What If...

Posted On Wednesday, May 04, 2011  by Gayla

My husband and I had been trying to conceive for a year and a half with no luck, so we began fertility treatments and became pregnant with triplets via IUI.  I  had a perfect pregnancy (considering it was times three) up until 30 weeks.  I began to swell a lot and the doctors ordered ultrasounds on my legs to check for blood clots.  My blood pressure was not yet high at that point so they didn't take it too seriously.  At 32 weeks and 3 days I began to cramp horribly and told my husband that I had to go to the hospital.  As soon as I arrived they inserted a catheter and began monitoring my urine and blood pressure.  I was admitted on a Saturday and since there is less personnel on the weekends they really wanted to hold off on delivering until Monday since triplets require a lot of people.  Monday morning came and my doctor said he had no choice but to deliver for the safety of me and the babies due to my blood pressure going through the roof.

I'll never forget the nurses continuously telling me to roll on my side when they would check my blood pressure because apparently that position helps to lower it.  I finally said if my blood pressure is high then there's a reason so let's do something about it, not hide it!!  After the delivery the next morning they wanted to take me off the magnesium sulfate but they quickly realized that something was seriously wrong with me!  The entire right side of my face was not moving!  They did catscans, MRI's, poking and prodding until they found fluid on my brain.  They sent in a neurologist team and diagnosed me with Bells Palsy.  On top of that my preeclampsia had turned into HELLP syndrome which explained why my blood pressure was still through the roof after I delivered. 

They wanted to do an immediate blood transfusion because I had become anemic during the C-section.  While waiting for the blood I had to use the restroom for the first time so my husband and nurse on either side walked me in.  Because of the loss of blood I had become so weak that I actually collapsed onto the floor.  They believe that when this happened I created a hematoma on my incision (along with everything else).  Finally I received the transfusion in hopes to be on the mends after!  Not so much!  My blood pressure was still high so I had to get a platelet transfusion. 

The hardest party was not being able to see my three beautiful children for the first 3 days of their lives because I couldn't go down to the NICU since I was so sick.  I had to rely on my husband to take pictures of them and show me. 

Finally after a week of being in the hospital I was sent home with blood pressure medicine that I had to take three times a day for a month until my pressure eventually came down as the swelling lessened.  It took about a month for the Bells Palsy to go away as well. 

We now have 3 11-month old triplets, Ava, Gavin and Brayden. I thank God every day that he got me far into the pregnancy so they were delivered at a healthy weight.  I also thank God every day that he got me through that week while I lay in the hospital bed thinking "what if I don't make it..."?

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