Our pastor, Rick asked us to share "how the good hand of God was upon us" so here is my story. In 2000, my husband and I had been married for a little over 2 years when we were surprised to find out we were expecting a baby. We were excited and scared at the same time. My husband had just graduated from college but didn't have a "real job" and our lives were so uncertain. Soon thereafter, he was offered 2 teaching jobs within a couple of days of each other, one in Choctaw and one in Fletcher. We felt like The Lord wanted us to be in Fletcher and as life unfolded we knew why. A blood test indicated that our baby may have Down's syndrome. We were scared and were referred to OU medical where a level 2 ultrasound would prove that the blood test was a false positive and we had a healthy baby growing and thriving. At about 34 weeks, I developed preeclampsia and 2 weeks later I was admitted on the spot without my husband being with me. It was a routine check up and I didn't think there was any need for him to miss school, especially as a first year teacher, because he would need those sick days for when our baby came. I was terrified so my doctor let me call him and he and my mom were on their way immediately. I was hospitalized and monitored closely for about a week to let the baby's lungs mature. I was induced around 37 weeks and things went downhill from that point on. I was given pitocin and was laboring very hard without any progress. After about 8 hours, the decision was made to give me and epidural, which helped me relax enough to dilate but not enough to really numb the pain. I delivered a 5 lb 12 oz beautiful baby boy that we named Carson at 6:03 and we were immediately in love. We noticed that the doctor was getting concerned because my placenta wouldn't deliver and things got much worse very quickly. He asked Jason to leave the delivery room and manually delivered the placenta which caused a large postpartum hemorrhage. Hours later, I tried to get up but passed out so I slept that night in the labor and delivery room. The next day, I was told that I needed a blood transfusion so my husband, dad, and mother in law were allowed to donate blood for me and the following day I began receiving my blood transfusion. After getting my dad's blood (he was allowed to donate 2 units) I felt pretty good. I had been so weak that I could barely hold Carson. The next two units of blood, I remember thinking that my chest was feeling heavy but dismissed the thoughts I was having and attributed it to normal postpartum issues. Four days postpartum, I was discharged and we were excited to go home. It was a Sunday and that afternoon, I felt like I was beginning to drown in my own fluid. I called the hospital and they told me it was probably just my body shifting all the excess fluid from pregnancy. I couldn't sleep that night and the next day was worse. My mom and I took Carson in for his check up and his pediatrician looked at me and asked how I was feeling. I broke down and began to sob. She listened to my lungs and immediately called the internal medicine doctor in and I was readmitted unexpectedly for the second time. They ran many test and came to the conclusion that I was in congestive heart failure caused by a postpartum cardiomyopathy. While I was having these test run, the nurses kept Carson for us in the hospital nursery even though he was no longer a patient. We were so young and so scared but I'm so thankful for Carson's pediatrician who recognized that something was very wrong and I was treated accordingly. I was put on heart meds and given lasix and lost 17 lbs of fluid in 2 days. I recovered quickly and was completely healed within a couple of months.
Years later, as we were longing for another baby, it was so hard to watch everyone around us having more children and making it look so easy. My mom offered to be a surrogate but my dad was uncomfortable with that option and Jason didn't want to put my mom in any harm. So, we pursued adoption avenues. We had an acquaintance who had dealt with DHS and she really discouraged us from adopting out of the foster care system. (I would still love to adopt out of the foster care system but I know that the timing then was not right.) We also thought that we may get to adopt a baby from a town near my hometown, which fell through, so between her and many other doors being closed, we realized that The Lord was telling us you need to have a biological child. (I now know that this was the Gods way of bringing healing to me in many aspects of my life.) My doctor who delivered Carson told us that he was not comfortable with it and he would not take me on as a patient but would refer me to Dr Mirabile at Mercy for a second opinion and Dr Mirabile said the words almost verbatim that I had told The Lord I needed to hear including that he questioned the original diagnosis made by the ob who delivered Carson. We loved Dr Mirabile and he encouraged us that he felt things would be different this time around as long as I passed the treadmill stress test and my heart looked good on the echocardiogram. Everything looked great and we had the go ahead. We were confident in him and had heard great things about him and we got pregnant right away at the age of 32. We knew we needed to act fast because the doctor who delivered Carson and knew all of my history had told us he was moving back to another hospital and we didn't know if another doctor would refer me to OU. Later on, he acted as if had never said those words but it was the push I needed to proceed with another baby. I didn't have health insurance and because of my prior complications, I had been denied coverage so fortunately I had enough Native American blood that we were able to use the Lawton Indian clinic and prayed that my pregnancy would be too complicated ( I know, it makes no sense) that they would refer me to the ob who delivered Carson and he could then refer me on to OU. I had to see a doctor at the Indian clinic first to make the decision whether I was high risk enough to be referred to a Lawton hospital then then on to OU. He told me this disease was fatal and I wouldn't survive it. I really wanted to use Dr Mirabile but was only allowed to be referred to OU since that was where they referred all of their high risk patients but before they would pay for it, I had to fill out paperwork showing that Soonercare would deny me. I kind of laughed because I knew we didn't qualify but I did what I had to do. A couple of weeks later, a letter came in the mail stating that I did indeed qualify for Soonercare and this meant that I could use Dr Mirabile! He monitored me closely as a maternal/ fetal medicine specialist. I had numerous echocardiograms, which were all indicative of a healthy heart and he was so right about this pregnancy. It was a complication free pregnancy and delivery and Dr Mirabile was the hands and feet of God, whether he knows it or not. We are incredibly blessed with 2 very special children and we know that they are both here, healthy and happy, and I'm here to watch them grow because the hand of God was upon me. ?#NEH2EIG?
My Details
- Date Diagnosed: 12/11/2000
- Child: 1
- Initial EF: 45
- Current EF: 55
Story By Crysti Murphy-Adams
