My story the births and my illness - for my own use

Just wanting to post my story for my own referrence and to decrease the size of my about me

I gave birth to my son on feb. 17th 2008 at 4:54PM. Went into the hospital at around 6:30am and walked the halls until my doctor's other delivery was done. After walking, I changed from 2cm 75% to 3cm 90% I was admitted and at 9:30-ish, Dr. Gatlin broke my water. Around noon my student arrived and I got my epidural. At 1pm I was still at 3cm and pitocin was started. My little man's heart beat was showing occational signs of distress (some late and variable decels, but variability remained intact) I was determined to do everything i could to change my cervix so I rolled from side to side frequently. At a little before 4pm I thought my catheter was pulling on me funny, but nope i was actually complete (gotta love those epidurals   ) I pushed for just over an hour and with the doctor turning his little head very slightly with his fingers each push for the last half hour and then an episiotomy (because of my anatomy i was at risk for a 4th degree tear and because of these interventions my doctor saved me from that)I gave birth without use of vacuum or foreceps and had only the 2nd degree episiotomy with no additional tears. I felt no pain until 2 hours after delivery and could always move independantly - loved my epidural! My Little "spud" had a pretty bad cone head from pushing, but he looked fabulous in 24 hours. I love my baby boy! My son was 7lbs 4.4 oz and 20 1/4 inches long

My husband and i had infertility issues and I was diagnosed with PCOS . We were TTC for a year and 1/2, had an HSG and 3 rounds of clomid before Cameron was conceived. He truly is my miracle baby.

gave birth to my Daughter on April 8th 2010. I had a history of Gestational Diabeties with this pregnancy. I was scheduled for an induction the day I gave birth, but i started strong contractions every 7 min at 5:30 I jumped in to the tub to sooth the pain, but by 6 am it wasn't cutting it and i decided to get out and get ready to go and load the truck (clay was supposed to get up by 6 he hit the snooze twice and it ROYALLY pissed me off - today of all days) by 6:20 am i was feel much more pain and was nauseated, shaking and sweating (i knew i was transitioning - i was about 7-8 cm) I knew we had to get going i got clay up but didn't really alert him to what was happening - just stuck to the plan that he would drop me off and i would check inand get admitted while he went home and picked up his parents and Cameron and took him to day care.
i got admitted by 7am but i would not let them check me - i wanted and epidural and i knew i would be too far dilated to get one. The doctor ordered one (i was 4.5cm dilated at my last clinic visit so getting one was not an issue lol) and by 8:30 i had it and was compfy. 8:40 the doctor checked me and i was 8am and after he broke my water i was 8-9cm. at 9am i felt some light pressure and figured i was comlete, but i wanted to labor down a bit. at 9:40 am i was having more pressure and my nurse had me push. the head came down quickly and she called the doctor and at 10:01 am i gave birth to my beautiful daughter. She was 7lb 12oz and 19 1/2in long


After the birth of my daughter (April 8th, 2010) i got the TDaP vaccine. By april 18th I was experiencing back pain, low grade fever, feeling like my bladder wouldn't empty fully and extreme fatigue (the first early signs of my illness). I called my OB thinking i had a UTI after 2 UA's that showed no infection and blood work that looked fine, i figured it was just my body healing and i had to just give it time. On april 19th i had numbness and tingling in my hands and feet and didn't really think anything of it. On april 20th i had increased weakness and numbess and tingling in my arms and legs. on the 21st I looked like a cow with mad cow disease trying to walk. I was so bad off I didn't feel it was safe to carry Cambria in her carseat down the steps to Cam's daycare - she stayed in the car (i know, terrible parent) I broke down crying after my daycare provider asked what was going on when she saw me walk - I told her i had no clue and was scared smurfles. She called around to try to get someone to watch the kids so she could take me to ER, to no avail. I drove to ER and met my mom there and saw an smurf that watched me "walk" and said "i'll schedule an MRI for 2 days from now to rule out MS, but it really looks like PPD and this is all in your head - go home and relax. I will contact your OB to get you into counceling and on meds" I was thinking WTF!?!?! i'm not depressed - I can't smurfing walk! i'm not nuts, this is real! I felt terrible having a doctor tell me this. I kept asking everyone - " i don't seem depressed, right? I'm not nuts, right? this is real, right?"
By that evening the thing that was "all in my head" progressed to the point that I could no longer climb the stairs to my bedroom. I set up camp in the guest bedroom with Cambria and Clay was on the couch so he could keep an eye on me. That night i fell to the floor (epically - not tripping, but dropping - legs not bearing any weight) 3 times, the last time I couldn't get up at all - Clay had to pick me up and carry me to the guest room bed (cambria was in her bassinett next to me) He was not gonna work a full day that day - I was to call my family doctor as soon as the clinic opened and Clay was gonna finish up a few things at work then join me at the clinic. Clay said if they wouldn't take this seriously we would go to Minneapolis or Mayo and bother every doctor until one did - that wasn't needed.
Thank God that the receptionist realized the severity of the situation and got me in to an MRI immediatly and squeezed me in between appointments with my doctor. Mom took me to the MRI and Clay met us in the doctors waiting room. When the nurse came out as soon as I got there and looked at me i was really scared. I knew this woman for years and the look on her face when she saw me was like someone looking at a dead man walking. My doctor who i worked with for 10 years and have known since i was 12 looked at me the same way! I knew then how bad this really was. He told me the MRI did not show MS (yippee), but that i likely had Guillain-Barre syndrome ( a very rare syndrome 1 in 100,000) and i needed to get to another hospital nearby that had the capabilities to officially diagnose and treat this. He said do not stop at home and if you have trouble breathing pull over and call 911 (helicopter or ambulance would have taken too long - clay's driving would have been quicker) He had already talked to the neurologist at this hospital and they had an ICU bed reserved for me! (guess these guys didn't think it was all in my head) when i was at my doctors office i could stand up at times with help, by the time i got to the other hospital i was literally paralized from the waist down. After a spinal tap and nerve conductivity tests it was confirmed that i had Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) and I needed IVIG (yes like the drug they always talk about on House). By that afternoon the neurologist said she could see that the paralisis was going up further and by 10pm it reached my lungs and they needed to intubate me. I was on the ventilator for 5 days and was fed through a tube. I saw my brother cry for the first time since we were kids and it almost killed me so i demanded that pictures be taken of what i looked like.

Me on the vent in the ICU (the guy is my AWESOME brother visiting me)


me on the vent

I was paralized from my boobs on down and had NO strtength in my arms. I was also in INCREDIBLE pain. I could only communicate by spelling out my needs on a board with the alphabet on it - at one point the pain was so bad i was spelling out "I wanna die" over and over. that's when my husband took the board away from me for awhile (i feel sooooo bad that it probably hurt him like hell to see that, but i was dead serious dispite having 2 wonderful beautiful babies, i just could not imagine living another min. in that kind of pain - i would take natural labor a 100 times over and smile the whole time - contractions are NOTHING compared to what i felt)
I was on propofol (the drug that killed micheal jackson) and fentanyl drip at a very high dose plus extra fentanyl every 2 hours and the pain was still unbelieveable. I was finally extubated and i was so excited to talk and "eat" (thinkened liquids - sounds gross but at the time the BEST thing i ever "drank") and sit in a chair. My friend (another OB nurse) came to see me and noticed my BP was REALLY high and we both said "if we didn't know better we would say its like pre-ecclampsia" . That evening my brother came to see me. My BP was 160's over 110's and we were watching TV and talking. All of a sudden the tv and ICU montior looked all pixilated and i told mom and my brother " i can't see the TV". "Well can you see me and your brother?" i looked and i said - "OMG no i can't". All i could see were blobs of color and within minutes i was blind! that was about 10 pm i remember nothing after that until 5am. In that time i was (according to my mom, nurses and Clay) talking and requesting meds and helping with pumping (yes i had been pumping with help this whole time - i was not even strong enough to hold the "cones" myself, but this was very important to me to continue) and then i had 2 seizures ( i remember none of it not even talking to people). Mom called Clay to come from home to see me (He was REALLY speeding and got pulled over and when he explained he got a police escort the rest of the 20 miles to the hospital) The doctors thought maybe it was from too much pain meds so they turned it off and immediatly reversed it all! that was at 5am and I "woke up" enough to see my mom and the monitor- my bp was 180's over 120's and pulse of 180's I figured i was pre-ecclamptic (didn't know i already had siezures which would then make me ecclamptic). I could speak enough to say "I just wanna say..mumble...mumble" over and over - i was trying to tell then it was pregnancy related -pre-ecclampsia or ecclampsia, but it wouldn't come out! I then had my third siezure just as Clay came in. they finally figured it out and confirmed it with an MRI and CT and US. I had ecclampsia - another rare condition totally separate from the GBS! (usually happens while one is still pregnant and is less likely this far after delivery - 3 weeks - but is very rare no matter when it happens)They treateted me, but the treatment causes decreased respirations and i had to be re-intubated -lucky i didn't remember anything from when i was mumbleing until an hour before i was extubated again - 2 days later.
I began getting better after this and SLOWLY over the following 5 1/2 weeks i re-learned to walked. I got home from the hospital on june 5th. I can't drive for at least 6 months ( due to the siezures). I can't walk for more the a block after that i need a wheelchair (extreme exhaustion is part of the GBS) if i get weak or tired i need to use the walker in my home. the recovery will be 9-12 months total. I take more pills then most senior citizens, but i am alive, i can walk- not well but i can do it - am more lucky then some in that respect. I have a whole new appriciation for life and my family. I can not even begin to thank all the people that have helped me and supported me- prayed for my recovery and just plain saved my life. Here is a link to the Mayo website's info on GBS. Oh and yes this all was caused by the vaccine  

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/guillain-barre-syndrome/ds00413

Wow hon. You are very strong woman.

I haven't read all the way but from what I have, you are so strong mama. I am in shock and speechless that a medical doctor would say that was all in your head. I am so sorry you had to go through this and I am thankful you are getting better. That is just all so crazy to have gone through and sounds like something from, like you said, House! Praying you continue to recover and make it a full one!

thank you ladies - sorry for posting this again, but my post from when i got out of the hospital apparently disappeared.

Quoting nursemaya -mommy to 2:" thank you ladies - sorry for posting this again, but my post from when i got out of the hospital apparently disappeared. "

It's a miracle you can sit here and do just that so no apology needed! My brain is like  

Quoting nursemaya -mommy to 2:" Just wanting to post my story for my own referrence and to decrease the size of my about me I gave ... [snip!] ... on GBS. Oh and yes this all was caused by the vaccine   http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/guillain-barre-syndrome/ds00413"

WOW, how scary! I am glad that you are doing better.

Wow,you are extremely blessed! I'm glad you have survived and are improving.

I love your daughters name, but I'm a little biased  

Holy smurf ! Damn! Wow. So scary. I have read ur posts and ur input in many threads. Not only are u well educated on so many aspects of pregnancy, but u are an amazingly strong woman. Just wow.

Holy cow, that is far more than one woman should ever have to go through!
My cousin got GBS when she was... I believe 13. I don't remember which vaccine she had gotten, but doctors were giving my aunt the same crap that you heard. Telling her that my cousin was faking it for attention... there was no reason that she couldn't walk properly, etc. It was so sad.  

Quoting Evil Satanist Bitch:" Holy cow, that is far more than one woman should ever have to go through! My cousin got GBS when she ... [snip!] ... her that my cousin was faking it for attention... there was no reason that she couldn't walk properly, etc. It was so sad.  "

yep thank god my primary care doctor wasn't a douche and listened to me. damn ER doctor i see him in the hall sometimes - he can't even look at me or talk to me. All in my head my ass!

How do they know it was from the vaccine?
From the mayo website:
"The exact cause of Guillain-Barre syndrome is unknown. In about 60 percent of cases, an infection affecting either the lungs or the digestive tract precedes the disorder. Recent surgery, immunization and pregnancy have also been associated with Guillain-Barre syndrome. But scientists don't know why such an infection can lead to Guillain-Barre syndrome for some people and not for others. Many cases appear to occur without any triggers"

Anyway, sorry you had to go through that. I hope you continue to get better in time.

Quoting Just Ames:" How do they know it was from the vaccine? From the mayo website: "The exact cause of Guillain-Barre syndrome ... [snip!] ... appear to occur without any triggers" Anyway, sorry you had to go through that. I hope you continue to get better in time."

they ruled everything else out as a cause and the vaccine was given days before the symptoms started. Did the pregnancy contribute to it - yeah probably. Would i do anything differently - nope, i'd still get the vaccine cuz it potentially prevented my daughter from getting pertussis

I followed all this before, but it gives me chills reading it again. I'm so glad to hear you are getting better now. Such a scary thing. They never gave you any trouble about pumping that whole time?

Quoting Mandi♥Trinity:" I followed all this before, but it gives me chills reading it again. I'm so glad to hear you are getting better now. Such a scary thing. They never gave you any trouble about pumping that whole time?"

nope they encouraged me to do it for the most part (except for one nurse that thought my mom should have "a talk" with me about it) They understood that it was probably the one thing that was keeping me sane, it was something to do on a schedule and "look forward to" and it kept me focused on the long term goal of being home and regaining normalcy. There would have had to be a lot more of a reason to medically justify taking that from me. It was hard enough to have to dump the milk while i was on IVIG

Quoting nursemaya -mommy to 2:" they ruled everything else out as a cause and the vaccine was given days before the symptoms started. ... [snip!] ... i do anything differently - nope, i'd still get the vaccine cuz it potentially prevented my daughter from getting pertussis"

Ohhh so you got the vaccine shortly after pregnancy?