HELLP syndrome anyone else?

[JRTfan]

So DD is now 5 weeks and I'm just starting to feel a bit normal after my birth experience did not go to plan. I'm 40 and DD was IVF so we ticked the high risk box, however pregnancy was pretty smooth.
Went in for induction on due date and randomly developed gastric pain (they hadn't touched me at that point) thought it was trapped wind. Had pessary inserted and within 15 minutes pain was worse and I started vomiting. Midwife was called who did obs..blood pressure through the roof. Transferred to delivery suite and bloods taken..rest is a bit of a blur but consultant was called and I was in so much pain and knew something serious was happening I begged him to get her out. He agreed to a c section (was still waiting for blood results so he didn't know what was going on but BP was still v v high) meanwhile she was on monitoring and heart rate started to dip, my breathing became more difficult I was gasping for each breath. Suddenly the consultant threw some scrubs at DH and said 'we are going now' DD was delivered by the senior consultant in an emergency theatre (tiny room) with a crash team. The relief of the spinal was just amazing! DD came out screaming thankfully and we thought all was now well as my breathing has settled and I obviously couldn't feel anything.
2 hours later I was covered in blood.. the wound wasn't clotting. Turns out I had developed HELLP syndrome and platelet level had dropped to 40 (dangerously low) liver results were deranged and BP was still through the roof. We spent 5 days in hospital and I had numerous complications Inc low oxygen sats and suspected blood clots.
Thankfully all ok now but it knocked me for six. Sorry for long post but I just wondered if anyone else has experienced this as I had never heard of it and apparently most of the midwives had never seen it either.

Congratulations on the birth of your little one, OP. Sounds like you had a pretty hairy time. Hope you are recovering as well.

A good friend of mine had HELLP syndrome - she ended up spending some time in intensive care and the baby in NICU - and it was mentioned to me as a possible complication to be aware of when i developed preeclampsia. But i can see how if you'd had no BP issues earlier in pregnancy or no previous signs of preeclampsia, it would not have come up.

In time, maybe consider having a birth debrief? Its where you go through the birth in detail with specialist midwife and you can ask lots of questions etc. I found it really helpful with my eldest daughter's birth to help process what happened and clarify the timeline in my memory.

Thank you @NoIncomeTaxNoVAT it was completely out of the blue and so weird it suddenly presented on my due date. I have nothing but praise for all the medical professionals as it wasn't a typical case and they acted very very quickly to save us both.
Hope your friend is ok now and her little one. Thankfully because DD was full term and they got her out so fast she was and has remained absolutely fine. If they hadn't have got her out when they did we both would have been far sicker..we have been offered a debrief so will be taking them up on that. I'm not sure if I've processed it all yet and there are huge gaps in my memory including DDs 1st hours which is really sad.

Aww congratulations on your baby! I had HELLP with my first son and like you had never heard of it! Mine was picked up at a routine midwife appointment where I had v high blood pressure and protein in my urine...fast forward a few hours I had that excruciating pain in my chest which was my liver imploding... they managed to transfuse 2 bags of platelets in me before I had my boy via c section under GA. I was only 25 weeks pregnant...long stay in NICU but luckily my lil 570g baby survived. If its any comfort I went on to have my second a couple of years later...was the most planned and monitored pregnancy ever but I didn't get HELLP again.. I was given a 25% chance xxx

Yes, me. I’m 1 week out. Was 36w. Low risk. Went in as my urine had protein in it at routine midwife app. I had emergency c section that evening.

Spent 6 days in NICU and HDU. My bp is still off the charts. I’m still trying to process what happened to me.

I had HELLP many years ago with my second baby. As a trained midwife I knew all about pre-eclampsia but had never heard of HELLP. Baby was born at 31 weeks. I ended up in hospital for a week with intensive care. I can recall that I spent the next 12-18 months catching colds and viruses.

Congratulations on your new baby.
The only time I've previously heard of HELLP sadly didn't have a positive outcome.

I know of it, and encountered it a few times through work. I was made more aware of it when, like a PP, everyone was very keen to know if I ever had any right epigastric pain when I had pre-eclampsia, as I also had raised liver enzymes. Fortunately no haemolysis and my platelets were normal, but I know they were wary of it developing.

So sorry you and other posters went through this, and I'm glad you and your baby are as ok as can be. Definitely take advantage of the debrief, they do help. It might not give you all the answers, but it does help straightening out timelines, and filling in memory gaps

I’d never heard of it until one of my NCT group developed it and was in a coma for several days after giving birth and was in the ICU for some time. Absolutely do the debrief. It’s a really frightening thing to have — the speed, seriousness etc.

Thanks all when they came and told me the diagnosis they were very positive all would be fine so I wasnt too worried and was also a bit out of it! I messaged DH who had gone home for some sleep and he of course googled and scared himself sh1tless!
It seems I'm lucky and quite unusual to develop it at term most babies are delivered early as a result and that's where complications come in. Had DD not dropped her heart rate they'd have waited and I would have had GA and been in intensive care with her in SCBU so in a way we are lucky.
I did have a couple of spikes in my BP during pregnancy but they always came back down and blood tests were normal so there was no reason to believe there were any issues.

Congrats on your new arrival. I had atypical HELLP with my first, who is now a teenager - no signs apart (bp was low throughout, liver AST peaked at over 400 - normal range 8-33 in the last blood test before birth) from steadily decreasing platelet count, which dropped like a stone at 38weeks, last test was 37, when they induced which luckily worked within 12hours. Baby was healthy but I developed blood clots and underwent an operation in the first 24hours and multiple blood transfusions before spending 9 days in hospital.

Definitely ask for the debrief, I requested my notes to "fill in the gaps", but try not to mourn those missing first hours but accept that that will take time!

Virtual hugs!

My sister had it with her first baby , she was extremely poorly and had 1:1 midwife care in a side room for a week