Marin MacCallum-Drake
Canada
We now have 2 healthy boys. Aiden is 6 and Lincoln is 7months old. I come from a small family with no siblings and have always wanted a big family of my own. Every time i saw that pink line on a pregnancy test or heard the nurse say congratulations on the phone, it was the best feeling i ever had.
Our first pregnancy was great, the vaginal delivery was a bit rough. He was 16 days overdue weighing 8.10″.
Our second pregnancy ended at 12 weeks when no heart beat was detected. Fetus stopped growing at 7 weeks. Told this was common, 1 in 4 end this way. Decided on a D&C for the fallowing day. I couldn’t let them just take this baby from me. That night before the D&C I went to find an angel pendant in memory of the baby i would never get to know or hold.
Our third pregnancy was going great until 18 weeks. I had very light spotting and was told i probably had a bladder infection. I was given antibiotics. They forgot to put my name on urine sample so they couldn’t test it at the lab. A couple days past and still spotting, went to emergency department where I saw the baby on the ultrasound jumping around and looking fine. The best feeling a mom can have. A couple days later I began cramping and returned to the Emergency Dept where I was told I was having a miscarriage at 18 weeks. The next 2 nights I waited in the labour and delivery daprtment for the fetus to continue delivering. The fetus still had a heart beat until delivery. My Dr. said we would never know why this happened. Found a new Dr. who reffered me to a team of specialist in Halifax. The next couple months I experianced anxiety attacks and had to take a leave from my job. We owned and opperated a daycare next door.
Our fourth pregnancy was great. Recieved a cervical cerclage for possible incompetant cervix, put off work to ensure as much safety to baby as possible. Many ultrasounds in Halifax to see how everything was going. Again i went overdue and had to be induced. Thankfully my new Dr. only let me go over 1 week. After pushing for almost an hour, he told me he was going to assist with the Vaccum tool which you place on the babies head to help the baby out. There was maconium staining and he had respiratory distress. A CBC was taken. I got to hold him for a quick second and they took him straight up to the NICU. I was thanking my Dr. for all he had done thinking we were in the clear because this baby was finally here after all we had been through to ensure his safety. Again my instinct told me something was up when I noticed the nurses kept letting others see him but had me stay in my room for almost 3 hours. Finally a shift change and the new nurse helped me down the hall to see him. As soon as i walked in the nurses and Pediatrician came right over and told me to sit down and asked for the father to come over too. Here i was looking at this amazing
beautiful big 8.12″ baby boy with all the wires on his hair shaved in places. She told me they found out his platelet count was 5. Just then nurses came back and where trying to get more blood from him from his head. They were having trouble, it was aweful. I held his foot and gave him my hand to wrap his little hand around. He stared in my eyes for a long time. Second test was platelet count of 8. I was shaking and felt completely numb as they explained all the reasons this could be happening and the reasons they had to get his platelets up. The disicion was made to do a blood transfusion on PEI then send him to Halifax by helicoptor “Life Flight”. Platlets went up to 85 then dropped to 65 within hours. I remember saying to my fiance “I cant handle any more loss” and i think God knew that. He never gives us more than we can handle. My Dr. arranged to have me transferred to the IWK by ambulance the next morning. I told them i was not staying at this hospital untill i was discharged. I informed them I would be going to Halifax in the truck and not to wonder where i am. A friend of my Dr. agreed to take me as her patient. (I used to be shy) Dr.s and nurses were amazing. Lincoln recieved a platelet transfuion at almost a day old fallowed by IVIG that night. And then our miracle had a platelet count of 128 at 5 days, and 172 at 6 days. I was with this baby as much as I could for feedings and those darn IV placements … requesting sugar water at every poke of a needle. I held him on my chest as much as I could, he had to be in isolation for 3 days because he was from out of province (super bug tests) Honestly!! One of the Dr.s kept suggesting Lincoln had a virus which was likely from a farm since we were from rural PEI. We dont live on a farm! I hope he knows that wasn’t the case!!
Blood tests were takin and it was due to NAIT. I am HPA 1a negative and my fiance is HPA 1b 1b. The cranial ultrasound was normal. And he is healthy little boy. I am so thankful that our story ended happily. I often wonder if this contributed to out 3rd baby passing away. My heart pours out to you who have lost you babies and who are now dealing with the unfortunate outcomes of NAIT. I hope all NAIT families find this site. I will do anything I can to help get screening for this to be manditory. My boys adore each other and I am so happy with the family we worked so hard to get. The specialist crew explained the IVIG treatment for any future pregnancies. What a long scary pregnancy that must be. I would love to have more children but i just dont know if i can do it. We were going to name our son Lawson but it sounded like “Loss son” in the midst of all this.. so I decided on Lincoln knowing he was a “Link” between my Dad, our 2 babies who are in heaven, and myself.
Marin
