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Our daughter, Harper Maria, was born at 1:19am August 14, 2006. She is our third child and has reminded us that life is precious and miracles can happen. | |
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pregnancy with Harper was uneventful. We had a Level 2 ultrasound around 18
weeks and were relieved to find the results were normal. Since I am a
pediatric nurse and my husband is a pediatric cardiologist, we have some
knowledge of what could have been found. I continued to go through the
pregnancy without any issues. The night of August 13, 2006 revealed otherwise. I decided to go to the hospital around 10:00pm after experiencing 3 hours of regular and painful contractions because my second child was delivered precipitously (a delivery in <2 hrs.). Because of my history, I was checked in, examined, and had an epidural placed by 11:30pm. The obstetrician on call arrived and ruptured my membranes around 12:15am. My husband noted an unusually significant amount of blood in the amniotic fluid, but there was no concern from the OB or L&D nurse. We were advised to rest and that they would be back to check on us. They left the room at 12:30am, and I commented to my husband that things were going “unusually well” for us and that I felt uneasy for some reason. Over the next 20 minutes, my husband noticed some late decelerations in the fetal heart rate; we had kept an eye on the monitor because as health care professionals it is difficult for us to relinquish all of our care. A few minutes later, I felt a very sudden profound movement from Harper, and at that moment the heart rate disappeared from the monitor. My husband went to the desk to get the nurse. She came in to check me and when she pulled the sheets back we discovered that I was lying in a very large pool of blood. Unfortunately, I was unaware of the bleeding due to the epidural. The nurse called the OB stat and after a quick assessment, she calmly explained that something was wrong and that she was preparing to do a cesarean. She first confirmed a heart rate of 90/min for Harper and then quietly told my husband that Harper should be “ok” but she was concerned that I was bleeding from a ruptured uterus since I had delivered my first child by cesarean. The surgical team took me to the operating room with my husband at my side anticipating that Harper would be fine. To everyone’s surprise she was not fine, upon her removal from my uterus it was clear that she was bleeding, not me. The OR suddenly became very frazzled and disorganized. My husband later described Harper as being pasty white, motionless, and gasping. He turned to me and the look on his face revealed the seriousness of her condition. I told him “I was fine and to go take care of Harper” so he left my side and began the most traumatizing hour of his life trying to save her. I began crying and saying, “Why isn’t she crying?” and “How do I bury a baby?” Although the community hospital did not have an “in house” neonatologist, there was a pediatrician, also called a hospitalist, available for emergencies. This pediatrician and my husband resuscitated Harper for over an hour and were able to save her life through various interventions, but most importantly acquiring the access needed to give her blood. Afterward, the neonatologist arrived and finished stabilizing Harper and she was transported to another hospital with a Level 3 NIC  U. I
was in shock over the next few days as Harper
remained in critical condition, experiencing multi-organ failure and
continuing to require numerous blood transfusions. We were unsure of what
direction she would go, but after 5 days she
finally started to improve, and 5 days later on August 24th we brought her
home to her brother and sister. It remains difficult not knowing what the future holds and specifically, what needs she may have. Either way, we are forever affected by our experience and are overwhelmed with the love and joy she has brought to our lives. Julianna & John Rhodes |
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