Survivors

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Hi. Our story started when I was 35 weeks pregnant. I began to get excruitiating pain under my ribs. I called the midwife who told me not to worry and that it was only heartburn. That night I couldn't sleep because of the pain and I started to get horrific headaches. Unbeknown to me it was my bp getting dangetously high. By the morning I lost my vision and my husband who was at work came home and rushed me to casualty. After that it is all a blank. I was rushed into emergrencies and 7 doctors had to attend to me as I was hysterical...totally blind and in pain - my blood pressure had soared to 260!!l! They eventually managed to sedate me so they could do an emergency Caeserian to fet my baby out and then get a CAT scan on my brain. My son was delivered in 5 minutes tiny but perfect weighing 1kilo350g. He was immediately taken to Neonatal Intensive Care and placed in an incubator. I was given the CAT scan and three black areas were discovered in my brain. Meanwhile my husband was waiting for 8 hours to get news of me. The docs had to put me into a coma to try to save my life. They eventually told my husband I had a 50/50 chance of survival and he had to call my parents and brother in Scotland to tell them to come. (We live in Catalonia, Spain). I woke up from the coma 28 hours later with my family at my side but my BP soared again when I didn't see my baby. He was on another floor of the hospital and I didn't get to meet him until a week later. I remember the doctors pulling the sheet back to check my C-section wound and gasping when they saw I was haemorraging profusely. My platelets were dangerously low. They administered  5 units of blood and I was rushed to the operating theatre once again to perform emergency surgery. After that it is all a blur. I was in Intensive Care for 6 days and once I was taken to the maternity floor I finally met my son in Neonatel Intensive Care. It was a very emotional meeting. Everyone was crying and the minute I saw my baby my milk flooded my gown. Of course I wasn't allowed to breastfeed because of all the medications I was on. I had seven IV drips in my jugular vien pumping vital medication into my system. The headaches were horrific for daysbut eventually subsided. I was discharged after 2 weeks but spent every minute I could with our son in the Neonatal Unit. Once his weight reached 2 kilos he was allowed home. We left the hospital on the 14th February 2005. Our best Valentine's gift ever in our arms. Our son is now 12. A healthy boy who is very active and sporty. I have been on Enalapril 30mg ever since to control my BP and I have PTSD and suffered chronic post natal depression but we survived and have lived to tell our story.