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Amanda's story Hi! My name is Amanda and I would love to share my story with you. After 12 long months of trying to get pregnant, our prayers were answered when I found out I was pregnant with our daughter in June of 1997. I was sick in the beginning, the normal morning sickness that caused me to lose 8 lbs, before I ever started gaining weight with her in the second trimester. Around 17 weeks I began to experience some heart palpitations that were a little scary, but after consulting with a cardiologist, I was assured that they were pregnancy related and completely normal. We found out that she was a girl in September, and everything was going well and she was growing fine and I had been taking exceptional care of myself. I never smoked, drunk, I watched my fat intake, I exercised, and with no other health problems in my past, I felt sure everything would go smoothly. However, on December 1st I began to have some contractions and went into early labor. By the time my husband and I got to the hospital, I was having contractions about every 2 minutes and was already dilated 1 centimeter and 20% effaced. This scared me and the doctor because I was only 30 weeks at this point. So, the doctor administered "Brethine", a toxolyctic (spell) that was to prevent contractions. This worked and the contractions stopped. I was released the same day and felt fine. Then, exactly one week later, I started having contractions again. So we went back to the hospital and I was admitted because this time the Brethine was not working. Finally the doctor figured out that I would have to take the Brethine 4 times a day to keep it in my system to prevent early labor. I was released to go home on the 9th of December. I took my medicine as prescribed and was feeling fine. On the 16th of December, I went to the doctor for a regular check-up and my blood pressure was 160/110. So, the doctor admitted me for PIH. (Pregnancy Induced Hypertension) On the 23rd of December I was still having outrageous blood pressures, so they decided to do a 24 hour urine. Unfortunately, the urine protein level increased almost double in this time period and I was transferred to a hospital 2 hours away for our baby to be delivered because I was still only 34 weeks at this point and the hospital I was in was not equipped to handle premature births. I arrived at the hospital at midnight, Christmas Eve. We spent Christmas in the hospital not knowing what would happen next. They began giving me steroids to improve the baby's lungs, and they told me on the 26th after an ultrasound that she weighed only about 3 lbs, and was still too small to deliver. They told me that the protein in my urine was decreasing and they would let me go home the next day on complete bed rest orders. However, I woke up at 2:30 am that morning gasping for air. They rushed me to the delivery room and performed an emergency C-section. Our daughter was delivered weighing a whopping 4lbs. 14 oz. and breathing on her on with an Agpar score of 9 and simply beautiful. They sent me to ICU to try to find out what was wrong with me. Upon further tests, I had elevated liver enzymes, very low platelet count, and was severely anemic. (HELLP Syndrome) They determined also that my heart had become enlarged calling it a "peri-partum cardiomyopathy", due to congestive heart failure. This was all a complete shock, I had only gained 18lbs during my pregnancy, and had never had health problems before. The doctors explained to me that this is a very rare occurrence and that the survival rate was low. We began to pray and let the Lord take over and he healed me. Within 24 hours after receiving powerful medications to improve my heart function, I was doing better. I was able to leave ICU within 5 days and my daughter and I came home 10 days later. My prognosis is good. I stayed on medication for a year after this, and only have residual signs of the diseases. However, if I were to get pregnant again, it would kill me. So devastatingly, I had my tubes tied a few months after this ordeal. In all of the readings and information that I have found, I believe that the ''Brethine" caused my problems, but if it weren't for the Brethine, my daughter would have been born severely premature and might not be here to bring sunshine to my world. Thank you for listening to my story and I have a deep compassion for other who have experienced the same.
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