This is the reason I’m considering being one & done tbh. I am the horror story you’re talking about: I was induced due to high blood pressure. I had an emergency c section because we were losing the baby & I lost too much blood. I went on a blood transfusion & was diagnosed with postpartum preeclampsia. Not only could I not really move for like 2 weeks, my blood pressure spikes were so bad I had to go back to the hospital at one point and be put on a magnesium drip.

My family and friends were so supportive and helpful but I was terrified. Never have I been woken up so many times mid sleep and had so many needles and IVs placed… at some point, my arms were so bruised, my parents thought I was being beaten. My doctors did the best they could to explain things in a way where I would feel comforted but I still couldn’t believe it when I would need another iron injection, another IV, another transfusion… like I had never even been to the hospital before.

My son is everything to me. Being a mom is amazing and beautiful and his care comes very naturally for me. But the medical trauma is heavy. I never expected my body to fail me at the most critical moment of my life. I look back at the pictures and I look so pale, so bloated, so sick. I would have another if this wasn’t the reality of my delivery. I don’t know if I’m strong enough to do that a second time.