When something is going on with your body, chances are you’re going to be the first one to know. While medical professionals have experience healing the body, only you know what it’s like to live in yours. You’re the expert. And when something is wrong, not only do you need to speak up, you need to continue advocating for yourself until something is done. This can be particularly true during pregnancy and childbirth.
Thankfully, that’s what one mom did when she started experiencing intense pain toward the end of her pregnancy. She was sent home from the hospital, but knew something was wrong. Her persistence helped to save her daughter Frankie’s life. After some trepidation, she decided to share her story with the public, via the Tiny Hearts Foundation.
This mom went into labor at 39 weeks.
The mother, who did not disclose her name, had a normal pregnancy. During her 20-week scan, there was no cause for concern. But at 39 weeks, she started having contractions. Most of us expect some level of pain or discomfort during labor, but she said what she was experiencing was unusual.
“The pain I felt during labour is indescribable … I thought my insides were being ripped out slowly, one by one. I had to crawl along the car park floor and the walls into the hospital when we arrived. I was vomiting from the pain,” she explained.
Despite the immense pain, doctors sent her home.
She went to the hospital, but when doctors examined her and found that she had only dilated 2 centimeters, they told her she wasn’t close to delivering and sent her back home. After two hours, she couldn’t tolerate the pain any longer.
She went back to the hospital. While there, two midwives stepped in and saved both mom and baby’s life. When medical professionals broke her water, she almost immediately started bleeding and lost 700 milliliters of blood — about 1 1/2 pints.
When Frankie was delivered, she needed resuscitation.
Frankie’s heart rate was dropping and so was mom’s. She had to undergo an emergency C-section. When Frankie was delivered, she needed resuscitation and CPR. She’d lost oxygen and was eventually transferred to another hospital.
While there, Frankie received therapeutic hypothermia. It’s a cooling procedure that lowers the body temperature, slows the metabolic rate, and allows the brain heal. The treatment has been shown to reduce that chances of death and disability.
Frankie was reunited with her mom five days postpartum.
The mom was separated from her daughter entirely for two days. She was finally able to hold Frankie five days postpartum. She learned that Frankie’s condition and her own pain had been a result of a placental abruption. Babies born with this condition have a 60% chance of stillbirth and a 25% chance of long-term brain damage, the mom explained.
A week after her birth, an MRI revealed Frankie had two small holes in her brain. “Our miracle girl, Frankie, has the most strength I’ve ever witnessed,” she said.
'The awareness and message I would like to get out there is that, as women, we need to speak up when it comes to our health,' Frankie's mom writes.
Now, at 2 years old, Frankie is absolutely thriving, her mother writes. She shares her story so other mothers can be aware. “Prior to birth, I had never heard of a placental abruption … The awareness and message I would like to get out there is that, as women, we need to speak up when it comes to our health," she said.
"We have a high pain tolerance which can sometimes be shrugged off by health professionals. If you know something is not right, speak up. I knew something was wrong, but I didn't speak up. It scares me to think that I could have been writing a completely different story today.”
