My Dr. Didn't Listen

Mary Jo - 01:45pm Oct 19, 2005 EST
Mother & Grandmother of 34 wkr & 24 wkr

I have 3 children and have lost 6. This is about my 5th baby, who died during delivery, with me almost right behind him. It was after my Dr. had did surgery for endometreosis, (a d&c), had I first taken the birth control pill. It was their hope to keep me on this for 6 months w/o having a period, for "healing time". Of course before any of this was done, urine & blood tests were done to make sure I was not pregnant. Everything went fine, and I was home recovering on the pill. I was told that it would take a month or so for my body to adjust to the pill, and I never felt good from day one. I worked as a Case Manager for a Homeless Shelter, along with PR, and volunteer coordinating. I was unable to hold anything down, and continued to be in contact with my Dr about how sick I was. His response was that I had to give it time,.... After the 3rd month of feeling so weak, and began vomiting blood, his covering Dr said to meet her at the hospital to find out what was going on. She was so sweet, and was determind to find out why I looked so ill, She immediately drew bloods, and had me lay down while we waited. After 1 hour, she came to me and quietly asked me to go over the last 4 months starting with the surgery. She took a few minutes, and held my hands in hers, and said, "Mary Jo, You are about 16 wks pregnant, I have never had this happen before, but we believe the follicle was still traveling in the fallopian tube when you had the D&C, and why the pregnancy tests were neg. I'm so sorry if you are upset. WHAT???? I'm pregnant? HORRAY!!!! I couldn't believe it, what a miracle, wow, then this child was really meant to be, being concieved and surviving that surgery? Well, in the next few wks, I had my very first ultrasound. The tech laughed constantly, saying, "Oh what a happy baby, he is jumping and dancing all over the place, and can't get a good picture", since I had never seen a live ultrasound before, she spent a long time, letting me watch. He was so active, and at one point saw him sucking his thumb, awww.. she gave me some photo's to take home. After my 20th wk, I was talking to the local high school about Homelessness, and volunteerism, on stage in their auditorium, when I first felt something strange. It was like cramps, and when I got to my car, I was shocked to realize I was having mild contractions. (I had a 7 and 8 yr old) and had 3 losses already). So I called the Dr. immediately. He said to meet him in the ER. Hmm I thought, wonder why not up on L & D, better equipped up there, but who am I, he's the dr. By now, I was unable to stand straight being in so much pain. The nurse's in the ER were so kind, and reassuring. The Dr, took my blood pressure, urine sample, and put the doppler on my belly, and we all heard the reassuring beat of my baby's heartbeat. That was it..NOTHING else. He walked with me out to the waiting room, with me bent over, crying in pain! He said, "you probably have a urinary track infection, take this prescription, have a glass of wine to calm the cramping, and gt some rest". What did I know? We went home, and while I went to bed, my husband got the antibiotic. 3 hours later, I woke to an explosion of blood, immediately filling 2 bath towels with blood. I was screaming in pain, and hemmorraging. My husband called 911, and the fire dept, police, and 3 EMT's were all crowded in my bedroom. It took what seemed ages for them to move me between contractions, putting open iv in my arm. All screamed, was," please don't let me loose my baby"! I arrived back at the same hospital, with the same shit still on. They were horrified. At this point I had lost huge amounts of blood, and was in arrythmia, thready pulse, with now 2 open iv lines in. I had abrupted earlier that day, and had been internally bleeding all along. If the Dr had did an ultrasound, this would have been apparent. It got to the point that the Dr. told my husband that if I did not "pass" the baby now, I would die. So, they pushed on my belly and I delivered my still son. There are no words, none to convey what this was like. We had him in our arms, he was baptised with a little sea shell, and his at his funeral, my friends sang the lullaby that I should have been singing to him. The Dr. moved to California the next day, and still practice's. We moved on eventually, again, and remember our child who came for so short a time, but who will always live in our hearts. I never question my gut anymore, when I have questions, I speak them, one sad lesson learned. Thank you for reading my story of my angel in heaven. Mary Jo