Preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is the pregnancy complication that abruptly changes the narrator’s immediate plans: once Dr. Patrick identifies it as dangerous for the baby, the narrator is sent to the hospital and told that labor will be induced. The episode turns a routine appointment into an urgent decision about delivery.

Diagnosis and the interrupted plan

At a routine appointment, Dr. Patrick taps the narrator’s knee and observes an extreme reflexive response. She then measures the narrator’s blood pressure at 135 over 85 and decides that it is time for the baby to be delivered. The diagnosis comes just as the narrator is considering how to secure a better future for her child. She has resolved to investigate getting a degree after the birth, but the hospital instruction arrives before she can begin researching that plan.

Admission and planned induction

The narrator tells Eli that they must go to the hospital, and he drives her to St. Luke’s–Roosevelt Hospital. There, a doctor explains that preeclampsia is the reason for the admission and presents it as a danger to the baby. The medical team plans a gentle induction because the pregnancy has progressed far enough: medication through the cervix is to begin first, followed by intravenous Pitocin the next morning to bring on contractions. An epidural is offered as an option if the contractions become painful. The doctor expects the baby to arrive the following day; at this point in the account, that is the anticipated outcome, not yet a reported birth.

Role in the narrative

The diagnosis shifts the narrator from imagining a longer-term route toward greater independence to confronting an immediate medical decision. Her plan to pursue education is not abandoned in this scene, but it is overtaken by the need to go to the hospital. Preeclampsia therefore marks a sharp change in the pregnancy’s course and places the baby’s safety at the center of the narrator’s next steps.