S1 Episode 7: The vessel: A journey of pre-eclampsia, fetal growth restriction and premature birth.

As she moved into the start of her third trimester, Lucy’s pregnancy was going beautifully. Feeling lucky to avoid severe pregnancy symptoms at the start of her pregnancy, Lucy was not expecting to feel increasingly unwell as she attended her 28 week appointment. When the midwife found an abnormally high blood pressure, Lucy suddenly found herself at the edge of a slippery slope that led down into a high risk and complicated pregnancy journey. Diagnosed with early onset pre-eclampsia, and with an ultrasound showing that her baby daughter was growing much smaller than expected, Lucy subsequently spent many weeks in hospital attempting to keep herself and her baby healthy. Feeling like a vessel struggling to grow and feed her baby, and battling feelings of inadequacy as a mother, Lucy describes the difficult and unexpected journey of severe preeclampsia and the subsequent pre-term birth of her tiny daughter into the unknown world of the special care nursery.