Gretchen's story

I have a thyroid problem now at the age of 47, and was surfing through medical sites when I happened upon this site. I was amazed to find information on eclampsia, a condition I had over 30 years ago and almost died from, a condition that they couldn't tell me a lot about. But here I am at 47 and just learning about it. Absolutely amazing!

I had twins 30 years ago and had an absolute normal pregnancy and was very active and fit. In fact, I remember bowling the night before I delivered. The only real concern that my OB doctor had was that I had gained 52 pounds and weighed 177 the day that I delivered. You have to keep in mind that us mothers back then did not have all of the conveniences that you do today, especially the ultra sound. No one knew until Julie was born that I was in fact carrying twins. You can imagine our surprise!

Because my doctor thought that I was having an unusually large child instead of twins, I was given what was called a "saddle block"....or spinal...to numb my body from the waist down. I was only in labor 5 hours when I delivered Julie. When they discovered another "lump"....I then gave birth to Jennifer 4 minutes later. Because of the spinal, I had to lie flat and not raise my head or they insisted that I would have massive headaches as a result. I was exhausted and it was 6:30 a.m. by now, so they wheeled me into a recovery room where I slept.

I remember waking up around 2 p.m. that afternoon. My head felt like it was getting ready to explode! While I never said a word during childbirth, I was screaming from pain from the headache. It was so severe. I remember the nurse trying to accuse me of lifting my head and causing the spinal to create this headache. I was so racked with pain I began to scream again and again, and that's when they called the doctor back in. He discovered my blood pressure was dangerously elevated and gave me an injection. I slept until 7 p.m. that evening.

The last thing that I remember was my parents, my in-laws and my husband in the room that evening. They were all happy that I was awake and asked if I needed anything. I remember asking for a Dr. Pepper and that is my last recollection for the next 6 days. My mother, a nurse, told me later that my husband brought back the soda, I took it from him and then all of a sudden my entire body jerked and the can went flying over my head. She knew immediately when my eyes rolled back and my skin began to turn dark that I was having grand mal seizures. My husband ran down the hall to get help and since there was nothing in the room to place into my mouth, my dear, dear mother put her fingers in to keep me from biting my tongue off. It wasn't until months later that she began to get feeling into those fingers again.

When the staff rushed into the room, they made my family leave and they all stood outside the door of my room, watching "crash carts" and medical personnel fly in and out. They told me at one point when the door opened, they caught a glimpse of the doctor attempting to do manual CPR on me. They were later told that I was "gone" twice, but they managed to bring me back. I stayed in a drug-induced coma for those next 6 days until they could get the eclampsia under control. For the next 6 months I was given valium to prevent the seizures from returning.

I always thought that I was an "oddity" for having a simple childbirth go sour. I know now that there are many other women who have fought back and won from the eclampsia....and then there are those that didn't. I feel fortunate I was one of the lucky ones. God was with me that day.....along with a great medical staff.

Gretchen