Hey my name is Jessica. I got pregnant when I was 22 years old and |
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Hey my name is Jessica. I got pregnant when I was 22 years old and throughout my entire pregnancy I was sick 24/7. I found out I was pregnant a week into it so it felt like I was pregnant forever. Anyways through out my pregnancy I was sick day and night the first 2 months I had lost 20 lbs. I couldn't keep anything down and I was in and out of the hospital for dehydration and would stay a day or two and go home. Seemed like no pill would help me. I work at the hospital myself. And I work 12 hour nights and as my pregnancy went on I started getting massive headaches and the doctors thought it was just pregnancy related. So I was put on medicine for that and it seemed to help. Well when I was around 6 months I started to swell sooo bad. I had no ankles at this point and I just kept gaining weight mind you I couldn't eat very much. So the doctors thought I was working too much and needed to rest anytime I was not at work. Myhands were so swollen I couldn't even make a fist and my hands were numb. The doctors didn't think much of it and just told me to watch what I eat. Well I was not eating much and my co-workers were getting concerned because in 2 weeks I had gained 11 lbs. I was so sick it was not from over eating. And every time I would go to the doctor my blood pressure was getting kind of high. They thought it was from the walk in so I had to lay on my side and it helped a little bit. My co-workers and family thought I was having signs of preeclampsia. But the doctorss did not seem to be concerned at this point. So I had my baby shower on March 11th. Everyone was asking me if I was okay that my face, hands and legs looked abnormal.? I said I know I have talked with the doctors and they do not seemed to be concerned. So I had a doctors appointment that Monday for my 33 week checkup and I went and had to give the normal urine sample, bp etc. The doctor came in and said well you have a little protein in your urine, we are not going to worry about it right now. When you come back next week we will recheck it. I went home. My mother was irate with the doctors office and called and demanded I be rechecked because of all my symptoms she knows I have preeclampsia and no one is checking on me for this. So I go back the next day. A different doctor. Once again the protein had doubled since the day before. I was seeing spots at this point and my blood (pressure) was up again. So they had me do a 24 urine sample. I did come back the next day and they said yeah it keeps going up, we're going to watch it. And finally after 2, 24 urine samples. The night before I was to go back to the doctors I was 34 weeks at this point. I called the doctors and told them I was having severe stomach pains and vomiting. They had me come to the hospital and the on call OB doctor would check me out. I get there and he checks me out and says we got your last 24 urine sample back and it's not looking good. We are going to have to induce you tonight. I started freaking out. I did not know what to think at this point. I was scared, mad at them that they let me go on that long. My mother was with me and had to call my fiance. He knew I had gone to the doctors sick but he was working. By the time he got there they had put this little white pill inside me to soften me. I was not dilated at all so I was worried I would have to have a C-section. They also put me on some IV meds to prevent me from having seizures so I had to lay side to side all night. And then he came in the morning to check me and decided I needed another pill, then broke my water. And by 8AM I was getting my epidural and I was dialated to a 2. By 9:39 AM I was dialated to a 10 and was ready to push. I pushed for maybe 30 minutes and she was out. She was tiny as can be. She ended up weighing 5lbs 10ozs. I saw her for a split second then they rushed her to the NICU. And of couse I was not able to get out of bed until the next day because of my IV meds to prevent me from having a seizure. So I did not get to see her until the following day. She ended up staying in the NICU 2 days then, overall 8 days. She struggled to eat, She did not know how to suck on a bottle. It would take us 40 minutes to get half an oz down her. She is now almost 6 months old and still struggles day to day to eat. She's 16 lbs 2 ozs. But we really have to fight her to wanna eat. And for the first 2 months we had to wake her every 3hrs to let her eat something. I would really like to raise awareness and if you're having the gut feeling that something is not right and your doctors are not concerned go somewhere else until you get the answers you're looking for. You just never know if something bad could have come out of this. I am thankful everyday that she is alive and okay and the same for me. |
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