I woke up a little after midnight on a Thursday morning with a lot of abdominal pain. At this time, I was a little over 34 weeks pregnant. Shortly after waking up with this pain, I knew it was more than the pizza I had eaten earlier. I was starting to feel slightly nauseated and dizzy. I laid back down with no relief to my stomach. I knew it couldn't be contractions because the pain was constant. I stirred around in the bed and knew that something had to be wrong. I kept getting up thinking the pain would go away, but I kept getting more dizzy each time I did this. I finally woke my husband and told him that something wasn't right and I needed to go to the hospital. I contemplated calling 911 but I knew that would send my husband panicking more. I decided to call the nursing supervisor at the hospital where I work - praying that it would be Erica who answered the phone. It was indeed Erica on duty that night.
I explained my symptoms to her and that I knew something was not right. I told her my husband was bringing me to the ER and asked that she please have someone meet us in the ambulance bay. After I hung up the phone I noticed in the mirror that my color was sheet while and I could feel myself becoming more hemodynamically unstable. I do not know how I made it from my bedroom to the car, but once I got there my nurse instincts kicked in and I laid my head back as far as possible and put my feet up on the dashboard. I remember riding in the car and looking at my sleeping son in the back seat thinking that if I was going to die, this may be my last time with him. I could feel myself getting more and more unstable by the minute. I was beyond scared, but I tried to remain calm for my husband, who was panicking.
When we about 2-3 minutes away, I called Erica and told that I knew I was even worse than I was initially and again, something was just not right. I remember telling her that I felt like I would need to be stabilized before they took me to L&D. I remember pulling up in the ambulance bay, my son still asleep in the back seat. I remember seeing Erica's face and getting into the wheelchair. The next thing I remember is everyone all around me in the trauma bay trying to establish IVs, get blood for labs, and pump fluids in me. My pressure was in the 60s systolic and they were having a hard time picking up the baby's heartbeat. Once I became more stable, the ER team transferred me up to L&D to figure out what was going on and what to do next. I remember that I kept seeing Erica in L&D, keeping in contact with my husband and checking in on me. It was determined that my little girl needed to come via emergency C-section. During the C-section, it was discovered that I had experienced a uterine rupture at the site of a previous C-section scar and was hemorrhaging internally.
I am forever grateful for Erica, she listened to me when I knew something wasn't right with my body. She was there to receive me as soon as I arrived at the hospital when she could have simply told me to report to triage. She stayed with me throughout my life-threatening event. If Erica had not been waiting for me when I arrived and hadn't facilitated getting me into a trauma room, I would not have received the immediate care that I know saved both my life and the life of my daughter. She could have put any other task ahead of helping me, but she didn't. I remember waking up and seeing the fear in her eyes as I laid there helpless and scared for our lives in the ER. I could not have asked for anyone better to have been by my side. I felt safe knowing she was there.
Erica, thank you for being not only a great nurse to me as a patient, but being a wonderful colleague who trusted my judgment about my deteriorating condition. Because of your quick planning and actions to stabilize us, you helped save not only my life but also my precious daughter's life as well. I can never thank you enough.