HELLP Syndrome

I am posting this for you ladies in your second trimester so that you can be educated about this very serious issue, though rare, could arise in your perfectly healthy pregnancy. Look it up and familiarize yourself with the symptoms (I won't explain it all here). But I figured I would share my story to hopefully spare you from this traumatic experience. I had many of the symptoms but I always explained them away because they seemed normal for pregnancy. I had upper right quadrant pain for about 3 weeks before my diagnosis. I figured it was just a favorite kicking spot for baby. It was actually my liver failing. I was tired all the time (which one of us isnt??). I had many small un explained bruises and I just figured I was clumsy with my growing body and forgetting how I got the bruises because of pregnancy brain. Things got more concerning when the bleeding started about a week before I went it. I was having nose bleeds, a quick google search said that is relatively common on pregnancy. I also chew my lips but I was waking up with dried blood on them. There was also blood in my urine. I was treated for a UTI even though I had no pain, just blood. I need to mention that my blood pressure was perfect the whole pregnancy. The last straw that brought me in was when I woke up on Sunday morning, November 15th, with a very large and unexplained bruise on my arm. I felt relatively okay but I trusted my gut and went in. They drew some blood and within 30 minutes I got my diagnosis. I went in at 9pm and it took them until 7:20 to have me prepped enough to go in for an emergency c-secton. I was pumped with 3 units of blood, 3 units of platelets, and magnesium to prevent seizures. My platelet count was down to 6k (suppose to be 175k). The doctor said she had never seen platelets that low, even in cancer patients, and she was amazed I was still alive. At that point, any kind of injury or fall would have caused uncontroble bleeding and likely death. They needed me at a bare minimum of 50 to even consider surgery. My liver was failing and my hemoglobin was down to 53. They wheeled me in for surgery and it was preformed under general anestesia because they would not risk putting a needle in my spine. My son was born at 7:48 that night and I was rushed to the ICU. I spent 4 days strapped to a bed attached to more machines then I could count. My arms were one big bruise from them drawing blood. I was unable to do anything for myself. I got to meet him the next day at 3:00. He was big for 33w6d weighing 4lbs12oz and was doing just fine. I only got to see him for 30 minutes before they had to hook me up again. My visits with him were once a day for 4 days. I then spent another 3 days in the Maternity ward to recover and see him more. I managed to pump some breast my in the ICU, by me I mean my husband for 2 days then I took over when I had a little more energy. He was born November 15th and we are now the 26th. He will be coming home with us this weekend and we are so excited! I wanted to share my story so hopefully you wont have the same experience as me.