Our love and deepest sympathy goes to...

From Candace
Candace.Reed@PenFed.org    My name is Candace and I just joined the email list and requested some information to be sent out to me on HELLP.  I was 23 weeks and was rushed to the hospital and told that in 2 more hours if we waited I would die because they would not be able to stop the bleeding.  My little girl Makayla lived for only an hour.  My story of course is similar to everyone.  Severe pain in the chest.   However when I think back, I did have signs that were ignored.  I had spotting in the eyes which I just thought nothing about, and I had migraines.  I went to the dr and she told me I could take Tylenol and put me on 3 weeks part-time work. Also I looked huge all over but had not gained much weight.  I was just real swollen.   And at all my hospital visits I was never told that my blood pressure was high.  I do know the weekend before was very stressful and during the week was my first week back working fulltime again and then that weekend on Sunday is when I was rushed to the hospital. I had to spend a week in the hospital.  I was wondering if the spike in blood pressure is what makes everything go down hill from there?  What triggers the liver enzymes to start going bad?   
 
I really want to have another child. My husband is scared he will lose me and another child next time. And even if my life is spared again next time and even though my levels returned back to normal after about 3 weeks, he feels that if my liver starts shutting down again that too much liver damage will cause me to have some kind of problem in the future. 
 
My doctor has taken some tests so I will see what the outcome is in about two weeks.  I really would love another child.  I know the percentage of getting HELLP again but is the percentage still high for having it as severe?  I assume it should not be since I will be under close care.  People say I should get different opinions but in this situation to me it doesn't make much difference because I find half  the dr's will say you're still young, go  for it and half will tell me not to try again.   I would love to hear stories from people who have tried again after having HELLP.

From Amy
alowe22@bellsouth.net  I just experienced HELLP syndrome almost 2 months ago and gave birth to a stillborn daughter when I was only 22 weeks pregnant.  I would love to be able to have contact with others who have experienced this same situation.