Diagnosis was just the start of saving me...

My Brother in Law, Brandon raced to the church where Dad was having a meeting. It was being held in the chapel, where Brandon's Dad was conducting and had just started the meeting. Everyone saw Brandon come through doors, wearing jeans and a somber look. As my Dad turned and saw him standing in the doorway, he knew he was there for him and it must be bad for Brandon to come get him out of a meeting. In the blink of an eye everything was about to change. As Brandon bent down and instructed my Dad to come with him, they met in the hall only for Dad to hear "It's Cali. She's not breathing and they are flying her to the hospital".

Mom was on her way back from dropping Alex (my Brother) and their food off at my Grandma's house (they just live 3 houses away) and met my Dad in a hug. They still hadn't heard from Josh as to where AirMed was taking me so changed their clothes and waited in anticipation until the phone finally rang.

I was stable the entire ride to the hospital; still intubated, sedated, oxygenated, and ventilated but they noticed the hardness of my belly had turned into rapid growth. One hour and five minutes from Josh's initial 911 call, they could not have arrived at the hospital with more perfect timing. My parents, Taylor and Brandon had arrived 20 minutes before I did, and watched as my helicopter landed and I was wheeled to the Emergency Department. My girls could hear my Mom yelling for me, to know that she was there and told me that I was not alone and to not worry.

This is actually a picture of MY helicopter landing from my Mom's cell phone as they watched me arrive.

 

 

As I was making my way to the trauma room (picture from a later visit to the ER) the head nurse rounded up the staff that would be working on me. One recalled to me later that he would get excited for trauma's. They helped pass the time, he was able to really help people and the high from his adrenaline was something he lived for. As he started to show his excitement the head nurse turned to him and said, "You won't like this one, it's a 24 year old pregnant Mom, who is not going to make it."

 

I defied them all that day but not before my world came crashing down...

 

I had started to steadily lose blood. Josh had arrived at the hospital by now, along with his family and the rest of mine. They just waited in the waiting room with a social worker, who updated them as frequently as he had information. Doctors would come in with questions; How is her health, what medications is she on, how was her health as a child, is there a family history of ___? Does she have a history of seizers because they are pretty sure there was one in the ER, and Josh thinks I had one while he was working on me. They would come and go, sometimes looking more confused than before and preparing my family for the worst- IF she lives, she might be a vegetable...

 

Eventually they moved my family to the Medical ICU floor, where a conference room was reserved for them to be in. I can't even begin to imagine this time... waiting, anticipating, their minds running wild on them while Dr's eliminated one thing after another. Still not knowing if I was out of the woods.

 

 

This picture of my Dad is one of few I have of family members during this time frame and it breaks every piece of my heart. Being a Mom, I can't even imagine knowing your kids are suffering, knowing they are going through hard times physically and emotionally, but most of all- not know if you will ever see them again. I am really close to my family and knowing they were going through anything even slightly unpleasant on my account shatters me.

 

After hours, they finally allowed Josh to see me. Josh explains it in broken sentences when I ask him... " It isn't what I would consider a good time of my life. Cali, it's not something I want to talk about. Feelings? Scared, sad, anxious- You think of your worst nightmare and tell me words for it." I guess I don't blame him. When I think about it happening to someone I love, I get sick. This was the first time they saw me.

 

 

I was in a medically induced coma, I was still intubated (the tube down my throat) to breath for me, although I was only on a small amount of forced air which meant I was trying to breath on my own. The monitors on my head were to measure brain activity as well as check for any seizers.

 

What they had determined was that my INR was elevated and an Ultrasound showed I had suffered from a Placental Abruption, which led to the Amniotic Fluid Embolism- just as Windi had expected. They needed to do surgery but because of my INR, they continued transfusions throughout the night to normalize it. My family was sent home, they were going to need sleep for the days to come and there was nothing happening that night...