I had always wanted to be a surrogate mom. Knowing I could give someone the ultimate gift of life meant so much to me. That dream finally came true in 2016. I absolutely fell in love with the intended parents and we still have a special bond. Both embryos took and all of us were excited for the twins to arrive.
The entire pregnancy was rough. I was 40 years old, been on all types of IVF meds, got gestational diabetes so bad that even the insulin wasn't enough, and diagnosed with preemclampsia towards the end.
Fast forward to week 35, I was dilated 3cm for a few days until BAM, barely made it back to the hospital, having the twins naturally within 20 minutes of arrival. so the birth was traumatizing enough. It all went down so fast I had major anxiety.
the next day I went home since I had no babies to take care of. I was still on the blood pressure meds. The day after that I couldn't breathe. I chalked it up to bad anxiety, being the surrogate and all, having to give the babies up, etc... so my friend took me in to the ER.
Right away they did an EKG and ruled out heart attack. Then came the news, originally they had told my husband the wrong EF stating if I even pulled through I would need a transplant, to get family out there for goodbyes, etc... imagine his reaction let alone mine. I thought I was going to die and thought, I just gave the gift of life, what kind of karma is this?
well, my EF was actually 25-30%, spent a week in ICU and finally went home with my lifevest. I'm now mere weeks away from getting retested and seeing where my EF is now. I'm very hopeful that I'm on my way to a full recovery as I notice I can run up my stairs now, i'm fully functioning at my full time job, things like that where I know I'm not as bad as when I first came home and couldn't move for weeks.
I'm happy to share my story as it's been a rough few months and i'm hopeful I can live a normal life someday. I still have nightmares each night and can't sleep well, i'm hoping that passes with time as well.
Thank you all for the stories as it really helps me cope.
I have so many questions for those who have fully recovered if anyone can reach out to me.
Love to all my heart sisters,
Jill
My Details
- Date Diagnosed: 24/12/2016
- Child: 3
- Initial EF: 20-25
- Current EF: 40-45
Story By Jill McGee
