PSA: Peripartum Cardiomyopathy

Hello ladies! I didn't post a ton on this board while I was pregnant, but I wanted to let you ladies know about a life threatening condition that I have ended up with as a result of my pregnancy. I'm not trying to scare anyone, but wanted to let you know about the warning signs so you can get help before it is too late.

I gave birth to my son on May 16th. I developed high blood pressure towards the end of my pregnancy & ended up being induced 2 weeks early as a result. Towards the end of my pregnancy, I felt crappy but nothing too far out of the realm of "normal" for the end of pregnancy. Blood pressure was high & I had experienced some swelling (although not a ton) in my feet & ankles. I had a relatively easy induction & gave birth to a beautiful baby boy (my first child) after 11 hours of labor and just 1 hour of pushing. He & I were both released from the hospital 2 days after he was born. Normally, if your blood pressure is high at the end of pregnancy, it normalizes after delivery, but mine never did, so I had a follow-up appt. scheduled with my OB for 1 week after delivery. I was still monitoring my blood pressure & the fact that it was still high could've saved my life.

2 days after we had been home from the hospital (4 days after my son was born), I just felt crappy. I was sore from delivery, which was to be expected, but I also felt short of breath & just not like myself. I also felt some pain in my side & had joked with my DH that perhaps I had cracked a rib during delivery. My heart also felt like it was racing at times but I figured it was just due to all the extra blood in my body. In addition, I couldn't sleep at night & had felt the need to prop myself up on multiple pillows. We were getting ready to leave the house to take our son to meet some family members who are house-bound & unable to get to us, so I had been up walking around & realized how crappy I felt. I decided that I would take my blood pressure to see where it was & it was still pretty high. Based on my BP & the way that I felt, my DH decided to call my OB & explain what was going on. Her office told him to take me to the ER immediately, because they had thought perhaps I had a blood clot.

After numerous tests (EKG, echocardiogram, blood work, chest CT, etc.), I was diagnosed with mild/moderate cardiomyopathy a.k.a. heart failure. I spent an additional 4 days in the hospital. I am now on 4 medications (high blood pressure, beta blockers, water pill, etc.). My cardiologist believes that the heart failure was brought on by the pregnancy although it's possible it was caused by blood pressure as well. I had never been diagnosed with high blood pressure prior to the end of my pregnancy, though, so I feel like it must have been pregnancy induced.

It's been scary, but with my new medications and a low sodium diet, my doctors are hopeful that my heart can return to normal & that the damage can be reversed. Luckily, because I was paying attention to my body, my condition was caught 4 days after delivery. Often times, this condition goes untreated for quite some time & causes a lot more damage than it did with me, because swelling, faster heartrate & higher blood pressure to an extent CAN be normal at the end of pregnancy. So ladies, I encourage each of you to pay attention to your bodies & if something doesn't seem quite right, please check into it. Doing this may have saved my life & I feel extremely lucky that my condition was caught early. I am hopeful for a wonderful future with my amazing husband and our beautiful little boy.