Birth Stories

Always Trust Your Instincts (Slightly Graphic Story)

My husband and I had been trying for about five months when we found out before Thanksgiving 2011 that we were expecting.  We obviously were over the moon with excitement as most parents tend to be. I had a normal pregnancy the whole way through.  No preeclampsia, no gestational diabetes, nothing totally normal.  I wanted to go all natural after taking a birthing class at the hospital we chose to deliver at.  I knew it would be hard but I was ready for the challenge.

 My due date was July 25th 2012.  Well a day after our one year anniversary on June 26th I awoke and felt ?different?.  I was having a ?pulling? sensation in my lower abdomen and back pain which I had never experience before.  I called my mother who lives six hours away to ask her opinion.  She wisely told me to call my doctor and see what was going on.  I went into work and called my doctor?s office who told me to go home, put my feet up and drink a few glasses of water.  If the crampy sensation didn?t go away within an hour to call back.  So I headed home and did exactly what they said and took a nap.  When I woke up the cramps were a little worse and I was starting to see a pattern.  The doctor told me to head to triage to get checked out.  I just had this feeling the whole time that something wasn?t right.  I couldn?t put my finger on it but I had this gut feeling that this was going to be a long night.  The doctor who saw me was a student doctor in training.  They hooked me up to the monitors and left me and my husband there for 3 hours without coming back.  Finally, after what seemed like eternity the doctor returned and said I was only one centimeter.  By this point I was having full on contractions that I was having to pause and breathe through.  The doctor said it could be false labor and to go home and take an Ambien and a shower and try to ?relax my uterus?.  (????)  So as I am being discharged I am becoming more and more anxious that something is wrong

On the way to car in the hospital parking lot I call my mother to tell her what they said and she decided to go ahead and start the drive to my home.  Our home is fortunately only 10 minutes from the hospital.  The whole way home I was in excruciating pain.  It felt like my insides were ripping out.  Once we got into the driveway I stepped out of the vehicle and thought my water had broken.  When I went to the bathroom and pulled my pants down it was all blood.  Blood was everywhere.  I screamed to my husband to get back into the car and rush me back to the hospital.  Upon arrival the same student doctor comes in, checks me and says its just my cervix ?responding to pregnancy?.  Again, my gut was screaming at me that something was terribly wrong but I said nothing.  I was unaware that they did not call my OBGYN at any point during my visit.  My husband had not eaten for over 8 hours so he made a comment that he was hungry.  The nurse over heard this and told him it would be ?at least? ten more hours b/c I was only one and a half centimeters dilated. 

As soon as my husband walked out of the room, a nurse came in to give me Morphine b/c my body was convulsing at this point from the pain.  I had been in active labor for 10 hours.  When the nurse pushed the medicine into the iv, her face dropped while looking at my monitor.  I watched her face so closely b/c I could tell something was wrong.  She started moving my monitors around on my stomach and before I knew it she had pushed a button and before me stood 3 nurses the student doctor and the floor attending doctor.  The attending asked me to get on my hands and knees.  I thought this was so strange but of course I obliged.  As I turned over to put my hand down on the bed to get into the requested position, my hand sank into the hospital mattress which was soaked in blood.  So much so that blood was coming in between my fingers.  I knew right then that my instincts were right, something was very, very wrong.  While on all fours, the attending checked my cervix and then screamed ?OR STAT?. 

I was so confused, just three minutes prior I was being told it would be 10 hours.  My husband just left, my mother was 6 hours away and I was all alone with these doctors who at this time were scampering around the room like mad women.  Before I could even ask what was going on I was in the elevator on my way to the OR.  I was quickly given a spinal block and heard the surgeon say, ?Start time 9:12?.  I was asking if I was okay, if my son was okay and no one would say anything other than I was in the right place.  At 9:19pm I heard my son who was 5 weeks early, let out a glorious cry.  He was rushed to the NICU before I could even see him.

Come to find out I had a placenta abruption.  My placenta had been slowly tearing away from my uterus since 8am that morning.  I lost a lot of blood and my sons heart rate had been down for almost 8 minutes before intervention was taken to save both of our lives. 

After spending eight days in the NICU our son Layton Archer was able to come home and I am very happy to report he is healthy as can be.  The moral to my story is always trust your gut.  I knew that morning when I awoke that something was wrong and I didn?t act on that.  I should have insisted that my OB be called immediately to asses me instead of doctors who knew nothing about me.  I am very lucky to be alive and so is my son.  I didn?t get my beautiful birth that I had envisioned drug and intervention free.  I got the nightmare no one wants.  LOL

So after all was said and done, my OB filed a complaint against the doctor in triage who ignored all the classic symptoms I was showing for placenta abruption.  I am so grateful to the nurse who noticed something wasn?t right b/c my OB said two more minutes and Layton and I would most likely not be here.  Always trust your gut and don?t be afraid to voice your concerns.  I pray everyone?s birth experiences go a heck of a lot better than mine ;)

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TTC 7-2011 *BFP 11-17-2011 *Emergency C-Section due to placenta abruption at 35 weeks  *TTC #2 6-17-14

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Re: Always Trust Your Instincts (Slightly Graphic Story)

  • Wow, how scary! So glad all is well now with you and your son!
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  • How scary! I'm so sorry your birth didn't go more smoothly. I hope you can end up happy, or at least ok, with how things went. I'm glad to hear you're both alright.
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  • Thank you ladies.  Yes, it has really made me question whether or not I can go ahead with a second child.  For me it was scary b/c you are suppose to trust your medical proffesionals and I felt they totally let us down.  However, I also know that my situation is very rare and I hope if we do decide to have another child it will go a lot more smoothly :)
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    TTC 7-2011 *BFP 11-17-2011 *Emergency C-Section due to placenta abruption at 35 weeks  *TTC #2 6-17-14

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  • Wow. That is absolutely terrifying. 

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    Married my love 10/18/08 | DS born 07/16/11 | MMC 01/16/13 at 11w6d | DD edd 04/27/14

  • Oh my goodness. I'm sorry you had just a scary experience and that is terrible about them sending you home the first time. I'm glad you had a happy outcome for both you and your son.
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  • That's why I wanted to share my story is b/c my OB said if this happens 10 times, 2 would die due to loss of blood or complications with the baby.  I want any woman who feels there is an issue to voice that concern b/c I didn't and maybe someone else wont be as lucky.  Thank you for the support though ladies, I truly appreciate it!
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    TTC 7-2011 *BFP 11-17-2011 *Emergency C-Section due to placenta abruption at 35 weeks  *TTC #2 6-17-14

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  • Oh my gosh momma! You are one heck of a woman to go through all of that! Praise The Lord! Congratulations and I am happy you both are happy and healthy!
    Casey (25) married to Ryan (25) since 9/28/07 Parents to: Gavin Briar 7/6/09 Lyla Britton 2/19/11 and Kyden Berkley 9/28/12
  • Great birth story. Momma instincts are amazing things. Keep on trusting them. Long story short my son hit his head at one month and everyone kept telling me everything was okay and I knew it wasn't. Turns out I had cracked his skull during delivery (we didn't know!) and because of that he brain had a bleed. Momma instincts; trust 'em. 

    And congrats! 

  • This is one of my biggest fears. A girl I went to HS with just had this happen to her. She is an RN and was very aggressive about it. I am so glad everything turned out fine for you and your little guy.


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  • Wow. I'm so sorry you had such a traumatic birth. I'm glad you're both okay.
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  • I'm so sorry to know what you went through.  Like PP, it's really scary and traumatic situation.  Thank you for your blessings as well!  

    About getting pregnant again, I guess you still can but maybe switch to another hospital or have a senior resident with faculty member together instead of just a medical student.  Also, after this incident, I guess you will be considered as high risk pregnancy patient and deserve to see a maternal fetal medicine doctor where they will monitor you and the baby more closely.  Good luck and best wishes to everything! 

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  • My birth story is eeriely similar to yours but with twins (although only my daughters placenta abrupted but it made both babies very sick). I also just had an instinct that something wasn't right. I was 36w6d though so thankfully my daughter only had to spend two days in the NICU. This is such a good message to send, NEVER be afraid to call your doctor and advocate for your children. :-)

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  • imagePurrCrasher:

    My birth story is eeriely similar to yours but with twins (although only my daughters placenta abrupted but it made both babies very sick). I also just had an instinct that something wasn't right. I was 36w6d though so thankfully my daughter only had to spend two days in the NICU. This is such a good message to send, NEVER be afraid to call your doctor and advocate for your children. :-)

    I was 36w6d when my placenta abrupted w/ DD.  Like OP said, I started feeling crappy for a while starting around 3pm.  I was at work and just thought I was pushing too hard (retail general manager and it was literally my busiest day of the year).  I was supposed to work another 5 days before going on leave, but when I got home that night, I was pretty sure I was done.  I was in pain and just realized I was too pg to keep working.  I had lost a full term baby the previous year so I had tried to work till the end to keep my mind busy.  I had contractions but they went away after laying down and drinking water.  I never bothered calling my OB and given my history, I should have.  I woke up at 3am and they were coming back.  At 5am I started bleeding and I think I was in the ER 15 minutes later.  I PANICKED and we took off for the hospital.  After DD was delivered by repeat c/section, the oncall OB told me my placenta had started to tear.  I get sick to my stomach at the thought that I could have easily lost my daughter just like I had lost my baby the year before (no confirmed known cause)

    I was watched SO closely w/ DS.  I had been watched w/ DD but w/ DS, it was even more so plus my OB told me I was stopping work @ 33 weeks.  I had the most perfect, uneventful pg w/ DS besides the fact that my old body was sore and exhausted as hell LOL

    So my point to OP is please don't be afraid to have more children if that is what you truly want.  Be sure to make a plan w/ your OB for monitoring the middle of the 3rd tri.  NST and BPP.  I'm pretty sure that the BPP (which is an u/s) can check on the condition of your placenta.

    Best of luck and I'm so glad you followed your instincts and you and DS are fine!!

    BFP #1 5/10/06 ...m/mc @11.5w 6/29/06 D&C 6/30/06
    BFP #2 10/29/08 ...stillborn via c/s @41w 7/20/09
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    BFP #3 1/20/10 My angel's little sister Grace Madison was born September 8th 2010 @37w. We're so blessed! Thank you angel for getting her here safely.
    BFP #4 12/30/11. Jackson Christopher 8/22/2012 via repeat c/s @ 37w 3d
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  • Thank you Monica and your children are adorable btw.  My mom had placenta abruption with me, then again with my twin sisters which resulted in delivery at 30 weeks (she also had twin transfusion as well) and then had the placenta previa with my youngest brother so my OB thinks there is a genetic link possibly.  I just fear that if I do get pregnant again it may end in early abruption and after reading stories I don't know how I could deal with that heart break of losing a child.  However, I really do want more children so I guess I'll just have to put my faith in God and hope for the best :)
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    TTC 7-2011 *BFP 11-17-2011 *Emergency C-Section due to placenta abruption at 35 weeks  *TTC #2 6-17-14

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  • Holy cow!!!  The minute I came to the part in your story that they told you to get on your hands and knees, I knew what that was.  I would have been hysterical.  You are very strong.  That stupid student!
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