After the nurse consulted with the doctor, I was given some medicine to reduce the nausea and sick feeling. The drugs made me feel much better that I even told the nurse not to wake me up at their midnight rounds, to just let me sleep since I was feeling extremely tired.
At around 3am, my husband suddenly woke up with an urge to check on me. And when he did, he found me experiencing a seizure and foaming at the mouth. He immediately called the nurses, who called my doctor and in no time, I was in theatre. Without any knowledge of how long I had been unconscious or the condition of the baby, it was a race against time to try and save us both. I had multiple seizures on my way to theatre as well as on the operating table before the surgery began. Thankfully the operation went well and my daughter was delivered at 4.03am. As she was rushed to Newborn ICU (NICU) to be attended to, I was left fighting for my life.
My family was told that I would wake up in about two hours, but two hours turned into four… to six… I did not wake up until 5pm! When I woke up, I thought I was in a dream, because I was told that I had already delivered my baby, yet I had no memory of it at all. But I was still not in the clear because even after waking up, my blood pressure was still very high so I was closely monitored.
Perhaps the most painful part for me is that I did not get to see my daughter until four days later. I came to learn I developed preeclampsia, which had turned into full blown eclampsia in just a matter of hours, which had necessitated the emergency delivery of my baby.
Read: Preeclampsia: All You Need to Know
Most Important lessons learned from the experience
The most important lesson I have learned is to cherish life, and be thankful for each day I get to live and spend it with my daughter. I know it’s not by man’s power that my daughter and I are alive today, but by the grace of God. This experience made me grow spiritually.
Also Read: Doryce Olough: I Lost my Baby to Preeclampsia
As moms I know we get exhausted, especially in the first few months, learning to nurse, getting up every two hours and healing from natural or caesarean section but what I would urge every mom is to cherish that moment, because there is a mom out there who never got to hold their baby, or only got to hold them when they were lifeless so please enjoy those moments and cherish every single one of them.” -End
So that is Caroline’s story. Do you have a pregnancy or motherhood experience that you would like other moms to learn from? Email me on maryanne@mummytales.com
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