My name is Shannon and my daughter's
name is Courtney. She was born on February 22, 1998 at 27 weeks weighing
1 lb 7 ozs, and 12.5 inches long.
This was my first pregnancy and
everything was going GREAT! I never had any morning sickness or anything
like that, I was gaining the proper amount of weight and everything.
As a matter of fact, at my 5 month
check up my doctor even told me
that I was having a model pregnancy.
However, my six month check up was
much much worse.
I had noticed that my ankles and
hands and face started to swell up, very badly, with the left side being
way worse, and I started to feel really bad. I was tired all the
time, and moody and just completely miserable. I called my doctor
and they said that some swelling was normal, and that since my appointment
was two days away they would see me then.
When I went in, my urine was 4 +
for protein, and my BP had skyrocketed. I had also gained 10 pounds
in one month. My doctor put me on bed rest and made an appointment
for me the next week at a high risk specialist. (He had a suspicion
that I had HELLP,
but didn't tell me until later)
Later that night, I started to get
really bad back pain, and so my doctor put me in the hospital.
I was released the next Thursday,
and went straight to the specialist. He took one look at me and said you
need to be in the hospital. My ammino fluid was very low, and once
again my BP was through the roof and the protein was even worse.
I was immediately hooked up to
an IV and given mag sulfate to lower my BP and prevent seizures.
I was not allowed to sit up on my own, and had to stay on my side.
My blood was monitored every hour for the
first 24 hours and then every 3
after that. I was actually starting to feel better.
On Sunday, however, that all changed.
I woke up really cranky and not feeling well at all. By about 4 pm
that day I started to have a horrible pain right below my right ribs.
My doctor came in and said, "It looks like we are having this baby now."
My daughter was born by C-Section
at 27 weeks at 6:44 that night. I was in recovery for 2 1/2 days,
on morphine and mag sulfate. I really don't remember those 2 days
all that well. I didn't get to see her until she was three days old.
My husband took video of her and that is all I saw.
She was only on the ventilator
for 18 days of a 3 1/2 month stay at the hospital. She has no health
problems now, and is only a little bit small for her age.
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