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Hi There,
I have just been on your website and for the first time after my experience
i have looked up information on preeclampisa and what it is all about - i
must say the stories really touched me and that is why i felt the need to
share my story with you.
In December last year my sister lost her unborn baby at 5 months due to
preeclampsia. It was the most traumatic time in our lives as the family was
really looking foward to the baby and so was my sister. Prior to becoming
pregnant, she was diagnosed with polosystic ovaries and was told that she
was unable to bear children - which she always wanted. Finally she fell
pregnant, and of course we were over joyed and felt that the child was a
blessing from God. Within the first few months/weeks of my sisters
pregnancy she was perfectly fine, but as time went one she started
developing all the symptoms of preeclampsia such as swollen feet, hands
,ankles, face and eyes - but we were not aware of this illness therefore the
family considered as being normal when pregnant.
We had just lost our grandmother on the 27th of December 2005 and so we had
to venture off to Durban for the burial. On the night that we had arrived
in Durban, my sister was extremely swollen and very pale in color and she
had mentioned that she was feeling extremely uncomfortable, we had asked her
if she wanted to go and get herself checked out at a doctor and she said
that she was fine. After all we had assumed that it could have been from
the long distance travelling from Johannesburg to Durban. On our second
night in Durban, was the night when we had experienced the most traumatic
deverstation and confusion in all times "for our family". My sister started
having severe abdominal pains and pains in her lower back - initially she
thought that she was having early contractions, at that moment we rushed off
to the closest hospital where she was checked by a Doctor and diagnosed with
early preeclampsia - at first we did not quite understand what it meant but
once the doctor explained what the condition was and what the effects of the
condition would it was total shock and deverstation. But in all of this, my
sister stayed strong, kept praying and asking God to help through this
situation. She was immediately admitted into Maternity ICU where she stayed
for approximately 2 days in bed. Those two days felt like two years with
all the agony, stress and trauma we were going through as a family. Adding
to this trauma, my grandmother had just passed away and we had to prepare
for her burial which was extremely difficult and painfull trying to juggle
between the hospital and burial preparations.
Unfortunately, my sister was unable to attend the funeral which stressed her
out even more and the family was there throughout the time. The most
painfull part is that even though the doctors were quite frank and honest
about the condition - they told us that there is a 50% chance that we could
loose my sister and 50% chance that the baby would not make it. It felt
like they were asking us to choose between my sister and her baby (not an
easy decision to make), so we prayed about it as a family and asked God to
give us direction and to take control of the situation as we had no control
at all. But, through all of this the doctors still gave us a ray of light -
saying that there could be a chance for survival (for the baby). However, on
the Saturday evening after the funeral we rushed off to the hospital for the
normal visiting hours to see my sister. But as we arrived there, all hope
was shattered - within 2 minutes of our time at the hospital we had received
the news that she had just lost the baby at 4pm that afternoon. This was
the most terrible and difficult situation to deal with, all i kept thinking
is that we have to be strong for her but at the same time i could not stop
crying - this really affected me as i have a 3 year old daughter and i know
the kind of bond you form with your baby when you are pregnant, and i could
not bear the thought of being in that situation. Of course my mother was
distraught, and more so she felt that the doctors should have notified her
when they induced labor - she wanted to be there with my sister and she was
really hurt. So in essence on the 31st December - News Years Eve my sister
lost her baby due to preeclampsia and at present is still going through a
rough time.
She has good days and bad days but her bad days are not so good - she goes
into total depression and agony, doctors claim that it is post natal
depression but i think that it is more than just that. We will never
understand what she is going through and what it is like but because i love
her i wish there was something i could do to help her better deal with the
loss of her unborn baby. We have tried asking her to go for councelling but
she just will not budge - i am just so afraid that if she keeps blocking
this up inside she is going to explode one day.
Do you think there is something that we can do for her?
I just thought it would be a good idea to share my story with you and let
other women out there know that the illness is real, it is happening and we
need to take care of ourselves and our unborn babies.
Kind Regards,
Mellissa Nelson |
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