By Kerri Sweetis
Kerri has written about her treatment for MG, what she did to allow her to become pregnant despite all her medications and the progress of her pregnancy. Now she writes about the late stage of pregnancy and her labor and delivery.
The rest of my pregnancy was filled with appointments. My doctors were VERY thorough, and wanted me to have every kind of checkup known to man. I had to see a pulmonologist, and they did an overnight pulse oximeter test.
It ended up being a nightmare, because after the results of that test, they ordered me to have a sleep study. I do not recommend a sleep study at 7½ months pregnant! I got about 45 minutes of sleep the whole night.
The pulmonologist put me on oxygen 24 hours a day. I was still so exhausted. I started going to the doctor every week, and at 34 weeks I started going twice a week. I would have a non-stress test (NST) during one appointment, and then an NST and a doctor visit the second time.
During the non-stress test they would hook me up to two monitors, one to measure the baby’s heartbeat, and the other to monitor any contractions.
All of the tests were normal. My blood pressure was great, my blood sugar had never been better. I had several more ultrasounds as well, and each one was just perfect!
During the last 10 weeks of my pregnancy, I had plasmapheresis done in the labor and delivery department at the University of Michigan instead of the aphersis lab there. At 29 weeks one of the doctors at the aphersis lab told me that plasmaphersis can induce labor.
Well, that freaked me right out. Turns out that the first time I had pheresis at labor and delivery, I was having about nine contractions an hour. They checked me, and since there were no cervical changes, they let me go home after about an hour.
I was very happy with the level of care that I was getting from all my doctors. The midwife whom I saw was a terrific medical professional, and she basically ran my case the entire pregnancy. My neurologist was fantastic, and everyone at the hospital was wonderful as well.
The doctors and I decided that I would check in to the hospital to induce labor on Aug. 14. I was due on the 20th, but I was so miserable I talked them into going a little early! I was up to 15 mg of prednisone every day, but it wasn’t doing much.
I was on oxygen 24/7, I had double vision on and off, but the worst was my speech. I couldn’t talk on the phone at all because no one understood me. I couldn’t go anywhere except the doctor because I was so exhausted. It really took a toll on my body. The MG monster was out of control.
We met with a neonatalogist who told us that there was a 1 in 7 chance that Jacob would have transient neonatal myasthenia. Up until this point, I honestly hadn’t thought that much about it. I was just SURE that Jacob would be born perfect and healthy.
On Monday, Aug. 14, at 7 in the morning, I checked into the hospital to have Jacob. I never dreamed I wouldn’t have him that day! They started Pitocin, and kept increasing the dosage by 4 units every hour. I was having contractions, but nothing was really happening.
At 6 that evening they stopped the Pitocin and let me eat something. The whole time I was still on two monitors (with belts around my stomach) to monitor Jacob’s heartbeat, and my contractions.
They started the Pitocin again Monday night about 10, and I was on it all night long, having contractions, hooked up to the monitors. Sleep was NOT happening.
Tuesday morning they started rapidly increasing the Pitocin, and at about noon on Tuesday I got my epidural. It went really well, and didn’t hurt at all. The only small problem I had is that I couldn’t move my left leg. That felt really strange, but everything else was going great.
I was nervous about having trouble breathing, but I was doing OK. I was still on oxygen, of course. We even had an endotracheal tube by my bedside in case I stopped breathing. They would have had to take out the trach and put in the tube to get me on a vent.
At 2 that afternoon, the doctor came in to check me. I had not dilated at all. He gave me the following scenario: He was planning on coming back to check me at 4:30 or 5. If I had dilated to 3 or 4 cm, we could plan on at least nine more hours for natural delivery, if everything went according to average. If I had not dilated that much, we would have to do a C-section.
About 3:30, it was like someone just unplugged me. I didn’t even have the strength to push air past my trach to talk. I told Doug I wanted a C-section. Things really started happening then. By about 5 I was being prepped, and getting ready to head down to the main OR. They didn’t want to do the C-section in labor and delivery as they would normally do because of all of my medical issues.
Because I cannot breathe when I lie flat, the plan was to intubate me for the surgery. I was going to be awake, though, which scared me to no end. So many people were praying for me, and I really felt the peace, but I was still nervous. The anesthesiologist was AMAZING. He explained that they would give me something to knock me out just for a few seconds, long enough to take out the trach and pop in the endotracheal tube.
When I got in the OR, my sats (percent of oxygen saturation in the blood) were really good, and the anesthesiologist told me he thought I would be fine without going on the vent. I really trusted him, and he started laying my gurney back a little bit at a time, and let me adjust. I’m telling you right now what happened next was a miracle. I was lying flat, my sats were good, and I could breathe OK. I did not need to be intubated. WOW! The many prayers were answered, and then some!
We proceeded with the C-section. Let me tell you, that was weird! One of the surgical assistants was this giant of a man who was going to push on my stomach to get Jacob out. I had seen a C-section before, so I knew that they pushed on you, that the baby didn’t just slide out. But this guy was HUGE. And MAN did he push. The whole table was moving.
I will never forget the moment they held Jacob over the surgical drapes and said, "Here he is!" He had this mass of dark curly hair. He was crying, but faintly. I was crying, Doug was crying, the nurses were crying. It was the most amazing moment of my life. My miracle was finally here.
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