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Kaitlin: From Textbook to the ICU. Preeclampsia, HELLP, and Finding Your Footing Postpartum
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Her pregnancy is “textbook” until a routine late-pregnancy check reveals high blood pressure and protein in urine, and suddenly every day feels like a decision point. We’re joined by Kaitlin, an American-Swiss mother living in Zurich, who walks us through severe preeclampsia monitoring, a surprise ICP diagnosis after relentless itching, and how quickly things can escalate when your body starts sending warning signs at 35 to 36 weeks.
Kaitlin shares what labour looked like for her: blood draws, spontaneous preterm labour, low-dose misoprostol when it stalled, and an epidural experience that doesn’t go the way anyone hopes. When her lab values shift into HELLP syndrome territory and her baby shows signs of distress, the team recommends a time-sensitive C-section. Kaitlin describes the fear, the relief, and the small, grounding moments that still break through, including meeting her baby and finding calm together even in the operating room.
The story keeps going after birth, because her hardest stretch is postpartum: the intensive care unit (ICU). In this part of the story, we hear about magnesium drip side effects, swelling and slowed recovery, and then the whiplash of going home to the newborn feeding cycle. We also get practical and honest about breastfeeding challenges, including thrush versus vasospasm pain, and what helped her keep going. Kaitlin closes with the long view: follow-up care after preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome, future pregnancy risk, and why self-advocacy matters long after discharge.
Kaitlin's Resources
Books:
- For early pregnancy: Expecting Better by Emily Oster
- For birth preparation (highly recommend!): Nurture: A Modern Guide to Pregnancy, Birth, Early Motherhood - and Trusting Yourself and Your Body by Erica Chidi Cohen
English-speaking resources in Zurich that Katlin recommends:
- Barbara Ghisla Schibli, Katlin's amazing postpartum midwife - https://hebamme.ghisla.ch/en
- Dr. med. Theodosia Charpidou, gynecologist (FMH) at SihlGynPraxis - https://www.gynaekologie-zuerich.ch/en
- Dr. phil. Olivia Bolt, psychologist with specialisation in birth trauma - https://www.oliviabolt.ch
- Birthlight, pre and post-natal yoga & rückbildung - https://www.birthlight.ch/en/Home.htm