Story for March of Dimes: On 12/16/12 I delivered Joshua Wayne Spuler at 18 weeks who was 7 ozs. Prior to delivering there had been a series of events. I had gotten sick and had a stomach bug right after Thanksgiving that year and had terrible vomitting. I went to dr and Joshua was fine via ultrasound. Then on December 1 I had terrible bleeding during intercourse and went via ambulance to hospital and everything was fine with baby and it was just that I had cervical polyp so I was on pelvic bedrest and saw Dr a few days later who removed it in the office. After that scare everything was fine with baby and mom. Then on Friday Dec 14, 2012 my water broke driving home from date night with my husband as we were pulling into driveway and I was laughing. I thought I had maybe peed myself. When I got up and more water came out I knew this wasnt good. We headed to hospital that evening and I remember laughing more with my husband saying this was going to be ridiculous if I just peed myself and am in ER. As soon as Dr walked in our pushed back fears were all brought back and confirmed with the look on his face. He said he was so sorry but that the baby was fine but I had no amniotic fluid left to protect baby. I started crying as he held my hand and said that the odds werent good and that he was pretty sure I would go into labor pretty soon and they wouldnt stop it since the chance of baby having birth defects due to no amniotic fluid. So I was sent home on home bedrest and since it was a Friday my Dr appt was Monday. It was terrible waiting around and laying in bed leaking. Then Saturday evening I went into back labor and went to hospital and delivered Joshua. Then three months later I got pregnant again and my OB had said this was a fluke and probably wouldnt happen again. But I asked to speak with a Maternal Fetal Medicine Dr and she said it is possible I could have had IC and with auptosy and placental check with Joshua it showed I had group B strep on my placenta but Dr said it could have been from being ruptured and not the cause. So I met with a new OB and MFM and decided to do a preventative transvaginal cerclage at 12 weeks. I also had low progesterone both pregnancies so I was on progesterone vaginal suppositories from babys first positive to 12 weeks. The surgery went well and at 15 weeks I started p17 shots. At 20 week appt I started funneling to the stitch and my cerival length was under the 2.5 cm limit so they put me on home bed rest. In the weeks to come it went down to 1.8 cm so at 24 weeks I was given two doses of steroid shots and the bedrest stayed. My OB and MFM argued about the bedrest but I figured I would be cautious and do it. I made it to 32 weeks when my water partially ruptured on Nov 1, 2013. I again thought I was wrong and that dribble was just discharge or pee. I didnt even take anything with me and when I got there they confirmed it with fern test and some other test that they insert something real quickly vaginally. So I was admitted to hospital and given 48 hrs of magnesium and 2 doses of steroids and iv antibiotics. And after 48 hours they removed my in tact transvaginal stitch since they said that can wick up infection from vagina if I am ruptured. Then I had 5 days of oral antibiotics. I never was in labor or had contractions just had very occasional stomach tightening. So I was on hospital bed rest until 11/14/13 (almost 14 days) when baby died in utero in the night. During bedrest I had been having twice a day non stress tests and baby had always had strong heartbeat. And I felt great just waiting around for 34 weeks so Sean would avoid as much NICU time as we could. And they thought I had reseal ed my minor rupture as my amniotic fluid was always over 8 cm normal range and was in the 9-11 cm range. So the morning of 11/14 I woke up and took my thyroid medicine and drank a large glass of water. That always woke my Sean up and make him kick me. Except this time it didnt and I immediately started worrying. Two days before I had felt no movement after eating lunch and they did extra non stress test and he immediately started kicking and they found heartbeat. Well this time I was more frantic and called nurse she again got non stress test but we could only find my heartbeat. I started crying and she said to stay calm and that she would get nurse with ultrasound machine. Immediately when they put it to show his chest I knew there was no flicker and I broke down crying. I knew it. She didnt have to say anything. It was 7 am so they called my OB who was just getting in. He came right over and confirmed Sean had died. I had to call my husband and family and tell them what happened which was terrible. I could barely speak. My husband was dropping my son off ans I had called husband while waiting for ultrasound and told him they were having trouble finding heartbeat. It was definitely the worst of times by all means. Then my husband and family arrived and they started discussing since baby had died it would be easier to recover without c section surgery and to try it as baby was only 4-5 lbs estimated. So they induced me and I delivered sweet Sean Matthew Spuler a few hours later. It was so sad yet I was happy to hold him and see him. We didnt have my 4 yr old son meet him as I thought it would be too much. The photographer from Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep was so awesome. She took some awesome photos and captured the feelings and love we have for Sean Matthew. My Dr and OB were sure it wasnt infection and that baby had died from cord compression or something like that although the cord was not wrapped around him or anything. After the autopsy and placental check came back it confirmed that he indeed was infected for sometime. They found gram negative rods in his lungs due to infected amniotic fluid and he had hemmoraging in some organs which they called sepsis. So we definitely know he had infection. And they found there was small placental clot too. I had been on blood thinner since bfp but it was a preventative dose. So they said in future pregnancies they will do higher. On 4/14/2014 I had a transabdominal cerclage placed by Dr Haney in Chicago IL. I am extremely hopeful for our future and saddened by our past and loss of two sweet angels Sean and Joshua. We have a 5 yr old Kaleb whose pregnancy was perfect but had a tough labor and eventual c section.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 14:13:03 +0000
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