Baby loss caused by an infection.
By anonymous on 09/03/2015
Just a month before my 25th birthday, many things started going wrong with my first pregnancy. I suppose it started February 13th, when I developed a fever. I immediately went to the doctor, who diagnosed it as a virus and took me off work for the day, telling me to take it easy and rest. I did as he said, and the fever stayed gone through the 14th.Early on the morning of February 15th, I woke with mild spotting, and a return of the fever. My fiance and I went to the ER as soon as we could. It was diagnosed as a UTI, so I took my antibiotics and went to work. Soon my back started hurting, my abdomen started hurting, and my legs slowly got weaker as my 9 1/2 hour retail shift dragged on. I finally got home, and went to bed immediately after supper. Barely an hour later, I awoke to a rush of fluid and a sudden sense of dread. When I went to the bathroom, there was blood. I sat in horror for several minutes, bawling my eyes out, before finally waking my fiance to return to the ER. They diagnosed me with a placental bleed and took me off work for a couple days.
I called my OB and made an appointment for same-day, where they took me off work until further notice after confirming the bleed.
At the time, my hormone levels were perfect and my baby Hummingbird still had a strong heartbeat. Then the persistent fever returned, and this time refused to stay gone. I would take a fever reducer, it would take an hour to work, then wear off after another two. February 17th, after a seeming lack of concern on the part of my OB's office and a fever that refused to stay gone, my fiance (an EMT) checked my blood pressure. The numbers were dangerously low, and he convinced me to go to the ER for a third time. I was exhausted and feverish, so barely remember much from that day and the next. But I remember the on-call OB refusing to send me home, diagnosing my condition after a short exam.
It turned out that I had developed a uterine infection that occurs in only 2% of pregnancies. Unfortunately, the condition meant the loss of Hummingbird, as I was only 13 weeks. After being admitted to the hospital and moved to the ICU, they finally found the source of my infection. Haemophilus Influenzae, a bacterial infection that is so rare it is only diagnosed in 2-3 million people a year world-wide. It had moved into my blood-stream, putting my life at risk. After being on 3-5 extremely strong antibiotics for a short time, they were forced to do an emergency D&C to successfully treat my condition. I stayed in the ICU for another 2 days before being moved to a regular room. I stayed on the IV antibiotics the entire time I was in the hospital, a total of 5 days. Then was given a prescription for 10 days' worth to take at home. Between the bacterial infection destroying red blood cells and the placental bleed, I became anaemic, and have been on treatment for it since. The only positives that have come from this is knowing that the infection should not have effected my chances of getting pregnant again. And knowing that if I had not lost Hummingbird, I would have died myself. Knowing my baby's life had to be sacrificed to save mine is a horrible thing, but at least my fiance didn't lose us both. At least his training as an EMT saved me.