Sunday 29 June 2014

Nicole's Story - Accreta Took My Baby and My Fertility.

This is my story. I have two beautiful children, Tenley 6, Jagger 1 and an angel baby that I have never met physically but I am emotionally bonded to. My two previous pregnancies were normal; I didn’t have any complications but knowing what I know now I wouldn’t have had C-sections. With my first baby I wanted an all natural birth but my amniotic fluid was low and that was a risk, my second baby was a scheduled section because of concern for a rupture. Where I live there is a high percentage of sections as opposed to vaginal births and my practice also doesn’t do a lot of VBAC’s unfortunately.


The morning this nightmare began my daughter woke me up feeling ill, I will say the night before I had some cramping but I figured it was perfectly normal so I went to bed. When I got up to take care of my Tenley she is the one that saw the blood running down my legs. I immediately called my husband which works third shift and he came home. I honestly thought it was a miscarriage. I went in to see my OB that morning and of course he was on call so I couldn’t see him, they gave me a sonogram and said the baby had implanted low and that the heart rate was low. I was probably about six weeks pregnant at this point. I was told that I would probably miscarry and that if I started bleeding anymore that I should go to the ER. I was told to keep my first prenatal appointment that following Tuesday and at that appointment I would see my regular doctor. Of course all weekend long I was nervous that something was going to happen.



That following Tuesday we met with our doctor, I had more blood work and another sonogram. The heart rate was higher so my husband and I were optimistic. Then our world crashed. The doctor came in and gave us the news. He told us I had placenta accreta of course neither one of us ever heard of it. Unfortunately, we were told by every doctor we met with that termination was really the only option, because the baby wouldn’t survive and neither would I. That news was just devastating to us. Then trying to explain it to my six year old was even more difficult. He suggested to us that we meet with a specialist here in our hometown that comes up from Pittsburgh. That appointment of course was a week later so again I fretted all week long.

On that Monday we met with the specialist and he didn’t have anything good to say about our situation. He too said we needed to terminate, he suggested Methotrexate, a cancer drug. I wish I could go back and redo all of this again. At this point I’m about 7 to 8 weeks pregnant and that if I was going to do the injections it needed to be done immediately for it to be effective. Well of course another week goes by and I didn’t get in to the Pittsburgh office until the following week. My husband and I go down that following Monday, and go through the process again, blood work, sonogram, the doctors appointment. When they gave me the sonogram I had the sonographer and a doctor tell me that I wasn’t going to be able to keep this baby. The next doctor I met with was very convincing that the pregnancy wasn’t viable and that I needed to terminate ASAP. She was also very nonchalant about the whole thing and believe me, I asked my questions to her. Those two weeks of hell were exactly that….HELL. My husband I and talked and cried and cried and talked about this and we both decided that we really didn’t have any other choice other then to put our faith in the doctors. The crazy thing I told Jason was that I never felt pregnant like I had previously. I knew exactly when I was pregnant before. I never had a symptom this time.

As those days went by I figured everything was status quo. I never had imagined what would happen next. On March 12, 2014, I left for work like any other day did my kid duties; daycare and school kissed them and figured I would see them later that night. I went to work and it was a horrible fluke snow storm that day. I began bleeding uncontrollably and had to go to the hospital here in my hometown. What I find ironic is that my OB that couldn’t treat my condition is the one that inevitably saved my life that day. I immediately had a sonogram when I got there and I knew something was wrong because the sonographers were being very quiet and talking amongst themselves so I couldn’t hear. So when my doctor came in to see me he was shocked that I was still “pregnant” he immediately called the specialist in Pittsburgh and talked to her about what needed to be done, they decided on a D&C a noninvasive treatment to clean out the tissue. My husband and I decided that was the best treatment for me. I was prepped ready to go and figured I would be waking up and heading home that evening to be with my kids. Now what I heard is obviously coming from my husband but I do remember waking up briefly and hearing my doctor saying she’s bleeding too much we have to go back in. The doctor went rushing out to my husband to sign the consent forms because at that point in a matter of minutes I had lost half my blood volume and was dying on the table. I feel bad that my husband had to make such a hard to decision but it was the only decision he could make. I had to make it for my kids.

I remember waking up and wondering what had happened and that is when Jason told me I needed to have a hysterectomy because it was a matter of life and death. Of course I was so out of it I had no idea how serious it was. I needed a blood transfusion and was in the ICU. To this day I still can’t believe all of this happened. It has been a struggle to deal with all of these emotions, but I am thankful for my husband, my kids, family and friends. I am sad that we will never have any more children but I am beyond blessed with the family that I have today. I hope from my story women with Accreta will do their research and make the best decisions for them and their families. I know I may have not made the right choice but at the time it was the best I could do at the time. Peace & Love.





1 comment:

  1. Nicole’s story was really terrifying. I wish there would be a study as to how this certain condition can be prevented. It's most likely that many women, especially expecting mothers, would benefit from it. Who knows, it might help reduce the rate of unexpected C-section, and the other complications that it might entail.

    Sabrina Craig @ Medical Attorney

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