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Angie's story I fell pregnant in October 1998. We were still living in sunny South Africa. This was not a planned pregnancy, but my fiancée and myself were ecstatic about the discovery to say the least! I remember being very sick for the duration of the nine months, although I have heard that, that is a sign of a healthy baby. I went for my antenatal visits regularly, never missing one. My fiancée would come to each visit with me, which was a relief as I am petrified of doctors and even more so now! My pregnancy ran very smoothly apart from the morning sickness, which at this stage was just a way of life for me. Our baby and myself were progressing well, the only worry I had at this point was that my baby was gaining weight beautifully, but I was losing my body fat at a speed! I enquired about this and my OB said that I was fine and our baby was fine. He said that I was one of the lucky ones who would fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes in no time! This ws not a concern of mine! By now I was approximately 20 weeks into my pregnancy and I suddenly developed a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). I made an appointment to see my OB who told me that it was not serious and prescribed me with suppositories. It was about 2 days into the infection and it became gradually worse with time, I was being sick more often than I care to remember, I started getting abdominal cramps and would turn "Hot" and "Cold" like nobody's business! I would wake up in the middle of the night and would be freezing cold and once I had put every form of warm clothing that I owned on, as fast as I turned cold I would turn hot. So hot in fact that I was taking an ice cold bath at 2.00am! I went back to my OB who once again told me that it would pass. Eventually, 1 and a half months later the UTI disappeared. Still my antenatal visits were fine, but I was still not gaining any weight! By now I must have been at least between 32 and 34 weeks. My 32 week scan showed that all was fine with myself and our baby, our baby at this stage weighed 2.2kg, which was huge for someone my size. I was comfortable with that because I knew that our baby was well and truly healthy!! The bonus was that I still had no stretch marks and to this day don't. I continued with my visits every two weeks and then my weekly visits. Iain unfortunately missed my antenatal visits after the 32 week scan due to the fact that his job took him 550km's away from home at times. This being one of them. A close friend who used the same OB as I did miscarried at 22 weeks. (She lost twins) She miscarried two days before my due date. Furthermore, I went for my last visit to my OB the day before my due date being the 16th of July 1999. Prior to this everything was normal and our baby was fine, as was I Iain was away on business on this day and was due back on the 17th of July - my due date. My OB seemed concerned as I had developed pre-eclampsia. He said that there were no signs of high blood pressure the week before, I had no protein in my urine the week before and I had no swelling other than my growing belly! But, he wanted to induce me on the 17th because apparently my cervix was not ready for labour and he did not want to take the chance of me perhaps going into natural labour a week later and my pre-eclampsia becoming progressively worse. This visit was at roughly 2.30pm. By 4.30pm that very same day I went into labour, although I did not know that I was in labour. I put it down to being anxious about being admitted at 6.00am the following morning for my induction. However, by 10.30pm I could not stand the pain any longer and called my OB who told me to go straight to the hospital to have labour confirmed, which I did. At approximately 11.15pm labour was confirmed and I was 4cm dilated. Needles to say I was both overjoyed, and nervous, especially this being my first baby. Iain unfortunately was not home yet and had to be contacted and told that I was in labour. My step-mom and my dad were at my side throughout. After being administered every form of drug possible to lower my blood pressure I started becoming progressively tired and would on the odd occasion doze off. The epidural had to be topped up 3 times before it took any affect and then only numbed me from my waist down. They predicted that Jenna would be born between 3.00am and 5.00am. So far labour was progressing well, until 3.00am! I had obviously fallen asleep when one of the nurses woke me up by turning me onto my back. Jenna's heart had started to slow down quite rapidly and they started worrying. I know now that they started to panick as my OB had not yet arrived at the hospital and had not examined me at all. By 3.30am Jenna's heart had stopped and my OB had only just arrived. Unfortunately there was nothing that he could do to save her. I was absolutely distraught, as was Iain. We received the post mortem, which showed that Jenna was a healthy full term baby and cause of death could have been that she suffocated due to my BP being so high. Initially they thought that the placenta had split from the womb, thus cutting off the oxygen and suffocating her, which was not the case! At 6.00am they decided to do a Caesarian - 2 1/2 hours after she had died! By the time I was due I only weighed 52.5kg, thus only putting on 4 1/2kg's in total. (My pre-pregnancy weight being 48kg) This is still a great concern of mine. The funeral service was the hardest thing I have ever had to endure in my whole life! I ended up staying in hospital for a week while they monitored my BP, which took over 2 months to return to normal. We have not yet tried for another baby. But, soon we will. Angie
Since losing our daughter, Jenna in 1999, we were hoping to start trying for another baby in October last year (2000). As fate would have it, we fell pregnant in June, 4 months before planning our pregnancy. I was both elated and scared. Would I lose this baby too?, would I re-develop pre-eclampsia? We were soon to find out. I found out I was pregnant at 4 weeks gestation. I started spotting a few days later, I had no morning sickness as I had with Jenna's pregnancy - yet. We head off to the Maternity hospital to find that there is a possibility I would miscarry, I was sent home to wait. The bleeding stopped a few days later, but started again a week or so again. I had no bleeding during my pregnancy with Jenna so this was foreign to me. The bleeding got worse and heavier. Back to the hospital only to be told that this definitely looks like I am in the early stages of miscarrying. Both my husband and I are distraught. Weeks after finding out that we were expecting again our dreams would be shattered. They could not perform an ultra sound as I was too early in my pregnancy. (6 weeks) We had to wait another 2 weeks if nothing happened. 2 Weeks went by and still bleeding heavily, my scan was booked for 08:30am the day I was 8 weeks along. It turns out that the baby "looks" fine, although it is still fairly soon and not much could be seen. We did see a small dot where the heartbeat was and it was still beating. This baby was a fighter! If we managed to get through this pregnancy this would be our "miracle baby". I was sent home and put on bedrest till I was 12 weeks along when I would have my 2nd scan. My midwife would come visit me every 2nd day. I started getting morning sickness at about 6 weeks, surely this was a good sign. Fast forward >>>>>>> I am 12 weeks along and it's the day of my 2nd scan. Still bleeding heavily and waiting to miscarry. The ultra sound looked great. Our baby was progressing very well and still hanging on. Still no cause for the bleeding. I had to return at 20 weeks for another scan - if I made it that far. Off bedrest and onto restricted activities. Bleeding stopped at 14 weeks, 10 weeks of non-stop bleeding and now nothing. It turns out that I suffered a missed abortion/threatened miscarriage - whereby my body wanted to miscarry but didn't quite get round to it - I don't know much about it though so am not 100% sure what it all means. Morning sickness is getting worse. My GP books me off for 2 weeks due to severe hyperemises. The rest of my pregnancy was not uneventful, there were constant trips to and from the hospital, many admissions due to all sorts of complications. 20 Week scan looks even better and we find out the sex of our baby. It's a boy, he's measuring 2 weeks ahead for my dates. Although we are feeling a little less anxious, we are not totally calm and content with this pregnancy. The next few weeks are a little less stressful, we start planning our Dec holiday to Sydney, Australia. Both hubby and I are excited to be seeing his daughter aged 6 again. We only told her about this pregnancy when we were roughly 25 weeks along in the event that something went wrong again. It turns out that everything was against my travelling. We decided that there is a reason why I shouldn't be travelling. I would be 30 weeks when we flew over to OZ, the airlines confirmed that I would be allowed to fly. We end up having to cancel my tickets and hubby will go on his own. The day before he was due to leave I am admitted into hospital and my OB tells me there would have been NO chance that he would have permitted me to fly. Thank heavens we had cancelled my ticket. My bp is elevated and there is a trace of protein in my urine, he admits me as a precautionary measure, which I am pleased about. He's not leaving anything to chance. I am discharged 2 days later and put back onto bedrest. Iain arrives back from his trip 2 weeks later refreshed and excited to see me and my growing bump. A few days later... a day shy of being 33 weeks I am re-admitted for a UTI, bleeding and raised bp and +1 protein again, they advised that I would have to have 2 NST's a day to keep a close eye on our baby. I was due to be discharged a few days later after being monitored but I end up with contractions on the day before being discharged. They monitor the contractions, they are now coming 2 every 10 minutes and strong and painful. We prepare for an early delivery and I have steriods administered to develop our baby's lungs. The fetal monitor is kept on me constantly as they keep and eye on his heartbeat. (At this stage I have had 6 scans) I am due to go down for another scan that afternoon. They discover that I have too much fluid around our baby possibly causing the contractions. UTI is ruled out as it had cleared up. Callum is still measuring 2 weeks ahead of schedule (measuring 36 weeks) so they decided to leave me and not stop labor. My cervix had not changed though (2cm dilated) and now I wait for Callum's early arrival. Nothing.... I get sent home when I am 35 weeks along, but have to return every 2nd day for NST's. I make it to 39 weeks with irregular contractions the entire 4 weeks that I was at home. I am admitted on the 1st of March 2001 and am prepared for delivery the following day (5 days early). BP had started creeping up slowly over the last 2 weeks and by the 1st of March it was 120/95. I have the fetal monitor attached to me throughout the night and a bp cuff on monitoring my blood pressure with the midwives popping in every so often to check the fetal monitor and my bp. My c/section is booked for 11:30am and our son, Callum Duncan McKenna was born at 11:56am weighing 7 lbs 13 oz and 49cm long with a head of dark hair. He is absolutely beautiful. Iain and I cry with joy and relief that we finally have our beautiful son with us. The next few months are a joyous occasion spending as much time as possible with our newborn. Our "miracle baby" is currently just over 5 months old and is growing beautifully. He doesn't look much like his late sister, although just as precious. We miss Jenna terribly every day, but the pain is getting easier to deal with, we will never forget the 9 months we had with Jenna. Some days are still harder than others. We are unsure as to whether we will try for another baby soon. At the moment we just want to enjoy Callum and will think about possibly having another baby within the next 2 years. I am pleased to be able to share a success story with you all. ~Angie~
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