The Story Begins

Today my sister called and told me her blood pressure was 140/75.


We both silently weighed the gravity of that information. 


I paced nervously around the house, probably twirling my hair, thoughts spinning very quickly into the worst case scenario. Thinking back to it, I imagine my sister was lying down on the couch when she told me, a hand reassuringly cradling her pregnant belly, the worry lines in her forehead more pronounced than in her usual serious expression. 


I could imagine the thoughts and feelings flooding her .. Is the baby ok? Is this really happening? Did the nurse make a mistake when she took my blood pressure?


And I could imagine the question that she hadn't yet allowed.. Is there any way that what happened to my sister is going to happen to me too?

I could imagine this scene and its swirling thoughts and feelings because I'd had many of them exactly 4 years ago when I was pregnant for the first time and slowly beginning the descent into severe preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome. 

There are things you are supposed to share with your sister. Jeans, first cars, favorite bands, stories we'll never tell our parents. But not this. Not preeclampsia.