By Natalia V. Navarro, CPR, June 18, 2019
Nicole Pember has two healthy daughters but during both pregnancies, she could have died.
Not only did she have preeclampsia twice, but she also had HELLP syndrome and severe postpartum depression
“We just kind of have this expectation also that women just suffer for the good of everyone and it makes it really easy to miss very serious problems,” Pember said. “Things like Preeclampsia, the symptoms are very similar to just kind of like being pregnant and miserable.”
Preeclampsia is a serious, sometimes fatal condition for mid-term mothers that results in high blood pressure, nausea and headaches. HELLP syndrome is the breakdown of red blood cells. It can include liver problems and thinned blood.
Nationally, more women are dying of pregnancy-related complications than any other developed country. The U.S. is also the only developed country seeing a rise in maternal deaths.
In Colorado, maternal mortality rates are low at around 35 women per year, but experts have trouble comparing data.
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