Hints:
New Year's Eve 2001
Jai
Dylan
Pittsburgh
Magee-Womens Hospital
IVs
stethoscope
placenta
uterine
placenta abrupta
fetus
No matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse. At the same time, it is often within your power to make them better. I learned this lesson well on New Year's Eve 2001. Jai was seven months pregnant with Dylan, and we were about to welcome in 2002 having a quiet night at home, watching a DVD. The movie was just starting when Jai said, "I think my water just broke." But it wasn't water. It was blood. Pittsburgh's Magee-Womens Hospital was four minutes away if I ignored red lights, which is what I did. When we got to the emergency room, doctors, nurses and other hospital personnel descended with IVs, stethoscopes and insurance forms. It was quickly determined that her placenta had torn away from the uterine wall; it's called "placenta abrupta." With the placenta in such distress, the life support for the fetus was giving out. They don't need to tell you how serious this is. Jai's health and the viability of our baby were at great risk.