Callahan’s Birth Story: Part 4

July 17th

Around 3pm they took me from the OR to Interventional Radiology where they attempted to embolize my uterine arteries in hopes of slowing the blood loss from my uterus. As they were taking me to IR they noticed my abdomen had become significantly distended and decided they would have to take me to the OR after and open me up for an exploratory laparotomy. The bleeding had started to slow after this procedure, but not enough.

Meanwhile, my family was brought to a conference room so that they could be closer to where I was in the OR. When they got there (around 4pm), a few people urged Steve to go see the baby but he didn’t want to leave the location where he could be closest to me. Eventually, he agreed that he needed to be the first one to hold our son, so he went up to see Callahan with his mom and my mom. The pictures from their first time meeting bring up so many emotions for the me. They are heart wrenching. My OBGYN again came to update them. She asked for my husband to sign for the Ex Lap and possible hysterectomy. At that point, he didn’t care what they had to do, as long as they saved me. He signed the paperwork.

Around 6pm that night they took me in for the exploratory laparotomy. When they opened me up they found 4 liters of blood in my abdomen. They decided that they needed to do a hysterectomy because there was still too much bleeding. They removed my uterus and one of my ovaries/fallopian tubes.  They packed my entire pelvic cavity with surgical sponges and quick clot combat gauze to help with bleeding. They then left my abdomen open with a wound vac in place because they knew they would need to go back in several times to clear clotting and possibly restitch some areas.

They updated my family that they had to perform the hysterectomy but that they were able to save one of my ovaries so that I would not go into early menopause.

Around 8pm one of my trauma surgeons spoke to my family. He explained what happened during the surgery and the way he had to pack my abdomen and leave it partially open. He told my family that he’d done 2 tours with the army and that this was the worst trauma he’d seen outside of war. He had to pack me like a war victim. He told them I was begin transferred to Lankenau Medical Center so they could maintain the ECMO circuit. Paoli was a Trauma 2 hospital, which meant they had enough blood for me, but they weren’t equipped for ECMO. Lankenau is a Trauma 1 facility. Thankfully the 2 hospitals are still in the same hospital system, so transfer of care was seamless.

They told my family they could see me before I was transferred to Lankenau. The doctors warned them that I would not look like myself. I was even larger and more swollen than when I was pregnant due to quantities of fluid and blood product.  After waiting for about an hour while the 20 or so medical professionals readied me to travel, my family saw me for the first time since I had collapsed. It was difficult to see my face because of all the tubes coming from my nose and mouth. Steve was the first one to see me. He walked right up to the gurney, which was surrounded by about 20 nurses and doctors. Steve told me what a good job I had done keeping Cal safe. He let me know how big he was and that he was doing so well up in the NICU. My family told me there wasn’t a dry eye around that gurney when Steve was telling me about Cal. The rest of my family told me how much they loved me and to keep fighting. I was off on the ambulance to be transferred and my family rushed around to complete all of the tasks they has divvied up while waiting to see me. Steve, his sister, my mom, and my brother would follow the ambulance straight to the hospital. My dad would stay with Callahan (he couldn’t be transferred with me yet). Simone would go to Target to get clothes/toiletries for Steve. Steve’s mom would go home to take care of the dogs and Jessi would take my car home until she came to Lankenau the next day.