Strawberrygirl
Active Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Well, where to begin...
On 26th Jan I went to a routine antenatal clinic appt, I had been feeling rough all week with what I thought was an upset stomach but turned out to be pre-eclampsia!
When I got to clinic I listed my symptoms, abdominal pain, headaches, flashing lights in my eyes and very swollen legs, arms, hands and feet. They took my blood pressure which was through the roof and checked my urine which was full of protien and told me that they wanted to admit me and take bloods. I was 36+4 weeks pregnant.
When I got to the antenatal ward they told me that the levels in my blood were dangerous to me and baby and that they needed to start my labour. that evening I was moved to labour ward and given my 1st steroid injection and 1st induction pessary. In the morning this was repeated.
By 3pm on the 27th I was 3cm dialated and the artificially broke my waters and started me on an induction drip. It was at this point that my contractions got really painfull and seemed to be constantly there.
I was given an epidural, which took many attempts to get in as my back was also swollen. Once it was in it didn't work as my left side was still painfull, they kept topping it up but it was no good. The consultant eventually came and sited another one which worked well.
It was about 1/2hr later that consultant obstetrician came to see me and told me that my urine output had stopped ( I had a catheter) and I had high levels of ketones. He told me that I needed to go for an emergency cesarean section.
10mins later they wheeled me to theatre and told my husband to wait outside for a few minutes. In theatre they gave me a spinal block through my epidural, but this combined with all the other top ups i'd had with the failed epidural ment that i'd had too much anasthetic and I found it very difficult to breathe and lost all sensation in my body, I couldn't even wriggle my little finger. It was so scary and I thought they were going to have to intubate me.
It was terrifiying for my husband too as through the door he could hear the doctors panicking and saying that the patient had comprimised breathing and there is fetal distress.
There was nothing that they could do for me except give me oxygen and sit me slightly upright while I had the c/s. I was told that the effects would wear off after a couple of hours.
The surgeon was very quick and within a few minutes my beautiful baby girl Lucy Rose was born at 19.13 weighing 6lb 11oz.
She didn't need any help with her breathing but she did need to go to special care for 24 hrs due to low blood sugars, which was for the best really as I was so ill I couldn't have done anything for her.
I spent 4 days on labour ward with strict bed rest. On the 5th day I was allowed to go to the shower and on the 6th day I was moved to the postnatal ward. My blood levels were still dangerous at this point and my blood pressure was still very high. I was unrecognisable as my whole body was swollen and when they tried to take blood from me all they got was water. Lucy however was doing really well and just being with her has helped me through all of this, along with the wonderful support of my amazing husband who never left my side.
On day 8 we were allowed home. Lucy continues to do very well and my bloods have sorted themselves out but my blood pressure remains very high, i'm on lots of drugs to help this and have been told it can take weeks to sort out.
I'm crying as I write this as it brings it all back. I'm hoping to have a meeting with the doctors soon to discuss what happened and have a de-breif.
One thing I can say for sure is that Lucy Rose is so worth it, i'm so in love with her it hurts!
Here is a link to my facebook page where there are photos if you would like to see them. Helen xxx.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=837307570
On 26th Jan I went to a routine antenatal clinic appt, I had been feeling rough all week with what I thought was an upset stomach but turned out to be pre-eclampsia!
When I got to clinic I listed my symptoms, abdominal pain, headaches, flashing lights in my eyes and very swollen legs, arms, hands and feet. They took my blood pressure which was through the roof and checked my urine which was full of protien and told me that they wanted to admit me and take bloods. I was 36+4 weeks pregnant.
When I got to the antenatal ward they told me that the levels in my blood were dangerous to me and baby and that they needed to start my labour. that evening I was moved to labour ward and given my 1st steroid injection and 1st induction pessary. In the morning this was repeated.
By 3pm on the 27th I was 3cm dialated and the artificially broke my waters and started me on an induction drip. It was at this point that my contractions got really painfull and seemed to be constantly there.
I was given an epidural, which took many attempts to get in as my back was also swollen. Once it was in it didn't work as my left side was still painfull, they kept topping it up but it was no good. The consultant eventually came and sited another one which worked well.
It was about 1/2hr later that consultant obstetrician came to see me and told me that my urine output had stopped ( I had a catheter) and I had high levels of ketones. He told me that I needed to go for an emergency cesarean section.
10mins later they wheeled me to theatre and told my husband to wait outside for a few minutes. In theatre they gave me a spinal block through my epidural, but this combined with all the other top ups i'd had with the failed epidural ment that i'd had too much anasthetic and I found it very difficult to breathe and lost all sensation in my body, I couldn't even wriggle my little finger. It was so scary and I thought they were going to have to intubate me.
It was terrifiying for my husband too as through the door he could hear the doctors panicking and saying that the patient had comprimised breathing and there is fetal distress.
There was nothing that they could do for me except give me oxygen and sit me slightly upright while I had the c/s. I was told that the effects would wear off after a couple of hours.
The surgeon was very quick and within a few minutes my beautiful baby girl Lucy Rose was born at 19.13 weighing 6lb 11oz.
She didn't need any help with her breathing but she did need to go to special care for 24 hrs due to low blood sugars, which was for the best really as I was so ill I couldn't have done anything for her.
I spent 4 days on labour ward with strict bed rest. On the 5th day I was allowed to go to the shower and on the 6th day I was moved to the postnatal ward. My blood levels were still dangerous at this point and my blood pressure was still very high. I was unrecognisable as my whole body was swollen and when they tried to take blood from me all they got was water. Lucy however was doing really well and just being with her has helped me through all of this, along with the wonderful support of my amazing husband who never left my side.
On day 8 we were allowed home. Lucy continues to do very well and my bloods have sorted themselves out but my blood pressure remains very high, i'm on lots of drugs to help this and have been told it can take weeks to sort out.
I'm crying as I write this as it brings it all back. I'm hoping to have a meeting with the doctors soon to discuss what happened and have a de-breif.
One thing I can say for sure is that Lucy Rose is so worth it, i'm so in love with her it hurts!
Here is a link to my facebook page where there are photos if you would like to see them. Helen xxx.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=837307570
Wonderful news and congratulations on the birth of your beautiful baby girl! 
