Hi, I'm Deb, and Rachel is my dear friend who has been with me through many awful times over the past couple years.  I was a co-leader but I just haven't been able to do that since my son died.  I had my daughter via c/s in 1999.  It was a failed early induction due to PIH which was most likely actually care provider induced hypertension.  Basically everything just snowballed and I ended up with almost every intervention possible in spite of wanting a "natural" birth.  It was a truly miserable experience and it was 5 years before we could even consider having another child.  Then we got pg with Quinn.  People told us how we'd have the perfect family, one girl, one boy.  Well, it didn't exactly turn out that way.  Quinn's birth was a failed VBAC attempt before/during/after which he almost died and was left with significant brain damage.  We were told that if we had been at a smaller hospital, he would not have survived.  We'll never know exactly what happened of course.  His heart rate would dip during contractions, but always came back up.  I had less intervention and fewer drugs than during the experience with my daughter.  When it became obvious that a c/s was necessary, I quickly agreed.  We had a doula with us.  We were able to bring Quinn home after 41 days in two different hospitals and the surgery to put in a g-tube since he could not even eat by mouth.  He had severe cerebral palsy and respiratory issues, had to have ear tubes so he could hear and was most likely blind.  He was also non-mobile and non-verbal.  He loved to cuddle and snooze!  We managed to care for him at home and he lived to be 15 months and 2 days old.  He was finally thriving and doing relatively well and then he just didn't wake up one morning.  Yesterday was the one year anniversary so it has been a long week for me.  I got pg again at the end of July.  We had already decided that I will have a c/s for any future children.  Sadly, that baby died and I had a miscarriage in Sept.  So now we're just living life and we'll see where that takes us next.

 

Y*******Y***Debra***Y*******Y
Journeying Through Life With
Kelly, My Amazing Hubby
Momma to Princess Haley 6/19/99
Forever Missing Two Who Soar Above
The Mighty Quinn Jacob ~8/26/04 - 11/28/05~
April Sarah ~9/06~
www.caringbridge.org/visit/themightyquinn