Acute Fatty Liver of Pregnancy - birth story
Hello...
James Lawrence arrived exactly a month early on Feb. 8, 2015, 2:15pm weighing 5 lbs 1 oz / 2310 g
This pregnancy was my 2nd IVF attempt. I had done 3 IUIs as well with no pregnancies. I had 2 miscarriages, one from the 1st IVF attempt. So I was relieved when the pregnancy went fairly normally.
At 33 weeks, I went to triage with zig zag vibrating things in my vision. They did bloodwork but didn't find anything.
At 35 weeks, I went to triage again with wicked constipation. They kind of fluffed me off because I guess constipation is a common thing in pregnancy. However I was eating maybe half of what I normally eat because I wanted what was in there, to come out. Once, before I was on thyroid meds, I threw up because I was so constipated :/ When I go off my thyroid meds, I get constipated again pretty fast. I had been seeing an endocrinologist throughout my pregnancy. However triage said they would not do thyroid blood work for me >:(
At 36 weeks, I hadn't felt the baby move for several hours, so I called 911. I was taken to OB triage. I had been feeling awful for the weeks leading up to it, calling in sick, and taking vacation days from work because I couldn't drag my butt around anymore.
They freaked out with whatever they saw in the fetal monitor. They said the baby had to come out ASAP. They got me to sign a form for an emergency C-section, an anesthesiologist came in and put a port in my hand - not pleasant! and that's the last thing I remember. They did an emergency C-section later that day.
My boyfriend was 3 time zones away visiting friends. He came back the day after the baby was born.
I woke in ICU a day or so later, and I couldn't talk, I was intubated. I spent a total of 3 days in ICU. My family was all there, visiting me, but I was kind of out of it.
I had Acute Fatty Liver of Pregnancy. There was talk of me getting a liver transplant at one point. That was why my baby was in distress. When I went into triage, the baby monitor said his heart rate was dipping to 90 and 70 - it should be 160 for a 36 week fetus.
James was delivered safely... after they suctioned out the meconium that he had inhaled. His first Apgar score was 1. He was an 8 maybe 15 min later. He was in the NICU for 2 days. He did great for arriving a month early.
I tried breastfeeding him, but the one nurse was pissing me off with all her orders. She was pushing down on my upper stomach area, I was thinking "listen woman I have liver disease so piss off" James was great, he latched on like a champ. It's amazing that he knew what he had to do, though he was only 36 weeks. In the ICU they had been pumping my breasts, it took a little while longer to get things going even so.
Ultimately I stopped breastfeeding and we did formula only. Many of the nurses said things like "wow you have a lot on your plate!" I thought, I may not recover from the liver disease 100%, if I keep breastfeeding, and taxing my system. Also the nurses are trying to tell me something. So I said, "I've decided to stop breastfeeding" and no one gave me an argument.
I wasn't told the exact reason my liver failed. Apparently my liver was going to recover on its own, now that the baby was delivered. The hospital was a bit caught off guard, one person said he had only seen it once before. Different medical staff came into my room to visit, they would say things like "you look a lot better now!"
I was in the hospital for 2 weeks while they waited for my liver to stabilize. After about a week, I got this crazy bruising, it looked like port wine birthmarks up my back and down my legs, and my legs swelled up, so it was hard to walk - I couldn't bend my legs. I still had constipation, and my poop was light beige and my pee was brown. Those 2 things, and the bruising, were due to the bilirubin levels being off.
Eventually my liver levels got closer to normal, and they booted us out. They discharged the baby first, which generated confusion. The hospital formula didn't have a brand name on it, so we were unsure what to buy for him. We figured it out eventually, and my boyfriend and his sister brought the baby home.
I stayed another day, they got an ultrasound of my liver and discharged me the next day. My ultrasound was supposed to be the previous day but no one told me I had to be nil by mouth the night before.
The next day, I had bleeding from my C-section wound. It turned out to be blood under my skin leaking out, they knew about it, but not that it would leak out :) I ended up with home nursing care, they came every day to change the packing.
I had bloodwork done twice to check my liver levels, after 2 months they were close enough to normal.
James is now almost 4 months. At his 4 month doctor visit, he weighed 14 lbs 9 oz. He has put on a nice layer of fat - when he was born, he had wrinkly skin on his little legs. Now he has plump legs and filled out little cheeks. He now looks just like his dad, I don't see anything of my own features in him but I think I can live with that! LOL.
Here he is at around 5 weeks
James Lawrence arrived exactly a month early on Feb. 8, 2015, 2:15pm weighing 5 lbs 1 oz / 2310 g
This pregnancy was my 2nd IVF attempt. I had done 3 IUIs as well with no pregnancies. I had 2 miscarriages, one from the 1st IVF attempt. So I was relieved when the pregnancy went fairly normally.
At 33 weeks, I went to triage with zig zag vibrating things in my vision. They did bloodwork but didn't find anything.
At 35 weeks, I went to triage again with wicked constipation. They kind of fluffed me off because I guess constipation is a common thing in pregnancy. However I was eating maybe half of what I normally eat because I wanted what was in there, to come out. Once, before I was on thyroid meds, I threw up because I was so constipated :/ When I go off my thyroid meds, I get constipated again pretty fast. I had been seeing an endocrinologist throughout my pregnancy. However triage said they would not do thyroid blood work for me >:(
At 36 weeks, I hadn't felt the baby move for several hours, so I called 911. I was taken to OB triage. I had been feeling awful for the weeks leading up to it, calling in sick, and taking vacation days from work because I couldn't drag my butt around anymore.
They freaked out with whatever they saw in the fetal monitor. They said the baby had to come out ASAP. They got me to sign a form for an emergency C-section, an anesthesiologist came in and put a port in my hand - not pleasant! and that's the last thing I remember. They did an emergency C-section later that day.
My boyfriend was 3 time zones away visiting friends. He came back the day after the baby was born.
I woke in ICU a day or so later, and I couldn't talk, I was intubated. I spent a total of 3 days in ICU. My family was all there, visiting me, but I was kind of out of it.
I had Acute Fatty Liver of Pregnancy. There was talk of me getting a liver transplant at one point. That was why my baby was in distress. When I went into triage, the baby monitor said his heart rate was dipping to 90 and 70 - it should be 160 for a 36 week fetus.
James was delivered safely... after they suctioned out the meconium that he had inhaled. His first Apgar score was 1. He was an 8 maybe 15 min later. He was in the NICU for 2 days. He did great for arriving a month early.
I tried breastfeeding him, but the one nurse was pissing me off with all her orders. She was pushing down on my upper stomach area, I was thinking "listen woman I have liver disease so piss off" James was great, he latched on like a champ. It's amazing that he knew what he had to do, though he was only 36 weeks. In the ICU they had been pumping my breasts, it took a little while longer to get things going even so.
Ultimately I stopped breastfeeding and we did formula only. Many of the nurses said things like "wow you have a lot on your plate!" I thought, I may not recover from the liver disease 100%, if I keep breastfeeding, and taxing my system. Also the nurses are trying to tell me something. So I said, "I've decided to stop breastfeeding" and no one gave me an argument.
I wasn't told the exact reason my liver failed. Apparently my liver was going to recover on its own, now that the baby was delivered. The hospital was a bit caught off guard, one person said he had only seen it once before. Different medical staff came into my room to visit, they would say things like "you look a lot better now!"
I was in the hospital for 2 weeks while they waited for my liver to stabilize. After about a week, I got this crazy bruising, it looked like port wine birthmarks up my back and down my legs, and my legs swelled up, so it was hard to walk - I couldn't bend my legs. I still had constipation, and my poop was light beige and my pee was brown. Those 2 things, and the bruising, were due to the bilirubin levels being off.
Eventually my liver levels got closer to normal, and they booted us out. They discharged the baby first, which generated confusion. The hospital formula didn't have a brand name on it, so we were unsure what to buy for him. We figured it out eventually, and my boyfriend and his sister brought the baby home.
I stayed another day, they got an ultrasound of my liver and discharged me the next day. My ultrasound was supposed to be the previous day but no one told me I had to be nil by mouth the night before.
The next day, I had bleeding from my C-section wound. It turned out to be blood under my skin leaking out, they knew about it, but not that it would leak out :) I ended up with home nursing care, they came every day to change the packing.
I had bloodwork done twice to check my liver levels, after 2 months they were close enough to normal.
James is now almost 4 months. At his 4 month doctor visit, he weighed 14 lbs 9 oz. He has put on a nice layer of fat - when he was born, he had wrinkly skin on his little legs. Now he has plump legs and filled out little cheeks. He now looks just like his dad, I don't see anything of my own features in him but I think I can live with that! LOL.
Here he is at around 5 weeks