The Big Day

It has been quite some time since I have written in this blog, I apologize; however, things have been completely crazy. My son was born in January and I find myself not having much time to update things as I once had. I wanted to update everyone who was interested in how the labor and delivery went since it was not a “normal” birth by any means thanks to my Syringomyelia. Thanks for reading!

I went to the doctor for my weekly checkup on January 16 and discovered that since my blood pressure was high for several days, I should be admitted for observance for at least 24 hours. Following my 24 hours my blood pressure stabilized, but my symptoms were still present. I saw spots and had a massive headache. They noted that in my lab results I had protein in my urine and was in fact diagnosed with Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH). After several emotional conversations with the doctors, nurses and my case manager, we decided it was in the best interest of the baby and me to stay in the hospital until he was delivered.

On Saturday I started feeling very poorly. I started cramping quite a bit and began having strong contractions. They were coming very fast and I was scared because I was only 35 weeks. We were planning to have the c-section moved up to the following Sunday to allow for my son to grow more and for his lungs to mature. They gave me medication and after several hours they stopped the contractions and I was relieved! They stated they would go ahead and complete a second 24 hour urine test the following day beginning at 6am.

The next day I spent feeling the same symptoms as before. The headache had not subsided and it felt as though everything was becoming more prominent. In the afternoon, while completing the urine test, I discovered that there was a considerable amount of blood in my sample. I called the nurses and they told me to get into the bed and hooked me up to monitors. I didn’t feel strong contractions so I asked if I could take a shower and they agreed. At that time I went to the restroom and discovered even more blood this time and started to panic. The nurses came in once I called and said they needed to call the doctor. When the doctor saw the blood, she examined me and discovered that there was even more blood. She said that the amount of blood I had was not considered normal and I needed to have the baby that night. She informed me that I had a placental abruption.

I went into surgery at 9:30pm and was terrified. The doctors, my husband and I decided that it was safer to have the baby via c-section with general anesthesia due to the Syringomyelia. The c-section was necessary due to the placental abruption and the discovery that my son had turned into a breech position overnight (which was likely what caused all the commotion the night before). During the c-section, my anesthesiologists were very careful about intubating me because of my Chiari type 0. A person with a Chiari should not have their heads hyper extended and they were very careful with me to ensure they did not extend my head too far.

When the doctor pulled my son from me, they discovered that the anesthesia had caused problems for him. His heart and breathing stopped and they had to revive him. For this, I am grateful that I was asleep; however, my being asleep is what caused these terrible issues to have occurred in the first place. The doctors got him stabilized and moved me into recovery and him into the NICU. My goal was to hold my son first, and that was no longer a possibility. I did not know that he was taken to the NICU until I was awake (obviously) and I had a very difficult time with this fact. I was not able to see him until the following morning at about 10am. I pushed myself so hard to pass all their physical tests in order to see my sweet son. Following delivery, I had an uneventful stay myself, aside from some stray bleeding from the placental abruption and the obvious pain from delivery. All my pain was masked because I could not have my little boy in the room with me. I was released four days after delivering and did not anticipate the NICU pediatrician would let my son go as we had hoped. We were pleasantly surprised when he stated that he would allow him to come home with us!

I spent 8 days in the hospital. None of these days were related to my Syringomyelia or Chiari malformation. I am not certain of what decision I would have made if I were to do this all over again. I realize that my son was affected by the anesthesia; however, he is here, healthy and in my arms just as I had hoped and prayed, despite the way he entered the world. I have had a strong relapse into the world of pain and discomfort caused by Syringomyelia following the birth of my son. I did not have nearly as many symptoms and felt almost “cured” while pregnant with him. Now I am back to the way I was before my pregnancy. After many doctor visits and MRI’s later, it has been decided that there is nothing anyone can do to minimize my symptoms. For now we are only treating the pain and hoping that one day a medication will help slow the degradation process. It’s not an easy thing to have, but it was the hand I was dealt and I will try to fight this as long as humanly possible – cure, or no cure.