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Complications & Cesareans

HELLP Syndrome and Pregnancy

Understanding HELLP Syndrome

HELLP syndromeAt almost 28 weeks pregnant, 30-year-old Michelle Berndt of Nashua, N.H., was having a complication-free pregnancy. Feeling great, eating right and ensuring time for physical activity, Berndt and her husband were anxiously awaiting the birth of their first child. With less than one week until her next routine prenatal examination, Berndt tried to ignore the signs that something might not be quite right. "I assumed my sudden weight gain was just part of being pregnant and that my chest pain was a bad case of indigestion," she says.

After almost a day of progressively increasing chest pain and difficulty breathing, Berndt relented and agreed to go to the emergency room. "I felt silly," she says. "I thought I should be able to tolerate some heartburn or indigestion."

HELLP affects mainly the liver because it is deprived of oxygen due to the clots.

With no history of high blood pressure or preeclampsia, being diagnosed with Hemolysis, Elevated Liver, Low Platelet, or HELLP, syndrome, Berndt and her husband found themselves in a situation they were completely unaware of and unprepared for. Devastated and terrified for the health and safety of both Michelle and their unborn child, the Berndts were reeling from the tests and medication being administered.

They contemplated trying to speed up her delivery with Pitocin. Berndt's condition continued to deteriorate and she and her husband were told she needed to have an emergency C-section. "I couldn't believe that Michelle had developed such a serious complication that we knew nothing about," says Bill Berndt.

What Is HELLP?
HELLP syndrome is a placental disease that is considered to be a variant of the complication preeclampsia. HELLP occurs when vasospasms occur in the body and blood vessels act like a muscle relaxing and contracting. Blood passes through the relaxing and contracting veins, causing damage to a special lining in the veins. As damage occurs, red blood cells and platelets try to heal the damage and create clots over the damage. The clots grow and begin to stress the body as it works to push the blood past this damage. HELLP affects mainly the liver because it is deprived of oxygen due to the clots.


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HELLP Syndrome and Pregnancy

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Francine says
3 weeks, 3 days ago

Yes, HELLP can be very dangerous but you can get through it. I had HELLP with my 1st child 11 yrs ago, docs were not as familiar with it back then, one symton to watch for is also swelling. My ankles were as big as my thighs. I delivered by c-sction a healthly 7lbs 14oz boy, five yrs later a 8lb 7oz girl. I am 39 and considering another child. I am very woried and looking for all the advice I can get.

LYNDA COPELAND says
June 12, 2009

I WAS 22WKS PREGNANT WITH MY 4TH CHILD WHEN I WAS DIAGNOSED. I HAD TO HAVE AN EMERGENCY C-SECTION BECAUSE I WAS IN RESPIRATORY DISTRESS. MY DAUGHTER, MYA, DIED SHORTLY AFTER AND I SPENT 5 DAYS IN ICU. IT IS A VERY SCARY ILLNESS. I COULD HAVE DIED AS WELL.

anonymous says
January 27, 2009

This disease is pretty scary. I'm only 27 weeks, and I have been diagnosed with this. I never seen any weird symptoms coming or anything. I did have some headaches and stuff, but these symptoms can easily be confused with normal things, such as I had a cold, so I figured my side hurt from so much coughing. I went to the doctor just to check up on my baby, and they kept me at the hospital for a week, and they talk about having to induce labor and everything. My labs stayed pretty stable for a week, so they let me do serious at-home bedrest, but I still have to go to the doctor several times a week, and as long as I'm fine I can stay bed ridden.

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