Just a little FYI! Peripartum Cardiomyopathy

Hi ladies! I don't post on here often, I'm more of a lurker but I wanted to bring your attention to a condition that you can get after the birth of your baby. 

I was discharged from the hospital on sunday after giving birth to my beautiful baby girl via c-section last wednesday. I wasn't feeling well and figured it was because of the medicine I was taking and the stress of my husband having to leave to go back to training for his new job. On monday I felt fine for most of the day but as it got later in the day I started getting more out of breath and my heart was racing. I fed Jessica and went to bed around 11pm and after her feeding around 1:30am  I could not catch my breath and couldn't go back to sleep. 

I was staying at my parents house and my mom was helping me out and since I had a little wheezing we thought I may have pneumonia so I decided to call my doctor around 4am. After telling her my symptoms she told me to go to the ER immediately. After being admitted to the ER I had a chest xray that showed fluid in my chest so then I had a catscan done to see if there were any blood clots. No blood clots so I was then admitted into the Heart Hospital and had an echogram of my heart done. 

The echogram showed that my heart was not pumping how it should. I was then diagnosed with Peripartum Cardiomyopathy and my whole life has changed. I now have to be on medicine for the rest of my life because I now technically have Congestive Heart Failure even though I have a chance of recovering fully. I can no longer breast feed because of the medicine, but at least I will be able to be healthy to be there for my daughter and husband. It is a possibility that if I don't make a full recovery I will not be able to have more children because it is too dangerous for me, which was hard to hear because I am only 24 and my husband and I wanted at least 4 kids.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that shortness of breath and a pounding or racing heart is a symptom of this and if it happens often please don't ignore it! I was literally walking from the living room to the bathroom, they are right next to each other, and I couldn't catch my breath. If you feel as though something is wrong please call your doctor or go to the hospital.