“You are very sick, and we need to deliver your baby.? 
These were not the words I expected to hear when I went to the hospital at 37 weeks pregnant. Hours prior, I was sitting on my couch with my husband eating ice cream, sorting through baby gifts and enjoying the last few weeks of being pregnant. 
But a nosebleed that happened earlier that day is what prompted me to go to the ER. When it happened in the morning, I thought nothing of it, but as the day went on, it began to bother me. I had had slightly high blood pressure throughout my pregnancy and had been monitoring it at home. That day, the readings were consistently getting higher.  
Then, on a whim I took my temperature with a baby thermometer we had received as a shower gift. I was just testing out the thermometer, so imagine my surprise when it showed that I had a fever. I felt fine, but the nosebleed and fever were enough to make me worry. We threw together our bags, just in case, and went to the hospital. We didn’t call my mom because we thought they would send us home.  The hospital took me in right away, did some blood work, and then a few hours later I was wheeled upstairs to the labour and delivery floor where an OB stood in a doorway, backlit by harsh hospital lighting, and told me what was happening. She explained that I had HELLP syndrome and we needed to get the baby out right away because we were both in danger.  
HELLP Syndrome is the rarest and most dangerous variant of preec...