Hayley delivered her first baby with Dr. Jacobs. She had a great pregnancy, but developed pre-eclampsia at 36.5 weeks pregnant and two days later was also diagnosed with HELLP syndrome. With her husband, Dr. Thorpe, Dr. Jacobs and her labor nurse by her side, she delivered a health baby boy. Read her story below!

My pregnancy was a dream! I had no complications, extreme morning sickness or other symptoms. I loved being pregnant!

When it came to my labor and delivery however, that was another story. At about 35.5 weeks, my feet started randomly swelling up to about 4 times their size. I was confused, but not too concerned because I was nearing the end. However, it started getting worse, so I went in to labor and delivery to be monitored. I then had to do a 24 hour urine test. The results came back letting me know I had pre-eclampsia at 36.5 weeks. I was scheduled to be induced at exactly 37 weeks to prevent anything more serious from happening. Two days before I was supposed to be induced, I had a terrible pain in my upper right abdomen. I thought it was the baby in a funky position and I didn’t want to go in to have it not be something serious. It didn’t go away, so I went in to L&D around 2 am. After tests and monitoring, the results came back letting us know I had HELLP Syndrome, which was causing my liver to malfunction and my platelets to drop. My baby was going to have to be induced as soon as possible.

I was started on a magnesium drip to prevent seizures, which was the worst part of the whole process, and given Cytotec to begin the induction around 4 am. At 9 am, I was dilated to a 2 and Dr. Thorpe came in asking me if I was going to want an epidural to manage the pain. I did, and he told me that I would need to have it immediately because of the risks involved with my platelets. If my platelets dropped much more, there was a chance that I would start bleeding and they would not be able to stop it. I got the epidural without any issues and around noon Dr. Thorpe broke my water and started me on Pitocin. Around 4 pm, I had reached a 4 and was starting to feel pressure from my contractions. By 7:30 pm I was at an 8, and by 7:40 I was at a 10! Unfortunately since I had progressed so fast, Dr. Jacob (who was on call) was busy with something else, so I waited until he got before pushing so he could make sure the baby was in the right position. I waited while he raced over from the Provo Hospital and was given the green light to start pushing! It was really difficult with the magnesium as I was really loopy, but Dr. Jacob and my nurse, Ashley, were both so helpful! Thirty minutes of pushing later, Charlie was out and screaming. He was a little on the small side, but it was incredible! Dr. Jacob, my husband and the nurses were fantastic at helping me. It was an amazing experience, despite the complications! A week after, it was like I had never had any issues!

My recovery went well, though it was worse than I expected, but I also didn’t expect it to be very hard. I felt almost completely back to normal after a couple weeks! My best tips are to walk around and move as much as you can (without going over the top) and to get as much sleep as possible!