I am devastated to be writing this post. But, here is my account of the worst time of my life.
At about 4:20 a.m. on Thursday October 24th 2013 I awoke my in cousins home shivering. I had had the shivers once before during this pregnancy. But when I struggled to go to the bathroom and really struggled to get warm, despite having put on several layers I became worried. I took my temperature and it was normal. I decided I needed to wake my sister in order to go to the hospital. Yet another orange flag for me, I struggled to be able to go wake her. I did not want to call for help because my daughter and my cousin's daughter were both sleeping.
Eventually my sister and my cousin were both with me. My temperature had risen slightly and I began to have back pain. We arranged for an Aunt to take my sister and I to the hospital. The shivers would not stop, nor would the back pain which was migrating to my hips and legs.
I was admitted at triage by 5:30 and shortly thereafter my temperature had reached 40 degrees. My pain was coming in waves - likely contractions - but the back and leg pain persisted. I informed the team that I did not have steroids on board for the babies. The nurse and my sister noticed that I had developed black eyes and that my pain was worsening. A doctor checked my cervix and indicated that it was only open "a finger tip". My pain, contractions and illness continued. In a two hour time span I dilated completely and was preparing to deliver Baby A.
Lee, luckily, made it to Ottawa in time to support me through the hardest part of my labour and delivery. I was hooked up to fluids and magnesium for the babies' brains. We were told that I could not have steroids because it would risk my own health, which was obviously quite poor at the time. All of a sudden I felt something, Baby A, so small, was coming out without much pushing on my part at all. A beautiful baby girl, Margaret Laleah Lynn (Maggie), entered this world at 07h45. She was taken away so quickly by the doctors that no one was actually able to confirm if she was a girl or boy.
Our hope had been to have a delayed interval delivery. I was exactly 25 weeks pregnant and we knew this meant grim outcomes for our Maggie but also for Baby B. The OB supported this attempt. However, she noted that as my contractions continued, Baby B's heart was dipping dangerously low. She indicated that the Baby was telling us it was time. She broke my waters and I delivered a perfect baby boy, Patrick Lee Brian at 8:04 am. He was whisked away by the neonatal team just as quickly as Maggie had been. But we were told shortly thereafter that both babies were doing well.
The team then turned their focus to me. Having delivered the babies much of the pain and even the fever began to subside. They explained that this is common, as the infection is like an abscess that must be removed. However, upon further investigation it was discovered that I had an infection throughout my blood - sepsis. They explained that this was quite dangerous and Infectious Disease was consulted in order to treat me appropriately. Over the following days the specific infection was identified. I was on an IV for five days while in the hospital and have been sent home with a 2 week order for continued IV antibiotics. It has been explained that if we had come to the hospital any later I might have ended up in the ICU or worse. Evidently, I was quite sick. And in all honesty, while I know it does matter, in the grand scheme of things my own health has been the least of my concerns since that morning.
No more Facebook Status updates, because I have no words that do justice to my experiences.
No comments:
Post a Comment