Before Roma Boles left the hospital with her newborn daughter Stella in December 2021, the New Jersey mom told a nurse she had a pain in her chest.
"It was one conversation — there weren't any other questions like, 'Are you feeling any other symptoms?' or 'Let me check your vitals,' or anything like that," she recalls. "I ignored it and put it to the side, thinking, 'Well, she told me it was normal, so it must be fine.'"
Three days later, chest pain and vomiting brought Roma back to the hospital. This time, a doctor diagnosed her with postpartum preeclampsia.
"I asked him if I'd be able to go home, and he said, 'Are you crazy? You almost died. You're not going home,' and I just started bawling," Roma recalls.
Only 4 to 6 percent of women experience postpartum preeclampsia, but 1 in 4 of moms report feeling ignored or dismissed by a maternity health care provider, per a survey conducted by What to Expect.
After having her own symptoms brushed aside, Roma hopes to educate others about the postpartum warning signs that endanger new moms and empower parents to speak up.
"I wish I had more information about what to look for after giving birth," she says. "A lot of people don't know they have [a postpartum condition], they don't treat it and they do die from it."
Knowing the signs
Roma first noticed an intense pain in her chest after her cesarean section, which she had after laboring for 13 hours.
"I told one of the nurses about the pain, and she told me it was normal and was probably trapped gas from the C-section," she says. "She instructed me to keep walking to make sure all the gas came out and that I should feel better soon."
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After leaving the hospital, Roma's symptoms worsened over the next few days. The dull, stabbing pain prevented her from finishing meals and wouldn't go away no matter what she tried, but she remembered the nurse’s advice and chalked it up to intense heartburn or indigestion.
"I was really trying not to think about myself too much — I was thinking about the baby and making sure that we were taking care of her the way we were supposed to," Roma shares. "I sort of pushed my recovery to the side during those two days and just tried to get through it."
A few days after giving birth, she began vomiting violently. Roma and her husband Giovanni rushed to an E.R., where her blood pressure read 190 over 85.
High blood pressure (140 over 90 mm Hg or more) is the primary indicator of postpartum preeclampsia, a serious health condition that, if left untreated, can lead to eclampsia (seizures), HELLP syndrome and other severe complications. Other symptoms include abdominal pain and vomiting — like Roma experienced — as well as headaches, vision changes, shortness of breath and swelling.
Recovering physically and emotionally
Roma spent three days at the hospital in a special ward for women dealing with pregnancy complications.
"You felt extremely isolated and alone and guilty that you're not home," she recalls. "[I was] feeling like I was never going to be able to bond with my baby now because I'm away from her."
Though Roma recovered physically, the trauma of her experience stayed with her after she returned home.
"I was still very paranoid because I did have to keep checking my blood pressure throughout the day and keep a log," she says. "Any time I saw a high number, I got nervous."
Offering new moms more support
Based on her experience, Roma believes that providing families with more information about postpartum symptoms and additional medical care would save lives.
"In other countries, they send a nurse [to check on you] when you come home from the hospital," she states. "I wish we had that because I know a lot of other women probably wouldn't have acted the way I did then. Maybe it wouldn't have ended as well as it did for me."
To new and expecting parents, Roma's advice is to trust their intuition and speak up if they're not feeling right before, during or after birth.
"These things can happen," she says. "It's not to make anyone feel paranoid, but rather educated and prepared."
Share your birthing story with the hashtag #BumpDay and call your representatives to pass the Momnibus Act that addresses critical improvements to maternal care. Help us ensure that every expecting parent receives the health care they need and deserve.
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