Shane's Story - Chapter 2

Shane's Story - Chapter 2

(Graphic Warning)

My water broke at 6:00 am.  After waking my husband up and assuring him that no, I didn't have an accident, we got up to go to the hospital 2 weeks before my due date.

Polyhydramnios is a condition where there is too much amniotic fluid.  This dehydrates the mother and indicates a fetal anomaly.  In normal pregnancies, babies swallow this fluid.   In cherubs, some just cannot swallow it (with their stomachs, intestines, etc displaced).   My polyhydramnios was undiagnosed.   No one had thought to measure me so when my water broke, I mean my water REALLY broke.   It wasn't the cute little puddle shown in the movies and on TV.   I soaked the bed mattress, 3 changes of clothes before we left the house, the bathroom floor as I sat on the edge of the tub to shave my legs (hello, I was getting up on a delivery room table but not with hairy legs!  You women understand), the seat of the car and fluid was literally dripping from the stretcher they put me on in the ER to take me to L&D.  Yeah, that's not normal.

I was set to deliver at a small hospital in the county in Virginia where we lived.   It was about an hour from my house or maybe 45 minutes (it was 21 years ago).   There was no specialist, no NICU, the L&D unit had only 4 beds which probably only filled during a full moon.  It was one of only 2 options of nearby hospitals and it was where my sister had given birth 2 years earlier.   They didn't drop my nephew so I figured it was an ok hospital.  I was 19, what the heck did I know?

We got to the hospital by 7:30 am, our families arrived by 9:00 a.m. and filled the waiting room. We are both blessed to come from large, healthy families. Soon my contractions became noticeable.

13 hours I was in labor, which is pretty average.   I don't remember much about it honestly except that I was STARVING and there was a Burger King across the street from my hospital bed.  Other than that I remember climbing up my tilted bed to the top of it during a contraction and passing out and sliding down until the next one.   Giving birth is exhausting.  From 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., they remained bearable and I only dilated 1 cm.   At 6:00 I started to beg for pain killers. I was given 2 shots of Demerol and at 6:30, I had an epidural.  Too little, too late.  I was fully dilated and started to push. The baby's head seemed to be stuck in the birth canal. The doctor performed an episiotomy and at 6:55 p.m. my son made his entrance into the world with the help of forceps. With only the doctor, a nurse, an anesthesiologist, and Jeremy in the room, the baby was laid on my chest as the doctor cut the umbilical cord. Then my nightmare came true.

The baby turned blue as he tried to cry, with only little whimpers coming out of his tiny mouth. Jeremy had just left the room to announce to the world that he had a son. The nurse grabbed the baby and took him to the other side of the room, which was equipped with medical paraphernalia. The doctor delivered the placenta while I repeatedly asked; "Is he OK?". The baby was taken out of the room and over the hospital intercom blared "Code red, Newborn Nursery". I was in a state of shock, my nightmare was really coming true. For a while, I could only lay there, left alone on the delivery table, absorbing this fact. Jeremy came in and we both knew that the intercom operator was talking about our son. Jeremy went to tell the families but when he entered the waiting room, he broke down crying. I began screaming "Where's my baby? What's wrong with my baby?".

You know those books and movies about out of body experiences?   I could hear myself screaming but it was like I was listening to someone else.  I was in the nightmare I had had every night for 9 months.  The room was the same bland hospital room, the bed the same.  I was alone.  I was screaming.

My doctor came in to stitch up the episiotomy and the tearing that was caused by delivering the baby by forceps. He wouldn't answer my pleas, only did his job and kept quiet while listening to my screams and threats.  20 stitches so he was there a long time not answering me!  I was starting to yell that I was going to get up off that delivery table and hunt my baby down.   Literally as I was pulling myself up off the table, the nurse came in with the pediatrician.   It was my anesthesiologist who figured out what was wrong with my son, not my OB or the pediatrician.   There was no pediatrician in the hospital at 7:00 pm to rush in to help my baby so the anesthesiologist took care of him until the pediatrician got there.   By this time they had been gone so long they had done x-rays and bagged him (CPR mask hooked to oxygen shoving air into his lungs by hand pressure) for probably 30 to 45 minutes, maybe over an hour.   This is not something a CDH baby is very fond of to put it mildly.

The pediatrician held up the x-ray in front of Jeremy and me and said coldly, with no expression on his face "By x-ray we can tell your son has many problems. He was born with multiple, severe birth defects that affect his lungs, heart, and reproductive system. He has a Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia, which means there is a hole in his diaphragm and organs in his chest cavity preventing him from breathing. He will need surgery to correct all his problems. I sent for the helicopter.  You need to tell him good-bye because he probably won't live to be transported" and he walked out of the room.

January 28, 1993 - my CDH Awareness Day.

I wish I had some cute delivery photos of a proud mom and dad and disgustingly un-washed newborn swaddled in my arms, but I don't.

Vote for CDH Babies!!!!

Vote for CDH Babies!!!!

CHERUBS is in the Vivint Gives Back Contest on Facebook!

June 14 - August 27, 20011

Vote for CHERUBS every day to help the babies!




Click here to vote now!

CHERUBS is participating the Vivint Gives Back Contest on Facebook and we need your votes!    How to vote:

1.  Go to http://www.voteforcdh.org/

2.  Log in through Facebook and vote

3.  Repeat daily through August 27, 2011

If you're having
troubles with the voting and endorsing process (you're getting an error
telling you to like the page first repeatedly), do the following:

1. On Facebook, go to Account --> Privacy settings2. In the privacy settings page you should see a 'Connecting on Facebook' section. click 'View Settings'.
3. Set 'See your likes, activities, and other connections' to 'everyone'.
This process lets the website see that you have liked the Vivint page, and you will then stop receiving this error.

What Will $250,000 Be Used For?

Should CHERUBS win the Vivint Gives Back contest, money won would go to:

$145,000 for CDH Research

• $125,000 for collaberative research with Massachusetts General to pay for lab kits for over 100 families for genetic research into CDH
• $10,000 for programming for the long term CDH Research study database to review patient histories and similarities
• $10,000 to medical conferences for families and researchers

$95,000 for CDH Support

• $10,000 to help sponsor a CDH patient, baby Rhett,
  who is currently in an orphanage in the Ukraine.  We have several
  families who want to adopt him and bring him to the U.S.
• $25,000 for Financial Help for families to help cover travel costs to and from the hospital
• $30,000 for support services
  (support forums, web sites, mailings, newsletters, volunteer software,
  toll-free number, adopt a hospital kits and much more).  All
  services to families are always FREE.
• $5,000 for local member get-togethers around the country
• $10,000 to CDH HOPE Totebag care packages for newborn and expectant babies diagnosed with CDH
• $10,000 to reinstate new member welcome packages
• $5,000 to scholarship fund for CDH survivors and siblings

 

$10,000 for CDH Awareness

• $1500 for CDH Awareness Bracelets for families
• $1500 for CDH Awareness Ribbons for families
• $1500 for CDH Awareness Brochures
• $500 for Balloons for Memorial & Awareness Releases
• $1000 for Save the Cherubs Campaign Wings
• $1000 for Marching in Town Parades
• $3000 for CDH Awareness Billboards & Posters