Although many have heard about pre-eclampsia and many women struggle with the condition, there is not much education provided about the risks associated if it is left untreated or what danger progressing to eclampsia can present for mother and baby. Recently, we helped a family who experienced the true terror eclampsia can cause and the impact made on the entire family. Since their experience, the husband and new father has made it his new mission to advocate for the education of eclampsia in hope of preventing another family from facing the same nightmare he and his family faced. This is their story:
“The nurse brought our daughter out to me swaddled so tight, wearing a pink cap, and handed her to me at 9:50am. My life changed, but it didn’t change outside of those doors. While I just became a first time father, I also thought I was going to be a single father. The events leading up to my daughter being born aren’t the events going into a happy-nervous-expecting type of delivery.
Sometime between 6am and 7am, I was awoken by the loudest crashing sound from our master bathroom followed by my wife laying on her back, seizing and choking on her own tongue and vomit. I saw the color leaving her body by the second. I applied as much pressure as I physically could to pry her mouth open to essentially open her airway, begging her not to die. After I got her breathing, I used a floor mat to keep her head tilted incase she threw up again so I could make a call to 9-1-1. While my first call was dropped, they immediately called me back, but I had to stay in the living room during this call all while hearing her seizing again. I begged the operator to get them here fast and he told me to unlock the door and get back there to her. Within minutes, 2 county cops were here and a few minutes after that, the ambulance arrived. We got her stable, but when we went to move her she went into her third seizure. We moved her again and she had another seizure. We gave up on the stretcher and decided to drag her out of the house on a tarp because it was quicker. After they got her in the back of the ambulance, I took a minute to call her mom and tell them what just happened and where they were taking her. It was a quarter after 7am by this point. While talking to her mom, she had another seizure in the back of the ambulance before we even left the driveway. The driver looked at me and said, “Let’s go.” I got in the car and followed behind. Somewhere between Carson Springs Road and before they got off the interstate, she had her fifth seizure that I didn’t witness and didn’t know happened until I got to the hospital. After I gave the nurses some information and met with her mom in the emergency room, we were guided to where she was. I walked into the room of a very confused and combative wife. She was snatching IVs out, the fetal monitor, and the oxygen off her face. She was going through the effects of so many seizures. Then she had her sixth seizure in front of us all. The doctor had already made the call for an emergency C-section before we even got there. The OB nurses got her prepped, and off they went. I wasn’t allowed in because of how quickly they took the baby.
I give my life to the OB department at Newport’s hospital. The nurses and doctors saved my wife and daughter. It wasn’t until after our daughter was born I found out that my wife suffered from eclampsia. All while it is normal for some women to swell and gain weight during pregnancy, my wife had so many signs of pre-eclampsia during her pregnancy that her regular doctor just didn’t seem too worried about or just wasn’t educated enough about. We don’t know why he kept sending us home after every visit every week of her last trimester until week 38, when we pleaded with the man that it was physically killing her and the swelling and fluid build up had taken over her. He then decided to set a date and time for us to come in and be induced 2 days later.
We didn’t make that nervous, but also excited trip to Sevierville that day. Instead, she was rushed to Newport because her life and the baby’s life depended on it. The signs were there. The fluid reached her brain and caused the seizures. The fluid around her heart and lungs caused the poor circulation. I found out the hard way of what can happen if pre-eclampsia in pregnancy goes unnoticed or ignored. I can not stress enough the importance and value of life this condition has on someone. Please, talk to your doctor, nurse, mail man, whoever at the first sign of pre eclampsia; and there are signs: excessive swelling, weight gain, seeing spots in your vision, headaches, high blood pressure, etc. Because I promise, once a loved one goes into eclampsia, it is a matter of life or death, including the baby.
Once again the staff at Newport saved my family. It was a very long week, and we are keeping a close eye on blood pressure and it’s been brought up that this could be a daily task now with medication to keep it regulated. It doesn’t just go away. She, along with the baby, are now at risk of heart disease. This needs to be talked about more, and thanks to Brooke and her organization, Motherly Love, the word is getting out there. The visit from her meant a lot to us. I hope to join Brooke on her journey to tell our story in front of crowds so this doesn’t happen again. Those 53 hoursI spent alone in a hospital room with a new born while my wife was over in ICU, not knowing she even had a baby, is something I don’t want any other family to go through.”
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