My point isn't laced breast milk-that's for another blog--but the continued dangers of eclampsia. If you watched Downton Abbey last night, you would seen a tragic story. As Eleni Tsigas and Christine Morton write in today’s Daily Beast, that while viewers tonight “may dismiss the dramatic plot twist as unrealistic, or express relief that women today no longer die so tragically in childbirth, those viewers would be mistaken on both counts.” Their piece discusses the current situation of eclampsia in the U.S. and what women can do to make sure they are armed to prevent its dangerous repercussions.

Like everything else in pregnancy, the history of eclampsia has been riddled with wacky and useless advice. During my mother’s next two pregnancies, her doctor threatened her with hospitalization should she gain a pound over the arbitrary number 15, fearing another bout. The thinking was that keeping thin would prevent bloating. But they had it mixed up: eclampsia causes water retention not vice versa. It could have been worse. If my mom had given birth 100 years earlier, she would have been purged and bled. Back then, they thought they were removing the toxins that trigger seizures but as you can imagine it just made women feel weaker and sicker.

To this day, eclampsia mystifies doctors. No one really knows why it strikes some women and not others, nor what precisely happens in the body to make a woman seize. But you should know the warning signs, which will allow doctors today to take simple steps to prevent the dangerous cascade—to stop Downton Abbeyish endings. As Tsigas and Morton say: Diligence—"educating women and improving health care response to preeclampsia—is not expensive, while the worth of a mother’s or baby’s life is incalculable."