My name is Jennie. I'm a wife and a mother. I have been married to the man of my dreams, Trever, for 9 wonderful years. We have 5 beautiful daughters who fill our lives with joy and excitement. We just had our 6th child. Our son Caleb.

I was diagnosed with a rare condition called Placenta Accreta along with Placenta Previa. Accreta is a condition where the placenta attaches to the scar tissue in the uterus. It will often continue to grow to deeper tissue (increta) and even through the uterus attaching to other organs(percreta). I ended up having an 11 hour surgery, including a hystorectomy, and bladder repair. I received 7 units of blood and blood parts. (This is a lot of blood loss for my surgeons, but minimal blood loss to those who are not as experienced in these deliveries. I spent 36 hours in the ICU after surgery. I have also had many other complications afterwards including another minor surgery 2 weeks later. These complications are somewhat normal for the type of surgery I had.

I had a team of specialists doing my surgery. Obgyns, Gyno-oncologists, trauma surgeons, urologists and anesthesiologists. This team has specialized in techniques helping with minimal blood loss. Those with accreta , loose large amounts of blood because the placenta cannot detach naturally at delivery.

My goal is to help save women's lives by giving this terrible condition a voice. So many are ignorant to its fatal attack. Doctors and women alike, need to be educated about Accreta. Many have never even heard of it. The numbers are on the rise because of so many women choosing to have c-sections when it isn't necessary. Not all women can avoid it, but many can. Please help me give Accreta a voice, by sharing the information in this blog. (There are numerous posts with information on Accreta as well as the Accreta team who took such great care of me.)

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Sleepover

What a fun night! I was able spend the night at the hospital with my little man last night. It was such a special one for me. As we speak I am holding him and loving on him. My little miracle baby. I have an early cystogram this morning. I knew that waking up 5 sleeping beauties bright and early and making the long trek to the hospital was going to be a little much. We decided that a night time drive down and a sleepover was the best option. Since I have my tubes in, I'm not able to drive still. So Trever and the girls brought me in. The girls had such a hard time saying goodbye. I can't blame them. 8 weeks of no mommy at home had to make a huge impact on them. I tried to explain that it was just untill lunch time today, but it was no use. It didn't help that they were tired and some still recovering from the flu. I just hope my poor husband survived the night!

I snuggled Caleb last night for a little bit but we decided he needed to rest as much as possible in between feeds so that he could have the energy to take more by mouth. He gets worn out very quickly, so he and I just slept the night away. I wondered how I would sleep here. My anxiety was a little edgy about the cystogram today. Was it time? Am I healed enough for it not to blow open the hole in my badder again? Are we going to find a fistula? These cystograms themselves are no big deal. They just fill my bladder with a solution, via the catheter. This solution shows up on an x ray. That way, they can see if there are any leaks going on inside me. It doesn't hurt, just feels like I have to pee. The problem is, the push the fluids pretty quickly, so this low pressure system we have tried so hard to keep, has now turned into a very high pressure system.  If the hole or holes has not healed fully, it could re open it/them quite forcefully I might add. If I am all healed up, then that means I can get the drain out and next week, the catheter can come out! So it's a catch 22. We will see in about an hour. Please pray, it's healed! 

Back to wondering how I would sleep. (man oh man do I like to ramble) I actually slept very well. I got some good chunks of deep sleep. I woke up at 3 and 6 for his feedings, though I just let his nurse do all the work. I just laid there. He got a bath this morning and is not clean and peacefully eating and sleeping on my lap. She didn't want to push his energy level by trying a bottle this feed, since he had a bath. His 3am feeding he took the entire thing by mouth though. She said he looked like he was going to give it all back to her, but she just sat him up and rubbed his back. He let out a good burp and all was right with the world. Slow and steady, with lots of burping, wins the race for this little
guy.

I am going to focus on my little man for a few more minutes before I have to go. When I get back, I have some fabulous and exciting news for you. I will also be telling you how wonderful the cystogram went. That there were no leakes and that I am one step closer to feeling human again! That's what I'm going to say...I hope...I pray... Happy Wednesday ya'll. (it is Wednesday right? I never know these days.)

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