The doctors did not immediately understand what was happening, and even tried to send home the mother of two children, who needed an urgent operation.
The pregnancy of 21-year-old Katie Shirley went completely normal. Well, except that there was anemia – but this phenomenon is quite common among expectant mothers, usually it does not cause much concern and is treated with iron preparations. This continued until the 36th week, when Katy suddenly started bleeding.
“It’s good that my mother was with me. We arrived at the hospital, and I was immediately sent for an emergency caesarean, ”says Katie.
It turns out that by that time the placenta was already old – according to doctors, it practically disintegrated.
“How my baby got the nutrients is not clear. If they had waited a few more days with the cesarean, Olivia would have been left without air, ”the girl continues.
The child was born with an intrauterine infection – the condition of the placenta affected. The girl was kept in the intensive care unit and treated with antibiotics.
“Olivia (that was the name of the girl, – ed.) Was recovering quickly, and every day I felt worse. It seemed to me that something was wrong with my body, as if it were not mine, ”says the young mother.
The first attack overtook Katie seven weeks after the birth of Olivia. The girl and the child were already at home. Katie was in the bathroom talking to her mother on the phone when she collapsed to the floor.
“It darkened in my eyes, I lost consciousness. And when I regained consciousness, I was in a terrible panic, my heart was pounding so wildly that I was afraid that it would burst, ”she recalls.
Mom took the girl to the hospital. But the doctors did not find anything suspicious and sent Katie back home. However, the mother’s heart resisted: Katie’s mother insisted that her daughter be sent for a computed tomography. And she was right: the pictures clearly showed that Katie had an aneurysm in the brain, and she fainted due to a stroke.
The girl needed an urgent operation. Now there was no question of any “go home”. Katie was sent to intensive care: in two days the pressure in the brain was removed, and on the third she was operated on.
“It turned out that due to problems with the placenta, I also had an infection. The bacteria entered the bloodstream, practically poisoning the blood, and caused an aneurysm, and then a stroke, ”explained Katie.
The girl is fine now. But every six months she will have to return to the hospital for examination, since the aneurysm has not gone anywhere – she has only been stabilized.
“I can’t imagine how my two daughters would have lived without me if I hadn’t insisted on a cesarean, if my mother had not insisted on an MRI. You should always seek tests if you are in any doubt, says Katie. “The doctors later said that I only miraculously survived – three out of five people who survived this die.”