I was diagnosed with heart failure right after the birth of my baby on November 2, 2009. While I was pregnant, I had some symptoms that I just passed off as being pregnant. I was short of breath, especially if I bent over. I had pain in my ribs, under my ribs. I had a cold that wouldn't go away. In fact, I'd had 2 sinus infections and I was nauseated the whole pregnancy. And then after I had her, I realized something was wrong when I got up to go to the bathroom and I was just really short of breath. So I first noticed these probably about a month before I had her. I noticed that I was really short of breath and I was just thinking that it was because I was "big pregnant", I'm carrying her higher, maybe closer to my lungs. Nausea, that's common with pregnancy. I did have wheezing. If I was laying flat, I was wheezing, and I had just had a cold, so I figured it was just part of the cold. So after the nurse knew that I was really having a hard time breathing, she called the doctor. It was probably 1:00 in the morning and he ordered a CAT scan. And I remember having the CAT scan, I had a hard time laying flat, because I couldn't breathe. And I said, "How long do I have to hold my breath?" And they said, "Oh, the scan is only about 9 seconds." And I really struggled just trying to hold my breath for the 9 seconds. And they did an echo [echocardiogram] earlier the next morning and the cardiologist didn't come in until later that night, but he said to me, "I really recommend you don't have any more kids, because it's your heart." He said, "You're in heart failure." So my advice for women, especially women that are pregnant, if there's symptoms like the shortness of breath, things that are unusual, if you have a cold for very long, probably the pain that I had in my ribs - being pregnant, I think a lot of these symptoms were just brushed off. And being in the medical field, I didn't even know that this was something that could happen, that you could have heart failure due to your pregnancy, and I think a lot of women don't know that and don't understand that. And if there are symptoms that you have that you don't feel are normal, talk to your doctor. Let them know the way that you're feeling and that you don't think that it's something that you would normally have, because I feel like if I wouldn't have said anything to my nurse, who knows what would have happened? I could have gone home and died, not being on the heart medication to help my heart get better. Since my heart transplant 9 years ago, April 29, 2010, I've gone back to work. It's been amazing. I feel like myself again. Sometimes I'm still in denial that I ever had a heart transplant. I am reminded almost every day though when I take my medication that I have to take twice daily, the immunosuppressants, but it's been a great gift and one that I'm very thankful for.