lewisK

I am 29 years old with 3 kids. I had my first child at 19 without any problems whatsoever. I had my second child at 26. During this pregnancy I swelled beyond belief. I didn't even recognize myself anymore. The last month I gained 6 to 8 pounds a week. I couldn't breath and had really bad heart palpitations. I was told this was due to caffeine. After labor, I just kept swelling. I was then told it was due to the drugs given to me while having the baby. Nobody ever checked my heart. Then I got pregnant with my third child at 28 ( having her at 29). I knew something was different. I couldn't breath once again and swelled beyond recognition. I was told this just happens to some people. The palpitations were worse this time. Again, my heart was never checked. I did have pre-eclampsia, which is what they chalked the swelling up to. I had her at 39 weeks. Everything was fine. One week after labor, I swelled even worse and my blood pressure went through the roof. I was dizzy and couldn't breath once again. My heart was racing. They put me back in the hospital for a severe case of postpartum pre-eclampsia. When they released me, I was scared because I felt awful. But gradually I did get better. Then, 2 months later, I started feeling chest pressure and shortness of breath. I was also still swelled. My GP sent me to a cardiologist who did an echo, along with all kinds of other tests on my heart. Everything came back normal except for the echo. I was told my heart was weak. Still no mention of PPCM. They kept bringing me back for echos but kept telling me my symptoms were not related to "what they found". Finally, I got tired of hearing basically no diagnosis and demanded to know what was going on. Finally they told me they "thought" I had a mild case of PPCM. This was 2 months after they already knew it themselves. I was scared to death. I got myself another cardiologist because at this point I didn't trust the first one. I got the same diagnosis from the second dr. But, he has my respect. He has done everything like he should and didn't let me walk around for months not knowing. He told me that day. My EF now ranges from 50-55% with only a slight enlargement. My symptoms that I was told were unrelated to my PPCM re now gone. I have to wonder if this didn't start with my second child and nobody caught it. I also wonder if it wasn't worse at one time with my last child. I guess I'll probably never know for sure. I was lucky though. I could have not caught it and went on to have another child and had a very bad case. I thank God that I was careful and went to the dr. like I should have.