The Abdominators

I found out I was pregnant with Abby right before Cora turned 4 months old.  Abby was due on Thanksgiving Day, and she and Cora would be 12 months and 3 weeks apart (with Abby being a repeat Section at 39 weeks).  Shortly after I found out I was pregnant with Abby problems started popping up.  It was determined at 5 weeks pregnant that I had a massive Subchorionic bleed and to expect to miscarry.  Well that prognosis went on through weekly ultrasounds until about 13 weeks when the radiologist gave me a preliminary diagnosis of Placenta percreta, a very rare and extremely dangerous condition where the placenta grows through the uterus and attached to other nearby organs and causes Massive hemorrhage. After several long and tearful (from both me and my doctor) visits with my OB that day and the next, I was scheduled for an urgent ultrasound with the Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialists 2 days later.  I was told by my OB to pack a bag and expect to be admitted to the hospital immediately after that appointment.  Fast forward 2 days and I was admitted to the hospital until the pregnancy was over: either immediately as a c- section hysterectomy and pregnancy termination or trying to wait it out on hospital bed rest to see if we could get to a point where we could attempt to deliver Abby via C-hyst.  We made it to 25 weeks and the doctors made the decision that it was too risky for me to continue much longer and we decided that 28 weeks was the best compromise between my safety and keeping Abby in.  Surgery was scheduled for 27+4.  Immediately prior to that I had a second round (first round was at 22 weeks) of steroid shots for lung development and spent 24 hrs on a Magnesium drip for Abby’s neuroprotection.  On the day of delivery, I first spent 3hrs in interventional radiology having balloon catheters placed in my femoral arteries to help slow blood loss during surgery.  After the catheters were placed, I said goodbye to my husband and wheeled into the OR.  Because of the riskiness of the surgery I was going to be under general anesthesia the whole time and my husband would not be allowed into the OR.  The OR was packed with 30+ surgeons, doctors, nurses and residents/fellows who wanted to see the surgery.  Abby was born about an hour after I was put under via a vertical incision from xyphoid all the way down to my pervious horizontal C-Section incisions.  After Abby’s delivery I spent another ~7 hours in surgery as the surgeons preformed hysterectomy portion and tried to control massive hemorrhaging.  I woke up 24hrs later still intubated in the ICU and it was another 2 days before I was able to meet Abby in the NICU.  Recovery was difficult, and included 2 follow up surgeries to repair bladder damage for the original C-Hyst.  All total, I spent 3hrs in IR, 8hrs+ in the OR, lost 8 LITERS of blood, received 40 units of blood and products (including 15 units of whole blood) and spent over 24hrs in the ICU.