Meet Madelyn

• Baby Saves

• 10.06.16

I was worried every single day with my baby girl.  I have had previous miscarriages, but I made it to 12 weeks.  I felt like okay, one milestone down… but at 15 weeks, I had a massive bleed. Since I’d been through this before, I was mentally preparing myself as I drove myself and my just 3-year-old to the hospital per my doctor’s orders.

Hospital said baby was okay and maybe had a ruptured cyst. Level 2 ultrasound couldn’t tell me much, but I didn’t care – my baby was still alive.

I found myself back in the hospital at 30 weeks for lack of movement.  Again baby was fine, but I really did start to think it was all in my mind because in just the past year I had two of my losses and three friends delivered still at term.

So my panic all started when my best friend, also a labor and delivery nurse at the hospital where I had my babies, called me when I was trying to do my kick count.

Baby wasn’t moving.  I couldn’t get her to move at all – no tricks worked.

Needless to say, I was terrified.

She told me to go to the hospital NOW and that she would come with me so my hubby could stay home with my son.

Like I said, she works there so she has seen the worst case and didn’t want me alone…

I got to the hospital, hooked up to the monitor, and the nurse looked at me and said, “This isn’t good. I’m calling the on-call doctor.”

My BFF who came with me looked at the strip and confirmed that my baby girl’s heart beat was very, very low and staying low.  The machine was not detecting movement either.

Twenty minutes later, after a braxton hicks, her heartbeat went back up to its usual 145 beats per minute, so the on-call doctor sent me home.

The next morning after NO sleep, I talked to my doctor.  She sent me back to the hospital.  She was not happy I was sent home.

Again, they found my strip looking the same – low 90’s baseline with no decels or excels.

I was induced a few hours later after an oxytocin challenge to make sure our baby girl could handle the journey into the world.

So, at 39 weeks and 3 days, as you see, our baby girl is here safe.

Doing my kick counts, I knew something was wrong. Sorry for the long-winded email, but I wanted to include all the events in case any of it can help.

Just writing this email brought the feeling of the fear I had back to my stomach and tears in my eyes… phew!

Keep up the good work. I spread the word as much as I can!

– Christine, Madelyn’s mom