S.4 E.17 Cathy Garrett: The 10 Percent: A Story of Meconium Aspiration Syndrome

In this week's episode, I dive into my mom's second birth story—her story of how she delivered twins and watched one twin fight for her life. She had a lovely pregnancy minus swollen feet and being unable to see her feet by five months of pregnancy. 

At 36 weeks, my mom's OB told her it was time to deliver. The doctors were concerned with my sister's weight as she was quite a bit smaller than I was; over 1 lb smaller! The doctors even discussed transferring my mom because of Christina's small size and weight. The cesarean was scheduled, and both the double cribs and my exhausted mom were ready! 

The date was July 13, but things would quickly change. After pulling Christina out, I swallowed amniotic fluid. Unfortunately, it also had meconium in it. Shortly after birth, I struggled to breathe and was placed on oxygen. Within a day, I was transferred downtown to a bigger hospital. Remember the hospital that was mentioned earlier? Yes, the same hospital they discussed sending my mom to deliver because of Christina's weight. Eventually, I was breathing way too fast, was placed on a ventilator, and my lung collapsed. The situation was grim. Doctors told my parents that I had a ten percent chance of survival. Tune in to hear more about the first time amniotic fluid tried to kill me!