- I had placental abruption at 35 weeks with my fifth child.
- I knew exactly what was happening since I was an OB nurse and knew it could turn fatal quickly.
I was 35 weeks pregnant with my fifth child when I woke up at 2 a.m. with a rock-hard stomach and blood gushing out of me.
I was alone in my bathroom, but thanks to my background as an obstetrics nurse, I knew exactly what was happening — I'd had a placental abruption, which is when the placenta separates from the wall of the uterus before birth. I also knew the condition could be fatal.
I was a full hour away from the hospital, and my midwife was unreachable; in fact, she was on her way to a glacier in Alaska. I had seen her in her office the day before and we'd joked about me getting some testing done early "just in case." But with no history of complications or problems with this pregnancy, I had merely wished her a good trip.
I was so anxious during this pregnancy because I had lost pregnancies before, and I'd visualized the worst possible outcomes. Part of me believed I had manifested what was happening through sheer worry.
We drove to the nearest hospital
It took me several minutes to wake my husband and get him to grasp how serious the situation was. In his half-awake state, he tried to convince me that bleeding at 35 weeks was completely normal. He finally sprang into action when he saw me trying to catch the blood gushing out of me with a towel.
I'm ashamed to admit this now, but knowing that every second was crucial, we left our other four children sleeping while we rushed to the hospital. It was the middle of the night, the oldest was 11, and I knew several family members were only minutes away, so we hoped and prayed someone would answer their phone. My mother-in-law did.
As my contractions picked up in the car, I made the decision to stop at our local hospital. Knowing my baby could die on the way, I couldn't risk driving an hour to the bigger hospital, so I made the choice I felt was best at the time. At the hospital, they immediately found my daughter's heartbeat and confirmed she was stable and that my water had broken.
I was still bleeding and my daughter seemed safe at the moment, but the hospital was not equipped with an NICU, so if something went south, it may not be the best choice for either of us.
My midwife was able to get through and sent us to a different hospital
Fortunately, at around 3 a.m., my midwife happened to get a signal on her phone. She was able to give us some advice, and we headed to the larger hospital equipped with a NICU. My labor progressed, and my daughter stayed stable the entire time. It turned out that I'd had a partial abruption, which meant that while I continued to bleed until delivery, my baby was still getting enough oxygen through the remaining placenta that stayed attached.
A nurse had turned up the volume on the machine monitoring my baby's heartbeat, and that steady sound helped keep me calm throughout my labor.
My daughter was born quickly and easily, and after spending about a week in the NICU, we brought her home to complete our family of seven.