How I would have loved to have written a nice birth report or talked about the postnatal period. How gladly I would have burst with happiness and would have written full of energy about the first time with our daughter, shared all the news and just enjoyed and passed on for the last time everything that I was able to experience twice and is always different.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t. This phase was interrupted a week after the birth, with bad news and a life-threatening situation.
A few hours after the caesarean section, which I survived very well, I had breathing problems and stomach pain. I also had the feeling that someone was squeezing my chest. You can feel the pressure pain in the chest and between the shoulder blades. At first I thought my cold, which I had previously hatched, was now getting worse because I heard a rattle and bubbling when I breathe, as if I had something on my bronchial tubes and had mucus. It was also dismissed as normal. The organs would now have to go back to their old place and that could trigger stomach pain.
A fatal mistake that almost cost me my life!
I went home on the third day as I was feeling fine. The caesarean section apparently healed without any problems and I just wanted to go to a real bed, my back would thank me. The little one was doing well and the final examination could be done directly. So I was home at noon and I felt great. However, the heavy breathing did not stop. I always lay on my side and then relatively high so that I could breathe at all. This is what happened to me in the last weeks of pregnancy and I thought that it would just take a little longer now. It seemed strange to me, because I hadn’t had that in previous pregnancies. The thought that it might have something to do with the medication also subsided when I was still so bad on Sundays. I had enough exercise but also rest. I really took care of myself and I also took the thrombosis injections to avoid problems. On Saturday I noticed that my left ankle was no longer visible. I stored water, which I did myself during pregnancy, yes only on the right side when I was standing for a long time or when I was out and about. On Mondays I decided to have the cesarean scar staples removed on Tuesdays and then to find out more about it, because the suspicion that it could be a pulmonary embolism hardened. what I did during pregnancy, only on the right side when I was standing for a long time or when I was out and about. On Mondays I decided to have the cesarean scar staples removed on Tuesdays and then to find out more about it, because the suspicion that it could be a pulmonary embolism hardened. what I did during pregnancy, only on the right side when I was standing for a long time or when I was out and about. On Mondays I decided to have the cesarean scar staples removed on Tuesdays and then to find out more about it, because the suspicion that it could be a pulmonary embolism hardened.
On Tuesday I woke up with severe breathing difficulties. I’ve had trouble taking deep breaths the whole time. This time, however, I couldn’t even breathe in short phases, like in a croup attack. I was already panicking a little. That made it worse, of course. When I calmed down a bit, it was still very difficult to breathe, but the panic attacks did not occur. We drove to the hospital and I had to stand there with severe shortness of breath, which catapulted me straight to the emergency room. There I was examined on suspicion of a pulmonary embolism, which fortunately was not confirmed in the course of the various examinations.
Before I was placed on the gyn with my child again, they had an ultrasound of the heart done.
That was the beginning of a very difficult time for me and for us.
My heart was slightly enlarged and no longer pumping the way it should. A decision was made to move me to another hospital that knew more about it. After lying around for hours in the emergency room, I could not take care of myself hygienically, you consider that I had only given birth a week ago. The clamps were pulled on me, at least something. I lay there from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with no food and little drink. I was then told that I would be in the university clinic over Christmas and that I would probably have to wean, depending on the medication. Every mother should just think about this. You have three children, one of whom is just a week old, and then you are told that you will now have several days, including Christmas and the anniversary of your mother’s death, will be in the hospital. Without your child, without the opportunity to deepen the bond, to experience, smell and feel your baby. Taking a mother’s most important thing and then possibly weaning it off, although this time it worked well.
I sat there and howled….
Nothing and no one could have brought this situation closer to me in such a way that I understand it.
When I got to the cardiology emergency room, I was put directly on an EKG, blood was drawn, and I was hooked up to my permanent monitoring. For the umpteenth time I had to tell you what symptoms I went to hospital with, how I am currently doing and of course everyone who saw me for the first time congratulated me on motherhood, which unfortunately was dated to 2 instead of 1 week.
Whenever I was asked about the little girl, tears came to my eyes. It hurt so badly that suddenly nothing was normal in my life. That I was not allowed to spend my postnatal period normally after he was born, that I would always have my baby around me and that I would build up the bond that I had also built with my boys.
Suddenly I was closer to the cemetery than in our big bed. People pulled the floor from under my feet and then wondered why I just cried and wanted to go home.
I came to a room at 7 p.m. and was able to freshen up and eat something for the first time. Since my appetite for forecasts like; „That will take a few days!“ And „There will be some more examinations to follow!“ Had passed thoroughly, I lay down and tried to sleep away the time. I had been tired for many weeks. I hadn’t seen my little one for hours and my heart grew even heavier. I howled myself to sleep.
Of course I was woken up every hour to take my blood pressure. Then at some point during the night a woman was brought in and placed in my room. This is something that, in addition to the whole hospital atmosphere, I cannot and therefore always get single rooms. That night I was driven to have my lungs x-rayed after I was able to express for the first time. Believe me, it is an indescribable feeling when the breast builds up milk, the pressure increases and it then has nowhere to go. In the afternoon before I was transported to the university clinic, I was able to release the pressure with an electric pump. When I got rid of some milk that night, I could at least sleep again.
Unfortunately, I was only told sometime the next day that I would have to wean completely because the medication I was given would pass into breast milk and would be dangerous for my child. So only spread a little milk at a time. This type of weaning takes twice as long as if I had weaned with a pill.
When my husband came to visit with our daughter, it was over for me. I just wanted to go home. I wanted to leave, even though I had promised the professor on the morning round that I would give you that day to do further investigations. He also arranged for me to get a single room so that I could see the little one or the children more often. I howled and refused to be sensible. I didn’t want to understand that it was important to have these tests done. You could only tell me that it is probably a very rare heart disease caused by pregnancy that can be got under control, but that I would have to be put on pills, which was only possible as an inpatient. It was only when the doctor said coldly to my face that with my discharge, Taking the risk of sudden cardiac death, I tried to force myself to use my sanity. If I were to let myself go, I would be under all control. My heart was only pumping 20% -30%. That was clearly too little to survive.
I stayed…
A few minutes after the conversation, I came to the ward and into a single room. I could finally be mobile. I was under permanent control, but the heart controls are now wireless so that you can get up and walk.
That made it easier for me, too, because I have very big problems with these beds, my back gave me a lot of pain and it also affected my psyche. I freshened up, changed and tried to think positive and combative. I also got a psychologist at my side to talk to me. The whole thing helped me a lot and I stayed there until Christmas.
Unfortunately the children were only able to visit me once because our car broke down. I tried so much to keep in touch with my husband via WhatsApp and phone that I didn’t even begin to fall back into old patterns.
It took me a long time to even grasp what had happened.
The heart disease probably developed in the last few weeks of pregnancy.
Postpartum cardiomyopathy PPCM
is a rare, life-threatening heart disease in previously healthy women that occurs within the last few weeks of pregnancy up to six months after giving birth.
Symptoms are sudden heart failure with cough, leg edema, general exhaustion and palpitations and can lead to death within a few weeks. The exact cause and the way in which the disease developed are still unknown.
Smoking, preeclampsia, high blood pressure, use of tocolytic drugs, twin pregnancies, teenage pregnancies, and pregnancies in older women are risk factors that increase the likelihood of developing PPCM. However, a quarter to a third of all sick people are young, healthy, primeval women without any previous burden. Therefore, it is difficult to assess who can get PPCM.
For example, I “only” delivered obesity and an age of 34 years.
I hadn’t taken any medication before, had no high blood pressure, except in the last two pregnancies; never had health problems, quit smoking 4 years ago, do not drink alcohol, had no problems in pregnancies before.
There is heart disease and cancer in the family .
It is believed that prolactin is one, if not the cause of this condition.
Prolactin is a hormone that is produced in large quantities by the anterior pituitary gland at certain intervals during pregnancy and breastfeeding. It stimulates the production of milk, the growth of the mammary glands and the regression of the uterus after birth.
Unfortunately, I can’t say anything specific about it yet as I haven’t received any great information. There is also still research going on because we just don’t know enough about it.
Fortunately, mortality was reduced and patients were put on pills.
My path is far from over.
If I hadn’t been sterilized directly, I shouldn’t have any more children by now, because another pregnancy will make it more dangerous and could trigger sudden cardiac death more quickly.
I was given a LifeVest before I was released. It is a vest that is cut like a sports bra, with probes and defibrillator plates on the back and under the left chest. The probes measure heart activity, just as it was done in the hospital. Should a rhythm disturbance occur or even cardiac arrest, the device reacts and misses a resuscitation.
The cables are connected to a device that must always be carried. This sends all data to the main device, whichever is charging the batteries. The station then transmits this data to the main office and all doctors have access to it. So I was always under control.
My tablets are still being adjusted. The LifeVest rental was prescribed for 2 months, my health insurance had not paid. They wanted an operation. An operation on this scale would not have made sense – it has not been done until today. Once you realize how quickly life can be over, you get scared.
