Wednesday April 23rd, 2008
It was a beautiful sunny morning. I felt pretty good, just a little bit more tired and “heavy” than usual but nothing to be concerned about. I took a nice shower and my day started. There were 2 big projects on their crucial time at the office, so the days were just flying…
The morning went by fairly quick. It was lunchtime already and as I was trying to adjust the back of my chair when I felt a warm gush….
…and it wasn’t a little….
…It was a lot!
I was wearing navy blue pants and my chair is black so I couldn’t see any color. At the beginning I thought that my water had broke. 3 of my coworkers were there and I told them as I sat down again to call my OB/GYN. I told to the nurse, his assistant and was instructed to go straight to the ER, my OB would be there to check things up. I call the T to let him know what was happening and he was going to pick me up at my office. I started to gather my things and as I stood up again the flow just started running by my legs and in a few seconds my sandals were soaked….
Soaked in bright red blood…. It wasn’t my water!
I sat down again and call my OB one more time, I told the nurse it wasn’t my water and she told me to go to the ER immediately. I called the T again and told him to meet me in the ER, I couldn’t wait for him to come and pick me up. One of the drivers at my office was driving me, so we didn’t take too much time. 2 of my coworkers came also. I was panicked but I knew that my baby girl was having a tough time with all the blood I was loosing and being stressed would just make things worst for her as she would feel it so I managed to stay calm.
Thank God there was no traffic jam!… My office is very close to the hospital, so the ride was actually fairly quick. As I arrived I told them what was happening and they rushed me to the L&D floor where they took off my clothes and wanted to put a pad to help with the flow. I laughed at the nurse and told her that it was useless, the flow was so intense that they will need several blankets to really help!…. By that time my OB arrived; he just saw the amount of blood in the bed and was shocked. He hold my hands, looked me straight in the eyes and told me it was just too much blood and that we had no time to start checking what was causing it…. Our little girl needed to be out as soon as possible and that meant an emergency c-section. My only words were I trust you – I am fine, I feel fine, please take care of my little girl. As soon as I finished that sentence everybody started running and in no time I was already on my way to the operating room.
In the OR they started to prep me and when they were just about to start to give the anaesthesia I told my OB to please send someone to look for the T (as I hadn’t seen him) and explain to him what was happening… He told me not to worry, he had already spoke to the T and he was just outside the OR and that because it was an emergency operation he couldn’t come in but he will be waiting outside. I felt relieved and told them that I was ready and they started.
It took just a few minutes to start to feel the effects of the local anaesthesia. My legs felt very heavy and warm as I was listening to what the doctors were saying and I felt there was a lot of tension in the room.
A few minutes later, at 2.10 PM, our daughter R was born and the only thing I was asking and praying for at that time was to hear her cry and I did. It was the most wonderful sound I had never heard. I was pretty conscious that it didn’t mean everything was going to turned out OK, but at least it was a “little” light in the tunnel!
I didn’t get to see her right after she was born. The doctors worked with her right since her first minute and rushed her to the NICU to evaluate her and also to give her a blood transfusion because she was having a crisis due to the lost blood. It turned out the bleeding was caused by a partial placental abruption (about 30%) and therefore our daughter suffered from the lack of flow and oxygen, besides the respiratory problems due to her immature lungs.
At that point, I knew we were a step forward on what I hoped and prayed to be our way o recovery!
PS. I will write my log about R progress in the NICU in a separate post.
…and it wasn’t a little….
…It was a lot!
I was wearing navy blue pants and my chair is black so I couldn’t see any color. At the beginning I thought that my water had broke. 3 of my coworkers were there and I told them as I sat down again to call my OB/GYN. I told to the nurse, his assistant and was instructed to go straight to the ER, my OB would be there to check things up. I call the T to let him know what was happening and he was going to pick me up at my office. I started to gather my things and as I stood up again the flow just started running by my legs and in a few seconds my sandals were soaked….
Soaked in bright red blood…. It wasn’t my water!
I sat down again and call my OB one more time, I told the nurse it wasn’t my water and she told me to go to the ER immediately. I called the T again and told him to meet me in the ER, I couldn’t wait for him to come and pick me up. One of the drivers at my office was driving me, so we didn’t take too much time. 2 of my coworkers came also. I was panicked but I knew that my baby girl was having a tough time with all the blood I was loosing and being stressed would just make things worst for her as she would feel it so I managed to stay calm.
Thank God there was no traffic jam!… My office is very close to the hospital, so the ride was actually fairly quick. As I arrived I told them what was happening and they rushed me to the L&D floor where they took off my clothes and wanted to put a pad to help with the flow. I laughed at the nurse and told her that it was useless, the flow was so intense that they will need several blankets to really help!…. By that time my OB arrived; he just saw the amount of blood in the bed and was shocked. He hold my hands, looked me straight in the eyes and told me it was just too much blood and that we had no time to start checking what was causing it…. Our little girl needed to be out as soon as possible and that meant an emergency c-section. My only words were I trust you – I am fine, I feel fine, please take care of my little girl. As soon as I finished that sentence everybody started running and in no time I was already on my way to the operating room.
In the OR they started to prep me and when they were just about to start to give the anaesthesia I told my OB to please send someone to look for the T (as I hadn’t seen him) and explain to him what was happening… He told me not to worry, he had already spoke to the T and he was just outside the OR and that because it was an emergency operation he couldn’t come in but he will be waiting outside. I felt relieved and told them that I was ready and they started.
It took just a few minutes to start to feel the effects of the local anaesthesia. My legs felt very heavy and warm as I was listening to what the doctors were saying and I felt there was a lot of tension in the room.
A few minutes later, at 2.10 PM, our daughter R was born and the only thing I was asking and praying for at that time was to hear her cry and I did. It was the most wonderful sound I had never heard. I was pretty conscious that it didn’t mean everything was going to turned out OK, but at least it was a “little” light in the tunnel!
I didn’t get to see her right after she was born. The doctors worked with her right since her first minute and rushed her to the NICU to evaluate her and also to give her a blood transfusion because she was having a crisis due to the lost blood. It turned out the bleeding was caused by a partial placental abruption (about 30%) and therefore our daughter suffered from the lack of flow and oxygen, besides the respiratory problems due to her immature lungs.
At that point, I knew we were a step forward on what I hoped and prayed to be our way o recovery!
PS. I will write my log about R progress in the NICU in a separate post.
