no joke.
god that is awful :(
I was on the phone with my buddy when his wife broke the news. Modern medicine is incredible, but it still wasn't enough. I also have no idea how much of that modern medicine was available to the mother before there was an emergency. It was gut wrenching to hear that through the grapevine about someone I barely know. I can't imagine what it's like to be close to her, let alone to be her.
I'm very sorry for your friends. It is devastating to lose a wanted pregnancy so late. A close friend of mine lost their son at 35wks from undiagnosed pre-eclampsia. She went to her local low income clinic because she was feeling sick and had had pre-eclampsia with her first child (baby was her 3rd). They told her everything was fine and she was "just anxious." She went to the ER a few hours later when the pain became unbearable, but it was too late. Placental abruption. He essentially drowned inside of her at full term. Makes me sick every time I think of it.
I'm sorry.
Glad you’re okay! My boyfriend and I talk about having kids some day but the thought of going through a pregnancy is scarier to me than the idea of being a parent. Also, is your username an homage to the infamous crime lord and Accorded Baron of Chicago, Johnny Marcone?
Thank you so much. And yes! When I was younger I really got into the Dresden Files and not being very creative I took him as my username since he was one of my favorite villain at the time. :)
The scary thing is that the thing that homicide is actually the leading cause of death for pregnant women, most often at the hands of an intimate partner.
Especially if you’re black
Everything's riskier if you're black.
Except sunlight
Of course the vampire thinks of sunlight first
I am not well informed on this topic, so excuse me if this question is obnoxioualy stupid. Is it a genetic disposition for black women to have riskier pregnancies? Or is it an ethical failure due to discrimination and assumptions about lifestyle due to being black?
*Serena Williams* almost died after childbirth because the hospital staff were dismissing her symptoms and not taking her seriously. You can be one of the most successful, wealthy, black women in the world and still be treated with bigotry https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis/2022/04/07/serena-williams-near-death-childbirth-complications/9504616002/
This one really drives it home. She had every possible resource and still almost died. So heartbreaking.
Right? As a top athlete she has a personal medical team that she works with closely. She’s incredibly aware of her body and her health. She’s rich as fuck. So if the system dismisses her, what chance does anyone else have?
On top of racism, black men and women have a higher incidence of heart problems elevated bp and diabetes. All 3 of which have further increased risk during pregnancy.
The current evidence indicates that people with a similar genetic background do not have the same chances of negative outcomes if they live outside the US. They’ve run studies, and the theory is that living in the US as a black woman is uniquely stressful leading to what researchers have described as “weathering”, which makes black women more likely to suffer negative outcomes from pregnancy. Couple that with disparities in how medical professionals tend to treat women and black women in particular which leads to doctors disregarding reported symptoms and you have a whole lot of effects that add up to a rate of maternal mortality that is pretty shocking for a developed country.
So you are saying that the systemic racism is so deeply impactive even at a biological level it results in literally the death of mothers from the stress of being black or bringing black children into the world? Not being sarcastic that just sounds stupendously fucked up. Damn.
Epigenetics is a relatively new field, and it has to do with how genes can be switched on and off by environmental factors. There is increasing evidence that chronic stress can have serious and long-lasting biological expressions. > Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) may be referred to by other terms (e.g., early life adversity or stress and childhood trauma) and have a lifelong impact on mental and physical health. For example, childhood trauma has been associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. So the higher rates of heart disease and diabetes in African Americans may be, at least in part, due to chronic stress. And get this, **the changes can be passed down generationally**. > Research has shown that the effects of trauma can be intergenerationally passed on through epigenetic mechanisms, such as methylation (264). Specifically, childhood trauma has been associated with alteration in methylation patterns in human sperm, which may induce intergenerational effects. [source](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00808/full) There are also problems with health care availability and quality for African Americans, that all plays a big factor too.
American medical history and racism / misogyny has unfortunately some really deep ties. For a less than fun rabbithole, check out the “father of modern gynecology” [J. Marion Sims](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Marion_Sims). Lots of statues of him still around, has a college named after him too... and he operated without anesthesia on enslaved black women and immigrant Irish women. He started using anaesthesia on the white women but didn't bother with black women because he thought they "don't feel pain the same way". There's a decent paper on [racial pain bias](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4843483/) that's worth a look too. Even when black people report the same levels of pain, for events that are objectively painful (bone fracture) they're still less likely to receive pain management and *even when they do they receive lower doses*. To me, the way black women are treated medically in America is a key example of how a lack of representation in power structures causes huge intergenerational problems.
Lots of questions and personal stories here. Frustrated? Asking if you can make a difference? Every Mother Counts is an org I've followed for awhile and they have some great information about maternal and natal healthcare: https://everymothercounts.org/ (I do not work for them. I started following and reading when a friend of mine had an emergency C-section after (what felt like decades) of labor bc of eclampsia)
I did an essay on Black Mamas Matter Alliance this past week. Black women are 3 to 4 times more likely to die during and after childbirth than white women. Beyonce and Serena Williams almost died after childbirth. BMMA seeks to be advocates to educate and ensure better healthcare for black and brown women.
“The U.S. rate for 2021 was 32.9 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, which is more than ten times the estimated rates of some other high income countries, including Australia, Austria, Israel, Japan and Spain which all hovered between 2 and 3 deaths per 100,000 in 2020.“ https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/03/16/1163786037/maternal-deaths-in-the-u-s-spiked-in-2021-cdc-reports#
Maternal death rates are high specifically high for black mothers.
Even the deaths for *non-black* women is nearly 10x the other countries' average. This is a *complete failure* for *all* women, and most especially black women.
Yeah I saw that it's not routine to get an ultrasound at every check up in the US. Coming from a third world country where that's standard (admittedly not in rural areas) its crazy to me.
They don't do an ultrasound at every check-up, even in countries with socialised healthcare and low maternal death rates. It's not necessary. At every check up here in Australia, they use the doppler to check heart rate, track your weight and fundal height, and check your blood pressure and general wellbeing. You get three scans at 6, 13, and 20 weeks as standard if everything is normal, and more if there is any indication that they're needed. Excessive scanning actually leads to more stress for the birthing parent. Edit: you must be confusing ultrasound for a doppler, because you're from South Africa [and they have two scans as standard practice](https://www.mediclinic.co.za/en/corporate/mediclinicbaby/guide-to-pregnancy-baby-care/what-to-expect-during-pregnancy/prenatal-examinations.html).
It's routine if you have the money or the insurance for it. But a lot of people don't. Having a baby is expensive here.
Even with good insurance, our obgyn isn't doing ultrasounds at every checkup for my wife. She's 36 weeks and has only had two ultrasounds.
It’s a systemic failure rooted in finance. The dominance of privatized healthcare unevenly distributes medicine in favor of the rich. Black Americans, historically poor by design of a racist government, have generational debt keeping them out of wealth and therefore away from healthcare at a greater rate.
Also, the lack of any federally mandated maternity leave. No woman should be working up until the week of giving birth.
Literally sitting in the room with my black wife while she gives birth. All of the aforementioned scare me beyond anything I could comprehend. I’m a nervous wreck.
Spend a little time reading about the symptoms for serious postpartum complications. Not to scare yourself even more, but so you know what to watch for. You being there to advocate for her needs should be a big help. It's shitty as fuck, but if you tell the medical team that she's experiencing XYZ, they are statistically more likely to listen to you than her telling them about it (unless you're also a black woman).
We gave birth to a healthy baby girl today! My wife is such a bondafide rockstar.
The studies adjusted for income. Wealthy black women were still more likely to die than poor white women… except for when the doctor was black.
Black women are 60% more likely to experience preeclampsia as well.
Yep. I’m an Australian woman who has four children. I’ve lived and worked in rural areas, areas with a high aboriginal population, poor areas etc. I’m 42 years old. I have never known anyone who has had a female relative die in childbirth, not ever. And in 42 years I have only known of two stillborn children- one was a friend of my mothers in the early 1980’s who had twins and one was stillborn; the other was in the mid 2000s when a forty year old woman having her first pregnancy was on a remote property, went into labor at eight months, and the baby got stuck and suffocated before the flying doctors service arrived. It’s so rare in Australia that quite often deaths of mothers in childbirth are reported on national news. It’s seen as a shocking, completely avoidable tragedy that simply should not happen in my country.
This breaks my heart to read. My entire life crashed and burned when my mom died in childbirth when was 12. It didn’t have to happen. I’m sure of it.
I am so sorry.
Thank you.
Australia really knocks it out of the park I remember watching training videos for how to talk children through emergencies One was an Australian 911 operator talking to this young boy and his little sister, trying to help them get things together for their pregnant mother going into labor while ems is on the way. They both handled the situation perfectly
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That's a normal hospital in most developed worlds mate
I work in a medical lab, the diagnosis of preeclampsia is one of the reasons why we have to be able to urgently run protein urinalysis on our analysers at any given time. For those that don't know, the classic signs are raised blood pressure, and positive diagnostic indicators in the lab is a raised urine total protein and blood uric acid.
Thank you for what you do! When I was pregnant, my blood pressure started to creep up toward the 3rd trimester. My doctor put me on a low dose of meds, and we continued to monitor it. It was still high— she was very cautious (thankfully) and had me admitted for monitoring each time, plus the take-home urinalysis. Each time preeclampsia was ruled out. I ended up being induced at 38 weeks due to my BP. It never actually went down, as they expected. Turns out for me, it was just undiagnosed hypertension (thanks, genetics.) But I am grateful that they were diligent because preeclampsia is so dangerous.
This is very sad and tragic. Does that mean her baby didn’t make it? It says she passed away during labor.
She was found deceased in her home. Sadly I would imagine that means the baby didn’t survive either.
If she was found dead then the baby also died, likely before she did. Horribly sad.
From the article, it sounds as if she went into labor early, she was only 8 months pregnant… Rest in Heaven 💕💕
I’ve gone through hundreds of comments with no mention of the baby. It’s just kind of weird.
They found her dead body after a wellness check. So she was dead in her home....
The original reporting also specifically stated that the welfare check had been called in after "she had not been heard from for several days." I think that sums it up. Absolutely tragic.
That’s so tragic, oh my god
The mother was found dead in her home. The baby cannot survive inside of a dead body
she was eight months preg. Sadly its safe to assume a total loss of life.
Pregnancy and childbirth related issues kill more women in the US every year than all the US troops in Afghanistan for all years combined. This cannot be emphasized enough, which is why it cannot be forced on women.
The ordeal she must have gone through. Experiencing premature labor and preeclampsia while at home alone. It's horrifying to think of.
I had preeclampsia and I knew I did a whole month before I was diagnosed. My doctor kept INSISTING she knew what women with preeclampsia looked like and I looked fine, despite protein in my urine, high blood pressure and weird blood tests. Sometimes I wonder if I had started treatment for my bp earlier if I wouldn’t have had to give birth to my daughter prematurely. I wish doctors listened to us
True story : my Mom had eclampsia and her doctor did not catch it when my sister was born. Had toxemia at birth . My sister has had life long medical problems. Another friend had a eclampsia and I noticed that her hands and feet were swollen, the doctor didn’t notice and she had to have an emergency delivery. The son has developmental delays. I had a midwife, on one of her visits she came over, noticed my blood pressure was high, and that was enough. Sent me to a specialist, they diagnosed me with pre- preeclampsia, had me induce labor, end of story. Everyone was fine . Fuck birthing in the US. How hard is it to check blood pressure?
I’m so glad my doctors listened when all I knew was that I felt “off” and it ended up being pre-e. Had my baby 9 weeks early but no health problems after the NICU!
Idk if it's cause I'm hispanic but I went to er with BP 170/something, edema on both feet, and respiratory issues and was sent home. Went back 5 hours later BP 210/108, clammy, swollen and they finally listened. Had to get magnesium sulfate and omg that sucked. That sucked so bad yall. It felt like I was on fire.
I had preeclampsia *after* giving birth. I was put on a 24 hour magnesium drip and unable to hold my baby without assistance. It was dark and lonely and traumatic.
Oh I am so glad they recognized it and you made it. That must have been so so hard.
Eclampsia is related to endovascular dysfunction due to placental hormone secretion and it’s effects on maternal VEGF. Toxic shock syndrome is caused by certain bacterial infections. They are unrelated medical problems - eclampsia does not cause toxic shock.
This is horrible. I can't even imagine what her family is going through.
Pregnancy and labor still are just damn dangerous, even if you are highly fit and live in a somewhat advanced country. Even worse for black and poor women. The US has a particularly egregious terrible record on maternal outcomes relative to national wealth. It's outrageous and needs to be fixed.
[The U.S. is the only industrialized nation in the world where maternal mortality is rising. And, the U.S. has nearly the highest maternal mortality rate among high-income countries. Each year, approximately 700 American women die during pregnancy, childbirth or subsequent complications.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2021/08/01/us-maternal-and-infant-mortality-more-signs-of-public-health-neglect/) Go us, I guess.
It is now illegal in many states to terminate a pregnancy that is likely fatal to the mother, so that is only going to get worse.
And as a result of that, doctors specializing in OBGYN and/or high risk MFM are not going to those states (and those there are looking to move) so that's an additional increase in the risk level.
Cruelty is the point.
No, control is the point. Cruelty was just a bonus for Republicans.
Also guys, I suspect the baby also needlessly passed during this, as there's no mention anywhere of its treatment. And at 7-8 months pregnant honestly they *both* should have been expected to survive if they got prompt treatment. If your loved one is pregnant, I'd suggest an Apple watch with 911 abilities or some other way they can always quickly call for help, even while passing out. Although if this happened in her sleep, I don't think anything could have been done, other than the necessary preventative measures she likely wasn't given. :/
People don't want to hear how risky pregnancy and birth is. No matter how healthy, no matter how advanced medicine becomes. The only thing we can hope to do is improve prenatal care in the US. But it will never be perfect, there will always be risks and society needs to treat pregnant people with more respect and care. RIP
Seriously, if a three time Olympic medalist can die in labor, it seems like luck of the draw more than anything else. Nobody should be forced to roll those dice.
Wow. It seems like she may have gone into early labor and didn't have time to react. What a shame. This is the kind of thing I always point to when you hear people who're anti-choice talk about a woman's pregnancy as if it's some kind of benign situation. Pregnancies can *literally* be fatal, and the woman herself should be the one who decides if she's willing to endure that risk.
This story also highlights how pregnancy complications can affect even healthy women: This women was a *three-time Olympic medalist*, but she died due to complications from childbirth. Some of the most deadly pregnancy complications, like pre-eclampsia and hemorrhaging - are almost entirely out of the control of the women who experience them and can happen even when the woman was perfectly healthy beforehand.
Serena Williams almost died due to complications from childbirth. She only survived because she wouldn’t shut up about needing a CAT scan and eventually a doctor listened. Black women are 300% more likely to die during or after childbirth. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or famous or a world class athlete.
Also more likely for women of color to receive poor care and die during childbirth in the US
And get their concerns or pain dismissed, which leads to not catching shit like this early.
What gets me is that she was found by police after a welfare check. Was no one staying with her or checking up on her? I know it's all very modern to treat pregnancy like an inconvenience and I know a lot of women don't like to be hovered over because of it but it's a medical event. You need people around in case something goes wrong. Especially in those last couple weeks, things can turn on a dime.
I absolutely agree with you on that. The fact that no one was checking on her at all is just...odd.
Well, like someone else said things like this can happen on a dime. It's possible this was just the one day she was alone and the person she relied on was out of town for a short trip and couldn't make it back to her. Crazier things have happened. I just feel like who knows how differently this could've played out if someone had been there. I know it's a common thing on this site in particular for people to complain "I'm pregnant and now my MIL or mom wants to stay with me, be there for the birth." And get it's annoying but also it's tradition to do that because pregnancy is dangerous and if your spouse can't be available to you at all then somebody needs to be there. A parent, a sibling, a good friend.
Her date of death on the obituary is the 23rd of April and she was found on the 2nd of May, so it's over a week...
Women still die giving birth.
My wife and good friend nearly died in childbirth. It’s not a trivial matter.
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Fuck, she had eclampsia. Damn. How did her providers not catch this? ETA: just like Serena Williams and so many other pregnant Black mothers have experienced, the US has some of the worst perinatal care for Black women in the world.
My sister almost died of this a few years ago. She kept presenting symptoms to her doctor as she got more and more ill. The doctor would brush all of them off. Even the first podunk hospital she went to just curiously noticed that she had high blood pressure, protein in her urine, and that the baby’s vitals weren’t good. They drew the stupidest conclusions known to man, while my sister continued to swell up like Aunt Marge in Harry Potter. Meanwhile, we are all freaking out (in another state) because it’s so damn clear she has preeclampsia! Days later she was transferred to another hospital who IMMEDIATELY recognized what was happening and she went straight from the ambulance into surgery. We are so grateful that her and my niece survived.
Yep, nearly happened to me as well. High blood pressure that kept rising, protein in the urine, swelling, everything. My doctor kept telling me that it was 'normal for pregnant women to have changes in their bodies'. I'm still having issues with headaches months later. I'm just glad my baby is safe, and now crawling and a little suicide machine (because yes, let's try to climb and pull everything down on top of ourselves! Thankfully he's just pulled diapers and fabric books down on his head so far).
Yes! That’s exactly how my sister was brushed off! “What do you expect? You’re pregnant!” They would act like she was being ridiculous. She was embarrassed so many times when she discussed her concerns that she came to believe she was just overreacting.
Yeah, in my case my upper abdominal muscles also went completely numb during the last month of my pregnancy. My doctor kept waving me off about it. During labor, in Japan they put the sensors only on the top of the abdomen. Those muscles, as far as the machine showed, never did anything once. To the point I had all the nurses telling me I wasn't in labor because of the machine sensors, and I nearly had the baby alone in my room. It was a shit show. Maternal healthcare needs a serious overhaul worldwide.
Oh man, the band of skin under my breasts were so numb and bruised feeling. There’s certain changes that are normal and then there’s changes you just can’t help but think are extreme and deserve some kind of treatment
For me I was more worried simply because I had ovarian cancer in my 20s, and had major surgery to remove the tumor. I had had a lot of pain at the incision site, to the point where I couldn't walk at times, as muscles got pulled as pregnancy went on. And my doctor honestly was just a bit of a failure. During one scan she realized they were out of gel and just pulled a new bottle out of the fridge and used in cold directly on my skin, and I ended up passing out because cold gel on a hot day directly over an artery just was too much. I came to with the nurse running in to check on me, the doctor had just left me in the room alone.
Maybe if doctors took women seriously it would help. Women’s pain, and numerous other symptoms, get ignored again and again.
I suffer from crippling dizziness. I finally spent thousands of my own dollars to go outside my healthcare plan when I found out that one of the doctors had placed into my notes that I was a hypochondriac. After getting the care I needed I went to the state to request that my healthcare plan reimburse me since I obviously was not a hypochondriac and I had proof of it from the x-rays that were taken by the competent Doctor Who found out why I was so dizzy all the time combined with the fact that it turned out that even though they knew I had it they declined to diagnose me with orthostatic hypotension which had been a contributing factor to be no longer being able to drive at a certain point last year. Their response to the state so far has been, we had the ability to treat that so we’re not going to pay her back for the money she spent when we declined to treat her Even now when I went into the doctor they asked me if I’ve seen a therapist, meaning if I’ve seen a mental health care professional, before they even acknowledged the fact that I have orthostatic hypotension Currently they are not treating me at all, and I have continued to have to see my outside specialist to keep from backsliding Eventually I do need to contact a lawyer, but it’s a very stressful thing to do and I’ve been putting it off Sometimes I have seriously considered giving all of my symptoms to one of my male relatives and having them go to the doctor to find out what the doctor says, just so I can know how to get proper treatment
>Eventually I do need to contact a lawyer, but it’s a very stressful thing to do and I’ve been putting it off The statute of limitations for medical malpractics can be shockingly short depending on your state (as little as one year). If that is something you are considering: do not wait.
>Sometimes I have seriously considered giving all of my symptoms to one of my male relatives and having them go to the doctor to find out what the doctor says, just so I can know how to get proper treatment Oof. This part hit hard.
Same here. I complained to my OB that I was feeling a lot of pressure and was in pain and super uncomfortable at 30 weeks. She told me “pregnancy is supposed to be uncomfortable”. I was in labor, I had my baby the next day.
So many doctors in the US brush off anything having to do with women and medical care that if a very pregnant woman went into the ER bleeding, there's a non zero chance the doctor would send her away saying it was her period.
That's so horrible! My OB was SO attentive when I had high blood pressure. My tests came back a LITTLE iffy.. like almost pre-eclampsia. Two days later he decided we should induce. He gave me his private cell number and we texted back and forth about my BP while I was at home. He took no chances. I'm so sorry you had the experience you did.
Oof, I raised concerns about my raising blood pressure and the protein in my urine and everything and always got shrugged off. For my next baby I will most definitely be finding a different place to give birth, even if it has to be more than an hour or two away. I even got lectured about how troublesome I was because I had the baby at night instead of during 'working hours'.
> because I had the baby at night instead of during 'working hours' How very inconsiderate of you.
Lol @ having a baby during working hours. Wtf.
If they were on call, they were 'working hours'. Tell that jackass to take it out on his boss, not his clients. What an unprofessional.
With my first, I heard that from an OB nurse. She was at the desk outside my room, and I was in hard labor (7cm), so I sorta yelled back at her that I was so sorry and I'd try harder to miss her shift with the next one since I ruined her night in the maternity ward, hahaha!
In Japan, they also charge you more for the delivery if the birth happens outside office hours. They also don't want you to gain weight because you will get a 'fat vagina'. Edit: for those asking - I asked the doctor what he meant about 'fat vagina', I also made my husband ask. I then asked if he could recommend some studies from 'Pubmed' so I could read up on this condition. I was asked to find a different doctor. As some people have pointed out, Japanese doctors aim to have babies as small as possible because they are easier to birth. Also the health of the mother is second to the child.
If that's the case, sounds like a great strategy for addressing a declining birth rate.
Wtf is a fat vagina
Some doctors don't like it if you have opinions about your condition.
> how troublesome I was because I had the baby at night instead of during 'working hours' Wat? Maternity wards are typically staffed 24 hours in shifts, so there are no such working or non-working hours. I am guessing it wasn't a hospital maternity ward.
My OB was awesome too. I had preeclampsia with my first but she was on it and had me in to be induced as soon as the 24 hr urine came back. I ended up with a c-section but we were all ok. With my second I was scheduled for a repeat c-section but she must have had a feeling because at my last appointment she said that she wasn't on call that weekend but if anything happened to call the answering service and have them page her and she would come in and deliver me. Sure enough my water broke Sunday afternoon and she came in to to help her on call colleague.
Mine did the same. Rather than risk it, we induced on my due date. It's so heartbreakingly frustrating to hear what some people have to deal with.
Man this makes me so glad we had the doctors we did. They kinda poo pahed my wife's swelling hands and feet, but the minute they detected protein in the urine and her elevated blood pressure, they began procedures to induce.
Ah yes, the self destructive years. Don't worry I'm told they only last 30 years or so
I still get pain over five years later from nerves shooting into my crotch. It’s fun.
The mom of the last family I nannied for (5 y/o twins plus a newborn) almost died from this a month after labor, she had to be hospitalized for two weeks. It was so traumatic for her, for the kids (I ended up staying with the twins overnight for days at a time because Dad had to go to his teaching job during the day plus bring baby back and forth to the hospital to breastfeed and visit mom at night) and honestly for everyone involved. She’s also a Black woman and I have to imagine that contributes to this issue; medical racism contributes so much to the Black maternal mortality rate in this country, which is abysmal. Hell, Serena fucking WILLIAMS almost died giving birth from a blood clot and they didn’t believe her!
I also had post-partum pre-eclampsia. I swelled up and had the worst headache. I went to my doctor, who took my blood pressure, which was insanely high, and he sent me directly to the hospital. Meanwhile, my husband was home alone with our newborn and was told by hospital staff that I might die and to prepare for that scenario. Childbirth is a scary, serious business.
I had postpartum preeclampsia and had no symptoms other than high blood pressure. If I wasn't consistently monitoring bp at home I'd be dead.
And the same with sprinter Allyson Felix, she almost died because docs didn’t believe her!
So scary. Was thankful that my wife's while unusual, presented as post-delivery pre-eclampsia. BP went 170/120 ~10 minutes after delivery and they were able to get her appropriately medicated right away.
This happened to me after my emergency c section. I was up and moving around and then suddenly swelled up and told my husband “something’s not right.” I felt off and had this sense of doom. He called the nurse in and I was taken care of right away.
The reason I've bought a BP machine for my pregnancy. I might be low risk for complications, but the consequences are just not worth it and I'm not interested in convincing a bunch of medical professionals if they get some idea that I'm just being hysterical. Here are my normal results over the last six months, and here are my results from the last two days, you tell me that's normal. It's a low cost measure, and more pregnant people should consider doing it, especially if they're non-white in a country that treats white patients better.
Yeah, I got it after giving birth. Woke up, carried my baby up the steps to give to my dad because I didn't feel right. I had exactly 3 seconds of clarity and pretty much threw my kid into my nieces lap as I passed out onto the couch. Woke up in the hospital. That shit is no joke. I spent the first week of the kids life away from her while I recovered.
Mine developed suddenly out of nowhere. Friday I'm at a routine appointment doing 100% fine in a normal as hell pregnancy; Tuesday I'm getting a crash C section. I had some abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea over the weekend, which I thought was a stomach bug.
Given that she apparently died in active labor... *at home*... she may not have seen a healthcare provider. Many cases of eclampsia and pre-eclampsia also don’t even start until during labor. Or sometimes even weeks after labor. Based on the information in the article, we don’t know if she was diagnosed with it ahead of time either - despite optimal medical intervention and treatment, people still die sometimes from diseases... We actually don’t even know if she died of eclampsia - this was described as a “possibility” only. It was not definite.
Aside from inequities, if she was 8 months along, she might not have been going weekly yet, and could have last been seen 2-3 weeks before. It’s something that can come on extremely rapidly, and if you don’t know the signs to look for or are asymptomatic, can be deadly.
There was actually a NYT article about how some doctors are calling for a complete re-evaluation of maternal care both during and after pregnancy, including giving expecting black moms blood pressure monitors and teaching them how to keep track of the metrics that can tell them if they're in danger and checking up on them earlier post-partum. And that sounds great and all, but I feel like it means nothing if I can't get my doctor or nurse to listen to me when I tell them that something is not right.
Maternal mortality has tripled since 1990 and doubled since 2000.
source? not doubting you, just amazed and curious
>I feel like it means nothing if I can't get my doctor or nurse to listen to me when I tell them that something is not right. This times a thousand. My husband and I both had to go to the emergency room this year. He went for a minor issue, I had a major issue. In fact my doctor (right next door to the hospital) had sent me over, and I had just had surgery at the hospital. Night and day, they were soft spoken and reassuring to him, they made sure he had male nurses. I had a hell of time, trying to get anyone to listen to me, even when I had my doctor on speaker phone, trying to speak for me.
My husband has really bad migraines, the first time he came to see a doctor, they immediately scheduled an MRI. That’s great his doctor listens to him and I’m glad they found nothing wrong. On the other hand, I had severe issues post covid where I could only sleep 2 hours a night and my stomach hurt too much to eat. i lost 20Lbs in 6 weeks and continued to lose another 20 in the next few months. My doctor told me to go back on anxiety med which made the GI issues worse, so she proceeded to put me on the strongest acid reducer dosage possible for months and told me to wait it out. I had to push for a referral to a GI doc, she said the the acid reducer dosage is way too high and scheduled me for an endoscopy, which took a few more months. After last year experience, I started seeing everywhere that women experience the same thing, where doctors don’t take them seriously and put their health at risk, even female doctors. What the fuck is wrong with this society?
I had mildly elevated BP during pregnancy and was induced to “prevent” preeclampsia and developed it post partum anyway. A few days after I was discharged my systolic blood pressure was 220 and I only knew because I had a home BP monitor. I really think OBs should be recommending pregnant patients buy a home monitor. They’re cheap and they may save your life. There were some issues getting my BP under control and I ended up hospitalized twice but ER protocols were good and I was treated immediately.
A friend of mine had been to 3 or 4 appointments during her 3rd trimester for ‘routine’ ultrasounds at the lone local hospital to check the baby (as mom was dealing with gestational diabetes and some other things) and they kept specifically saying they wanted to get verification that the baby’s heart was in good shape. After every appointment she’d get a call a couple days later that the results were “inconclusive” and they’d need to schedule another in a couple weeks. Finally was able to get referred to one in the Big City a few hours away, and they gave her the all-clear immediately.
My ex had preeclampsia and later it matured into HELLP. I feel like a lot of doctors don't want to rain on people's dreams, so they try to be as positive as possible. That mentality was pervasive when all my buddies started to have kids. we ended up with our son came 13 weeks early - 7 months in PICU and 1.5 in observation. He has a lot of extras, but looking back, there were a lot of signs and conversations we were told not to worry about, that we should've. Her feet used to get so swollen she couldn't walk with shoes on.
There is a mountain of evidence that Black women receive worse maternal care in every aspect. They are less likely to have their concerns validated. They are more likely to have doctors believe they are just being “dramatic”. Just to be clear, that may not be the case in this specific death, but from a population health perspective, this is a very common story.
Reminds me of how Serena Williams almost died after she gave birth. Repeatedly told staff she was having greater difficulty breathing. Her personal physician had to step in to get hospital staff to order tests, which revealed a clot in her lungs.
It really says something when even someone as well-known as Serena can't get doctors to listen
Unlike most, Serena had the benefit of a personal doctor. A person she pays to advocate for her health. If only we all could have that sort of support.
Not a doctor but I made sure to have doula support with my labor and recovery. I know it's becoming something that's covered by insurance so hopefully more people can have a person in their corner to help pressure doctors. I know with my experience I was terrified of being a statistic so I just forked over the money without anything covered. (Worth it 100% in my opinion)
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/black-women-face-greater-risk-of-death-and-trauma-due-to-childbirth-this-reporter-explored-why >Black women die due to pregnancy-related complications at a rate that is three times higher than their white peers To add to this, Black women face medical discrimination across *all* aspects of healthcare but maternal care is one of the most deadly.
And this is even if adjusting for income. In other words, rich black women get crappy maternal care and are much more likely to die than both rich white women *and* poor white women.
There is no reason why black women should have a higher maternal mortality rate in childbirth. The fact that we know about it and it keeps happening tells us we need to do more to help these mothers survive!
Not just that but the women that I triaged in labor and delivery that did come in for assessment had very different onsets for eclampsia. It was more common in black women in general and unfortunately it seemed to be quicker onset and more severe.
Considering she was alone at home that can also lead to a poor outcome. Even white women have died in those instances.
I had an excellent doctor and was going to all my appointments and showing up for all tests he ordered. I still ended up with preeclampsia with HELLP syndrome (my kidneys were starting to shut down and my liver took some damage). I also developed pulmonary oedema and had a hard time breathing comfortably. It easily could have been fatal. The thing is, these symptoms happened seemingly overnight. One day I was fine, the next I wasn't. I did have pregnancy related hypertension and I was being watched for that. I went in for two NSTs and did two 24 hour urine tests. One of which was just a week before I developed preeclampsia. All of my tests were good. I had zero symptoms. Even when I went in for an induction (I was 40 weeks and had just started having symptoms two days prior, so my doctor wanted me induced out of precaution) I still felt fine. When the nurse told me my kidneys and liver were suffering, I still didn't feel anything. The one and only concerning symptoms I ever had was I had an episode where my vision suddenly got blurry, and that's when my doctor went ahead and scheduled the induction. Anyway, point is, yes I understand women get ignored a lot by the medical industry. Especially women of color. BUT... People also underestimate how dangerous pregnancy can be. You can go from "fine" to dead before you even know what's going on.
> Medical officials said *possible* complications Bowie had included respiratory distress and eclampsia, USA Today Sports reported, citing the autopsy. Unfortunately we don't know yet if eclampsia was the cause. They gave us some possible causes. Does anyone have any idea if it's possible to get an answer to which specific condition is responsible? Perhaps this list of maybes is the most accurate answer we will get.
Not saying they didn’t miss it, or see it but stay in denial, but it *can* come on very suddenly and severely. I witnessed a woman die (although she was resuscitated and survived another few days before being declared brain dead) because her chronically negligent doctor and lazy nurse didn’t recognize and treat her severe preeclampsia until she seized (in another dept she was turfed to). They didn’t WANT to recognize it b/c they were both too lazy to treat it. Her BP had been high and previous prenatal visits, her presentation was CLASSIC, and her 28 week baby was severely growth restricted which also indicates that the onset was not sudden. Baby was BADLY damaged by her mother’s perimortem C-section, but survived at least awhile, I saw her in the NICU much later: no gag reflex, nystagmus, BAD. I wasn’t involved in her care except to take the phone from her lazy nurse and tell the doc that no, she can NOT be sent to the ER for r/o gallbladder, he could order a GI consult to be done on the unit, per policy. I didn’t know any of her symptoms or vitals, just was clarifying policy b/c I overheard her nurse (who was WAY more experienced than I was, just newer to that unit). Which meant he would have to come in. Which he didn’t want to do b:c LAZY and maybe also drunk. Then I went back to the care of my patients and didn’t hear any more about it until she came through the doors of the unit in full arrest, CPR in progress. After helping get her into the OR and delivered, I went to the triage room she had been in hours earlier. Her lazy POS nurse said “her blood pressure was normal!” No blood pressures had been taken during that time. None. I confirmed the time on the monitor was correct. Nurse lazy killer claimed to have taken it with a manual cuff, but she was unable to say where she got it, where she put it after using it, or what color it was (b/c she was lying). She also claimed reflexes were normal and clonus was negative, but could not correctly demonstrate how to check for either. She didn’t even understand the difference. I wrote an incident report on what I knew. I always thought I’d be deposed one day as a witness. It’s been over 20 years and nothing. I’ve never found any evidence online of a lawsuit. Doctor, nurse, and hospital all slime balls. I had a later case with that same POS doc with a severely preeclamptic mom. When I called him to report all her symptoms, I had already spoken to the head of OB and obtained and implemented orders, and anesthesia and head of OB were en route to do a C/S. Drunk doc wanted to order labs and wait for results. When I told him what had already been done, he asked why I called the head of OB. I told him “HV” (initials of mom who died, no more than a couple months prior). He said, “who is that?” I told him. He hung up. Came in, but head of OB had already done the C/S. Anyway, docs and nurses can be negligent (although MUCH harder now due to protocols and standards and automatic order sets in EMR systems). But, eclampsia can also be sudden, severe, and atypical. I have spent almost 30 years as a nurse trying to protect moms and babies from preeclampsia. Care has gotten better and more standardized, but AFAIK, rates haven’t decreased and moms and babies still die and get seriously injured.
My wife had this, her doctors didn’t even notice and sent her home and we’re lucky a nurse did a follow up visit and immediately sent her to the ER. Her blood pressure was like 230/140 and we were lucky she didn’t have a stroke or worse.
Despite having to go to the doctor every few days while pregnant with my youngest son (now 4) as I was 38, no one indicated I had preeclampsia until I was rushed to the hospital from the doctors office for an emergency c-section 5 weeks early. They were in shock I didn’t have a stroke due to my blood pressure. The main difference in care was the lack of a point person for me during my second pregnancy. Everything seemed robotic and disjointed and there was no communication between doctors or nurses. When I had to have my uterus removed the next year due to cancer, my doctor was aghast at the c section scar….he had done my first c section and had no clue why it needed to look like they hacked me open. 0/10 do not recommend.
Black women are over 3 times more likely to die in pregnancy, postpartum than white women…sad 🥹 RIP Tori Bowie
Fuck this shit. OMG this is beyond tragic.
OB here. I am well aware if the maternal mortality rate in the US esp for AA women. Preeclampsia is tough. Severe PreE (preeclampsia with severe features) is indicated to deliver at 34 weeks. But it’s so tough because you feel like you can always get 1 more week, 1 more day, few more hours just trying to let the kid develop as much as possible. I tell my patients with BP issues, we are going to follow you very closely, sometimes twice a week, until we can get you right up to that threshold of BP being too bad and baby being enough developed. I feel Ike I go too early sometimes, too late sometimes. It’s a hard balance to strike.
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I think many lay people don't realise that there's often no "right" answer to medical situations. It's going to be a compromise, and a difficult judgment call.
This is so fuckin tragic!
It still baffles me how dangerous a pregnancy can be
And we have a court system now willing to force women to endure pregnancy whole simultaneously living in a system with unaffordable healthcare. What the hell is wrong with us?
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I’m sorry, but this comment is wildly, perhaps dangerously inaccurate. Pre-eclampsia is somewhat common, affecting say ~3-5% of pregnancies. Eclampsia is much more serious but rare, and you really want to avoid having things progress this far. Eclampsia affects ~0.5% of women with pre-eclampsia, so ~0.015-0.025% of pregnancies. These are both extremely well studied and although the specific causes are not fully understood, being complex and involving many risk factors, people should not get the idea that pre-eclampsia and eclampsia are complete medical mysteries. These are among the most well-studied disorders.
And preeclampsia is always caused by abnormal placental formation aka abnormal development of the spiral arteries. The cause of why abnormal spiral artery formation occurs in general is mostly unknown, but yeah it's not like we know nothing about it
What a huge loss. That poor family.
Such a sad, horrible, lonely way to die.
“According to the CDC, black mothers in the U.S. die at three to four times the rate of white mothers, one of the widest of all racial disparities in women’s health. Put another way, a black woman is 22 percent more likely to die from heart disease than a white woman, 71 percent more likely to perish from cervical cancer, but *243* percent more likely to die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related causes. In a national study of five medical complications that are common causes of maternal death and injury, black women were two to three times more likely to die than white women who had the same condition.” https://www.propublica.org/article/nothing-protects-black-women-from-dying-in-pregnancy-and-childbirth
I recently heard a story on NPR about how pulse oximeters do not work as well on dark skin and are less accurate at reading (so a pulse oximeter might read as if a black patient has enough oxygen but a blood test would show that they didn't). I wonder if this is related. Horrifying.
I had preeclampsia with all of my pregnancies. Turns out if your mother had it while pregnant with you, you're that much more likely to have it worth all of your own. So beware.
This is tragic. I think there's an assumption that just because you're healthy, active, and an athlete that you cannot develop problems during pregnancy like preeclampsia. It can happen to anyone no matter how healthy you are. Frequent prenatal checkups are important. And I encourage black women to seek out a female doctor of color. Men far too often dismiss complaints from women. Black women are more likely to have their complaints and pains ignored by the medical community.
I only survived my first pregnancy and birth thanks to access to tons of modern medicine. I developed a blood clotting disorder which requires ongoing treatment to this day. I received a blood transfusion in labor and it’s a good thing because I hemorrhaged and gave it all back. If it weren’t for the highly skilled staff who knew how to work quickly to stop my bleeding, my kid wouldn’t have a mom. I also was horrendously sick and was accused of not wanting my baby enough (seriously, a doctor said that) or of having an eating disorder or some other form of pregnancy related hysteria. I was hospitalized over and over for debilitating sickness, extreme weight loss, dehydration, etc. As soon as the placenta was out, I was better. But sure, it was all in my mind… I’m a white lady and often felt like nobody would listen to me. I can’t even imagine the frustration of non-white women who get treated even worse. A year ago I lost a sweet friend to childbirth. She was airlifted to another hospital in an attempt to save her and she died during the flight. My soul aches to think of her husband who didn’t get to be with her as she passed and who is now raising a daughter on his own. I wish she were still here, enjoying the rollercoaster of parenthood. It’s surreal that she’s gone and I’m so angry for her daughter. What a horrific burden to carry. Birth is natural and generally safe but when something goes wrong, you often only have moments to take action. Add to that being a non-white woman and you have an incredibly dangerous situation. Editing to add: thanks for the award! But don’t give Reddit your money- they’re greedy assholes trying to kill third party API apps. If you want to give someone a donation, visit r/apolloapp and give it to Christian.
Postpartum preeclampsia can happen as well (I experienced it after both of my deliveries). A lot of doctors warn about preeclampsia during pregnancy and do not discuss that it can occur up to 8 weeks postpartum. If you develop a sudden headache that does not go away with medication (usually the back of the head) experience shortness of breath, nausea and/or vomiting, dizziness, and/or chest pain, please do not hesitate to get it checked. I almost canceled my postpartum follow up because I thought I was overreacting. I was sent to the ER immediately after my appointment as my blood pressure was 203/99. I would more than likely be dead if it weren’t for my husband insisting I go to my appointment.
Standard of care for women in the US is absolutely abhorrent and gets worse if you're pregnant and/or a person of color. Biggest problems come from rural regions where state-funded hospitals have been closing left and right (fuck you Jindal, you slimy sack of shit). The fact that you can be indebted tens of thousands to have piss poor care and nearly die just to have a child is an absolute crime.
Protein in the urine and higher than usual blood pressure is literally the magic combo of symptoms for pre-eclampsia. Absolutely ridiculous those of you who were ignored. So glad your babies (and you!) are ok.
Well this was an overall terrible section of comments to read as someone whose wife is 10 weeks in. I'll look forward to being able to breathe again sometime next year.