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Cathy shares her emergency CBAC birth story. Thank you for sharing your story for all to read!

On September 18th, my “due” date, I went into labor with our second daughter and headed to the hospital. Labor progressed throughout the night and the next day around 2ish I received an epidural and decided to take a nap.

A little while later, I suddenly woke up and said, “My heart is racing.” My wonderful husband, Eli, went to get the nurse. By the time he retuned with the nurse I was slumped over and a “Code Blue” was called. At this point my husband and doula were rushed out of the room as several nurses and doctors rushed in. My husband said it was so surreal. There were probably about 40 doctors and nurses from different specialties lined up outside my room waiting to be called in if they were needed. 

The OB/GYN hospitalist decided to do an emergency cesarean in the L&D room which probably saved my daughter from further trauma. Then they started working on me. After about 15 minutes they stabilized me and rushed me to an operating room to figure out what was going on. I coded several more times in the OR and needed surgery because my lung collapsed, I had a clot in it, and my lung was where my heart was supposed to be. I also went into disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). This where your body is bleeding from every orifice and throws bloods clots at the same time. I had blood clots in my right hand, in my brain which caused a stroke, and in the veins leading to my kidneys and legs which caused my kidneys to shut down and cut off blood supply to my legs. The doctors even talked about a double amputation and kidney transplant, but thankfully both were not needed, although I do have the perfect donor since I’m an identical twin.

Over the course of the next week I had 5 more surgeries, including a hysterectomy and was put on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). ECMO saved my life because my heart and lungs were not working properly. I was in a coma for a total of 9 days. Although I did not get my VBAC, I am extremely grateful for the doctors and nurses who saved my life.

Thank you, Cathy, for sharing your story with us.