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I had my first child, Brook-lynn, on February 14, 2007. I had just turned |
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I had my first child, Brook-lynn, on February 14, 2007. I had just turned 19. That pregnancy was great! No problems at all. I just gained 90+ lbs, because I took the phrase eating for two literally! Then, I became pregnant with my second child, Cheyenne. Everything with that pregnancy was going great.....or so I thought! About 33 weeks into my pregnancy I started seeing flashing spots in my vision and I grew more and more dizzy. So for about a week I just ignored it and said to myself, "Well, like they say,'Every pregnancy is different.' " But, things just started getting worse and I was getting weaker as the days went on. So, I told my husband at around 34 weeks. He told me to call the GYN asap. But me and my stubborn (and lazy) self, I said, "Ok hun, I will." Of course I didn't feel like it though. Then on July 8th, 2008, my husband was on his 10 am break, so like usual he calls to check on me. This time I was really dizzy and WEAK! (My one year old was in the bed with me watching a PBS kids show, and she even said, "Aww...it's ok Mommy.") So, I answered and said, "Hello? (Very weak)." And my husband says, "Are you ok?" And I just reply and said, "I guess so, I am just very tired and weak." Again my husband tells me to call the GYN. And again I said, "Ok hun, I will." This time I did call, but the line was busy, so I hung up and was about to drift off to sleep. My husband being the wonderful man that he is, he knows me so well and instead of trusting me to call the GYN for myself, he decides to call my mother-in-law and tell her what was going on! So, after about 20 mins, I hear a loud banging on my front door. I say to myself, " 'Oh I really don't feel like getting up right now, I just want to go back to sleep.' " But, slowly I make my way off of our bed and through the living room to the front door. I realized it was my mother-in-law, so I put on a fake smile to disguise my lack of strength and sleepiness. Immediately she says before even walking into the house, "You don't even look right, LET'S GO NOW!" I told her, "Well I called my GYN, but the line was busy." She then said, "NO FORGET ABOUT THEM AND LET'S GO NOW!!!" So, I made my way back to the bedroom and dressed myself and my mother-in-law dressed my one year old. When I got to the hospital they took me straight to the maternity ward. Once there I explained my symptoms as they hooked me up to a blood pressure machine. (My mother-in-law had to run out to run an errand really quick with my daughter.) So, as I lay in the bed talking to them, the nurse says to the student in training, "Wait this can't be right, take it again!" Then I start to look at them strangely. After the machine beeped, there was a silence in the room! The nurse and the med student wheel the machine and shuffle quickly out of my room. I am thinking what in the world was that about? Then they come back in the room with the head nurse, I assume. She asks me, "Ma'am, have you ever had any blood pressure issues?" And I say no. She then tells me "Your blood pressure is currently 160 over 108 and we are admitting you." Well, for someone who doesn't know what normal blood pressure levels are, I just say ok thinking I will only be there for a few hours. So, I call my mother-in-law and told her my stats and she hollered, "WHAT??!!! I am on my way back now!" Well, after hearing her reaction I immediately call my husband at work and told me not to worry the doctors have me and they are hooking me up to some meds to bring it down. So I lay in the bed and watch tv. Then about 1 hr later I hear the jingling of my husbands keys. I sit up and see him walking pass my room in a quick speed. So I holler his name and he stops and turns around and flies into my room. He asks if everything is ok. I said I guess so? Well, after being on the meds for a few hours, still no change or drop in my blood pressure. This starts to worry the doctors. This is where they rule I have preeclampsia. So, they decided to keep me overnight. At this point I am now worried myself. I keep asking the doctors if my baby is ok, and they say yes. I am a little relieved. But then through out the night the doctors keep running in and out my room. They said my blood pressure was not going down at all. So they tell my husband and I in order for my health to get better they must deliver her now. My heart immediately jumps! NOW? Wait! Is my baby going to be ok? They say she should be because I am far enough into my pregnancy. So, they give me cervid to induce my labor to see if I can deliver her vaginally. Well, after about 12 hrs on the cervid, I buzz in the nurse and say, "Ok, well my water just broke." So they flick on the lights and check me. Then once again I hear total silence and the nurse says get the dr in here! The nurse calmly tells me, "That wasn't your water breaking, because it's all blood!!" After they bring in the machine to do an ultrasound I find that my placenta just tore from my uterus. And they tell me, "You have to deliver this baby NOW.....via c-section!" I immediately cried and squeezed my husbands hand. I wasn't ready for her yet. Her room wasn't done, I had to get a new car seat, I didn't have diapers, let alone a baby shower. But, after the c-section they told me she was in perfect health! Nothing wrong at all, it was just my body going crazy. So on July 9th, 2008, we had a 4 lbs 3oz. baby girl. Who didn't even have to be in the NICU! Thank you Jesus! Now my third pregnancy.....that was a nightmare....that I could never wake up from! To make this shorter. The whole first trimester I had violent morning sickness; unbearable. Also accompanied by severe migraines. So, my GYN decided to put me on Reglan. Which was to help me keep down food and to subside my headaches a bit. But for me the meds made me extremely dizzy, so I stopped it. About 4 months into the pregnancy I started to bleed. So I went to the hospital and they found out that my placenta was over my cervix. Not a good sign, but it was still early so it had time to move. The doctors warned me though, if I bleed or even saw the least bit of spotting, they were going to take me out of work and put me on permanent bed rest. At this time because of all of my hospital stays and call outs because of the complications with this pregnancy, my job was constantly writing me up. Which was starting to stress me, because my husband was out of work and we had two little girls at home already to provide for. So I really needed this job. Then on April 27th, 2010, my job writes me up again for performance and attendance. I was then upset and stressed more. After I came out of the office it was time to go home. So as usual I stopped at my friend's desk to walk out together. Both my friend's asked, "Are you ok?" I said I feel a little funny but I am ok. So after walking some more, we get to the steps, my knee starts to buckle, but I catch myself. My friends ask again am I ok. This time I tell them exactly what I was feeling. They said are you ok to drive I said yes, but they didn't think that was best. So they made me call my husband to come get me. In the meantime, my symtoms were getting worse. About an hour later my husband arrives and I slowly walk over to his truck. On the way home my pain starts getting worse and I am having trouble breathing. My husband says do you want to go to the hospital, and I say no I just wanted to go home and lay down. Then after about 5 more mins, I am not gasping for air. So he yells, "No you are going to the hospital now!" So once I get there, I am in seriously bad pain!!! Unbearable! I couldn't even sit in a chair. Once checking my vitals, they tell me my blood pressure is 180 over 108. I say to myself, 'Oh no Lord! Please not again!' So, then they put me out in the waiting room again to wait for me to be seen by a nurse. At this point my husband is about to flip, because he remembers what happened last time and he knows that I should be in the maternity ward on meds right away. So finally after vomiting in the waiting room, I finally get a bed in the ER. Then once they have the results back from the lab, they say my pain was from severe heartburn, then I hear the news I dreaded hearing. "Ok, so it looks like your having a repeat from your last pregnancy, but way too soon." That means preeclampsia shows up again! So they take me to the maternity ward. After talking to the nurses they are very silent when coming into my room, because they see what's happening and they know the baby is way too young. Then a lady comes in and tells me the chances of my baby living is very slim and she asked me did I want to wash her and dress her after she was born during those last few moments with her. I was still in shock from them telling me my chances of her living was slim! Then after running more tests the doctors soon see that I have something called HELLP syndrome. Which is Hypertension, Elevated Liver enzymes, Low blood Platelets. This was totally new to me. But the thing was was that after my chest pain went away, I felt fine! But all sorts of doctors and nurses were in and out my room warning me of how sick I was. I laughed and played it off. I truly didn't know that I was on the verge of dying. (That is what we Christians say is nothing but JESUS!) So on April 28th, 2010, my beautiful baby girl Angel was born! But, she was only 22 wks along. No where near enough for her to survive. My little angel (that was her name also) passed away after living for about 3 hours. After my GYN and the dr, who preformed my c-section, deliberated, they decided that for my health and to not have to go thru this again (because they are 99% sure it will happen again, but might not get to me in time) it was best for me to tie my tubes. So here I am, a 22 yr old with her tubes, not able to consider having a baby of my own again. But each day I thank and praise the Lord for my two beautiful healthy baby girls. I will never take them for granted...EVER! |
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