Shea Strong

Our life has always been like one of those lifetime movies. My husband Evan and I met in 2014 when I recently divorced. I was his home infusion nurse when he had just been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. We were engaged by the following year and had our son, Evan, and daughter, Faith via IVF after we confirmed that Evans's chemotherapy treatment affected our ability to conceive naturally. 

 

When our youngest daughter was only 7 months old, we shockingly found out we naturally conceived our littlest baby girl, Shea. (While on birth control that claims over 99% effectiveness!) We quickly embraced and fell in love with the idea of adding another baby to our family. Our girl was meant to be here from the start. 

 

We found out we were having another girl and I was so elated that our daughter Faith would have a little sister so close in age. The pregnancy was status quo until I went in for my 20-week anatomy scan. The doctor there told me there was some suspicion that there was an area of my placenta showing increased vascularity and wanted me to return the following week. Within hours of that appointment, through my own research, I found that what I potentially had was placenta accreta, which is when the placenta attaches to all or part of a prior c section scar in most cases and imbeds too deeply, making delivery a little more complicated. I quickly joined accreta support groups and started messaging with other mothers who had the same condition. I was consistently referred to the best of the best OBGYN in placental abnormalities. We secured an appointment two days later and it was confirmed that I had what looked like placenta increta, which is when the placental vessels attach and start growing through the uterine wall. I went for regular follow-ups with the specialist and they monitored our little girl who was growing just perfectly and was unaffected from the placental complication. At 30 weeks, the doctor wanted to get an MRI to evaluate the extensiveness and also confirm what he saw on the ultrasound that appeared to be at the level of increta. The MRI confirmed the placental vessels grew through my uterine muscle and were attaching to my bladder. This is the most invasive form of accreta and is referred to as placenta percreta, which is when the vessels start attaching to other organs. This made us quite nervous but we were constantly reassured by the doctor that we would be fine until the surgery date. 

 

I was scheduled to deliver at 37.3 weeks gestation.

 

On Sunday, March 8, 2020, Evan and I were getting last-minute things ready for our baby girl's arrival in 3 days. I was 37.0 weeks. I was laying on the couch when I stood up and became extremely dizzy and my stomach felt like there was water boiling inside.

 

I told Evan something was wrong and he asked if he should call 911, and I didn’t respond. I went quickly into hypotensive shock as my abdomen was filling with blood. I didn’t know what was happening. I felt cold, clammy sweat on my skin. I was envisioning my other babies in my head, feeling like I was suffocating and holding on by a string. I felt like as long as I kept picturing my kids, I would stay alive..I was rushed to Community Medical Center. The OBGYN there called another surgeon. He told my husband this doctor had experience in accretas. We found out he was visiting his mother just around the corner from the hospital and arrived quickly...but they just couldn’t get our baby girl out fast enough. 59 minutes after the onset of my symptoms, I was in the OR and Shea was born. When I woke up in the recovery room, I didn’t know anything bad happened. I thought my daughter was delivered and we were both fine. The doctor came in shortly after that and explained to me that I had a uterine rupture and placental abruption, I lost about 75% of my total blood volume, and I am very lucky to have survived. A few hours later, the neonatologist came into my room in the ICU and explained to me that our daughter was born not breathing and because of the potential for brain damage from oxygen deprivation, she would be transferred to Robert Wood Johnson where they can begin a hypothermia cooling therapy to lessen the cascade effect that can happen after brain injury and prevent further damage. After rewarming, they would do an MRI and see if she sustained any brain damage.

 

I was in the ICU the next day and my nurse told me I had to get out of bed and sit in the chair and I cried hysterically. The physical pain I had from the events the day prior was more pain than I have ever felt in my entire life. I was eventually put on a morphine drip and slowly started to recover in the following days which were all a huge blur, except for the phone call. 

 

I will never forget taking the call from my husband saying, “so they’re saying she definitely has brain damage...” I remember screaming so loud and hard as if the louder and harder I screamed, the less it would hurt me inside. My beautiful, perfect baby has brain damage. Her official diagnosis is HIE-hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. There is the potential for some natural healing in the first few years of life. The doctors tell you to “wait and see.” We are facing the potential for another diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy.