Showing posts with label maternal health. Show all posts
2022 Rowen Family
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Rowen family — full version
Pregnancy and childbirth complications: an outdated trend
Azizah Rowen, like most moms-to-be, was excited when she found out she was pregnant with her second son, Wilder. But sadly, like too many moms, she was also scared. “I was really nervous because I had had a lot of complications in my first pregnancy with Dash, my older son,” she says.
Azizah never had easy pregnancies. While Dash was born healthy and on time, she had two miscarriages prior to having him. In addition, she experienced gestational diabetes, placenta previa, and autoimmune complications, making her at high risk. “I was nervous and on edge the entire time I was pregnant,” she adds. But she was also confused—she and her husband, Craig, had never had any prior health complications. They were young and healthy.
Even still, she couldn’t anticipate what happened: waking up in the middle of the night and seeing that something was terribly wrong. She took an Uber by herself to the hospital so that Craig could stay home with Dash, who was two years old. Doctors didn't know why she was having such terrible complications and kept her overnight for monitoring, where she stayed for a couple of days. She thought “it was just a fluke.” But then it happened again.
31 weeks into her pregnancy, Azizah’s complications became worse. Doctors told her she needed to stay in the hospital until the baby was born. A week into her hospital stay, things took a turn for the worse. “I was having terrible complications where I was bleeding through the bedsheets,” she says. “And the doctors kept coming in and checking my vitals and at some point, said: ‘This is not safe anymore, we have to get your OB on the phone.’”
After evaluating her, Azizah’s obstetrician told her she needed a Cesarean delivery immediately. “You’re never prepared for being told that the situation is becoming dire,” Craig says. Wilder was born nearly two months early and weighed just 4 pounds. “I didn't hear a cry, so then I totally panicked, and I looked at Craig and was like, ‘Is he alive? Is he okay?’ And he just looked at me and he said, ‘I don't know.’” While Azizah stayed in recovery, Craig stayed in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) with Wilder.
“I had a baby, and I didn't even get to hold him or meet him for two or three days, which was really hard,” Azizah remembers. “And I got to hold him for the first time, and I was just terrified when I walked in there. It was so much worse than I had expected it to be. The sounds of the beeping and all those little babies in incubators, and tubes everywhere. It was really scary.”
Once discharged, Azizah spent mornings at home with Dash and then would go to the hospital and hold Wilder all day. She and Craig took comfort in the fact that he was surrounded by an amazing team of nurses. “That was the only sort of consolation when he was in the NICU—knowing that how great the women were,” Craig recalls. “It was the only way we could get any rest.”
After a 49-day battle in the NICU, Wilder was finally able to go home. “To this day, they still can't tell me why I had my baby early, and I think that's just a question that sort of haunted me,” Azizah says. “And March of Dimes is the organization that’s continuing to look into answers to those questions. It’s a special organization and we're just honored to have been a part of it for the last five years.”
Until the day comes when pregnancy and childbirth in the U.S. is safe for every mom and baby, March of Dimes will be in NICUs across the country, helping families like the Rowens. “Sharing our story’s healing for us and we’re hoping impactful and healing for others,” Craig adds.
Rowen family - short version
Pregnancy and childbirth complications: an outdated trend
Azizah Rowen was excited when she found out she was pregnant with her second son, Wilder. But sadly, she was also scared because she never had easy pregnancies. While her first son, Dash, was born healthy and on time, she had two miscarriages prior. In addition, she experienced “pretty much every complication in the book,” making her at high risk. “I was nervous and on edge the entire time I was pregnant,” she says. But she was also confused—she and her husband, Craig, had never had any prior health complications.
After an initial scare that led her to being monitored in the hospital for a few nights, 31 weeks into her pregnancy with Wilder, Azizah’s complications became worse. Doctors told her she needed to stay in the hospital until the baby was born. A week later, things took a turn for the worse—she needed a Caesarean delivery immediately. “You’re never prepared for being told that the situation is becoming dire,” Craig says. Wilder was born nearly two months early and weighed just 4 pounds.
Once out of recovery, Azizah spent mornings at home with Dash and then would go to the hospital and hold Wilder all day. She and Craig took comfort in the fact that he was surrounded by an amazing team of nurses. “That was the only sort of consolation when he was in the NICU—knowing that how great the women were,” Craig recalls. “It was the only way we could get any rest.”
After a 49-day battle in the NICU, Wilder was finally able to go home. “To this day, they still can't tell me why I had my baby early, and I think that's just a question that sort of haunted me,” Azizah says. “And March of Dimes is the organization that’s continuing to look into answers to those questions. It’s a special organization and we're just honored to have been a part of it for the last five years.” Until the day comes when pregnancy and childbirth in the U.S. is safe for every mom and baby, March of Dimes will be in NICUs across the country, helping families like the Rowens.
2022 Kinling Family
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The worst possible start: symptom-dismissal among pregnant women
After struggling with infertility for several years, Sarah and Chris Kinling were finally successful after a round of IVF. At their 20-week ultrasound they found out they were having a girl—but also that Sarah had a shortened cervix, which increases the risk of preterm birth. She had to go on bedrest immediately.
After an unexpected Cesarean birth, Anna was born healthy at 40 weeks. But in the following hours Sarah experienced troubling symptoms, including a headache, nausea, double vision, and high blood pressure. “I kept saying I really don’t think this is normal, but none of it was concerning to them,” Sarah recalls. “They just said it was all a physical manifestation of my postpartum anxiety, and as soon as I was discharged that I should see a psychiatrist to get some medication to help with that.”
Sarah was discharged, and two days later she had a seizure at home. “Driving her to the hospital with a newborn baby, I was terrified because I didn’t know what was going to come next,” Chris says. “You’re tired, and you’re scared, and you don’t know who to turn to because the doctors that you relied on to take care of you completely let you down.”
Instead of bonding with her new baby, Sarah spent the next three days in the hospital under observation for what she would later learn was eclampsia—"postpartum preeclampsia that progressed to eclampsia because it was untreated and led to seizures,” she says. The experience of being dismissed by doctors, coupled with learning more about the maternal mortality crisis in the U.S., Sarah and Chris decided it was too risky to have more children.
But the universe had other plans, and five months later Sarah and Chris were surprised that they were expecting another baby. Once again, Sarah had a shortened cervix and needed to go on bedrest. “It was rough because now, not only am I limited to being in the bed the majority of my day, but I couldn't pick up my daughter,” she says. “She was starting to crawl—I couldn't crawl after her, couldn't pick her up when she was crying or, or get her out of the crib.”
With a different provider at a different hospital, who was aware of Sarah’s recent postpartum experience, the couple initially felt comforted—but then were shocked when Sarah’s symptoms were again dismissed after the birth of their son, Casey. “On day five, the day I was going to be discharged, I woke up with a terrible headache, the same worst headache of your life feeling that I had after my first pregnancy,” Sarah recalls. “And I immediately knew something wasn't right.” But instead of checking her out, they ordered her a psych evaluation.
Sarah couldn’t believe it. “I was like…it's happening all over again,” she says. “And if I appear that I'm not in my right mind, it's because I'm absolutely livid that no one is listening to me. That I know my body better than the doctors do. And if I think something is wrong that needs a second look, that doesn't need a psych evaluation.”
Sarah’s pleas to the medical staff were once again ignored, and she was discharged.
“I remember just breaking down into tears, and I was like, ‘I'm going to die if you send me home.’”
Upon returning home, Sarah took a nap for about three hours. “I remember sitting up and feeling like I had a weight on my chest, like something was keeping me laying down,” she says, “And then I remember breathing in, it was like I couldn't get air.” Terrified, Chris packed everybody up in the car—the two newborns in the back seat —and drove to the hospital that they had just been sent home from.
“We were in the emergency room for about four or five hours until I was brought back,” Sarah says. “And then I learned I was in congestive heart failure—because my symptoms were dismissed and I progressed to congestive heart failure due to untreated preeclampsia. And there's lasting effects to that.”
Sarah’s experience is what’s called a near-miss: obstetric cases where moms ultimately survive after experiencing life-threatening, life-altering medical conditions during their pregnancy or childbirth. Sarah spent 10 days in the hospital and another month recovering. “Having to take care of her and the two kids, and just worrying about will she make it, I just felt awful and powerless,” says Chris.
Unfortunately, Sarah’s story is all too familiar. We’re experiencing a maternal and infant health crisis in the U.S., with over 800 women dying every year from pregnancy-related causes—just like the complications Sarah experienced. But their story also highlights our opportunity for impact. March of Dimes is working to ensure that pregnant women are heard and that their providers have the training and support to listen and engage, without bias or stigma.
Today the Kinling Family is thriving, despite the trauma that surrounds the happiest days of their lives.
SHORT VERSION
The worst possible start: symptom-dismissal among pregnant women
After struggling with infertility for several years, Sarah and Chris Kinling were finally successful after a round of IVF. They were thrilled to deliver a healthy baby girl. But shortly after delivery Sarah experienced troubling symptoms, including a headache, nausea, double vision, and high blood pressure. Doctors assured her this was normal, that it was just postpartum anxiety, and she was discharged.
Once home, Sarah had two seizures. Instead of bonding with her daughter, she spent the next three days and the following month recovering. The experience of being dismissed by doctors, coupled with learning more about the maternal mortality crisis in the U.S., Sarah and Chris decided it was too risky to have more children. But the universe had other plans, and five months later they found out they were expecting another baby.
After the birth of their son, Casey, the couple was shocked when Sarah’s symptoms were again dismissed, and her pleas ignored. She was sent home, where she soon experienced trouble breathing. It was only when her symptoms progressed to congestive heart failure that she was taken seriously.
Unfortunately, Sarah’s story is not unfamiliar. We’re experiencing a maternal and infant health crisis in the U.S., with over 800 women dying every year from pregnancy-related causes. March of Dimes is working to ensure that pregnant women are heard and that their providers have the training and support to listen and engage, without bias or stigma.
Today the Kinling Family is thriving, despite the trauma that surrounds the happiest days of their lives.
