Welcome to birth trauma stories Podcast
Hospital Day 11 9.28.19
1:20pm update
Cathy is very awake today and showing leaps and bounds of improvement in the movement of her legs and hands,
praise the Lord!
The CT scan showed that the fluid around her brain and spinal cord has remained the same, but we are so thankful it has not increased. She is still not passing the tests to remove the ventilator. Please continue to pray for the fluid and pressure to return to normal in her brain and spinal cord, and for healing and strength in her lungs. She is showing full understanding when communicating and was smiling today when talking with her. Pray for God to renew her hope and strength. Thank you, prayer warriors to continue to intercede on her behalf.
I remember waking up this day very confused. “Ouch! Moving really hurts!” “Why can’t I bend my arms to scratch my face!”
Apparently I tried to remove my ventilator on my own and had to wear cuffs around my elbows. I was ready to breathe on my own! When Eli came to visit me that day, he told all about what happened. Eli told me I had an amniotic fluid embolism. “How is that possible? I don’t remember being pregnant.” Sometime later my OB Dr. Patil came to see me. He too explained what happened and that I had to have a partial hysterectomy. I think initially I took the news very well. It would not be until months later I would grieve the loss of having more babies.
Chloe Suzanne Garrett
7lbs 8oz
Born at 4:41 pm
I remember Eli asking if I wanted to see friends. I describe myself as an introverted extrovert. I love alone time to rejuvenate, but love people even more! He went through a list of people (I don’t really remember who) but when he landed on Candice and Ron I knew I wanted to see them. I knew my sweet friend Candice would put a smile on my face! When they arrived we talked about different memories.
This wasn’t public knowledge at the time, but I had a stroke at some point in my coma.
We are not sure when because I was too sick to transfer for imagining and strokes can happen with both ECMO and AFE. Everyone was hoping reliving memories would improve my cognition and memories. We talked about our doubles date nights, bird training, and our time carpooling to work together. All of these brought a smile to my face. Candice then noticed, I kept winking at her. I believe I had an infection in my right eye (I just remember them continuing to put medicine in it) so she wasn’t sure if I was in pain or something else. When she got closer, she noticed I had hair in my eye. “Thank you!!!” I thought. “What a relief!”
I can’t remember which day this occurred, but I remember one of the nurses coming in talking about what a beautiful baby I had. I guess she then noticed, because of the ventilator, I couldn’t see the pictures that decorated the window to my left. She brought them closer for me to see. She was so adorable. Looking back she looked so peaceful and content with a sweet little smile on her face.
No visible signs of the trauma she just endured. Just miraculous!
She and Eli then decided to rearrange the pictures so I could see them better! They made me so happy but also confused.There was a picture of Eli, Claire, and I in front of Notre Dame. I remember looking at that picture so confused! I recognized all three of us, but could not remember the name of the building or where it was. “Think Cathy. You’ve obviously been there because that is you with your family. Think!” I would tell myself before I grew tired and needed to rest again. It would take several more weeks before I would remember.
