Shantilly
Well-known member
The most bizarre story of my life,Tuesday January 5,1999
January 5, 2014 at 9:12am
15 yrs ago today i was in Shallowater Texas.pregnant with my son Raymond. living in the "back house" behind the kids grandmothers house with their dad.. "mother" and I got along pretty well and we would watch our "stories/soap operas" together everyday. On this day we were watching our stories and I started feeling really tired. I told her that I was going to go lay down for a while. The baby wasn't due for at least 2 weeks more so sleeping was hard to do anyway, As I was walking back to our house it felt like my water broke, I went on into the bathroom and discovered that my water hadn't broken but that I was in fact bleeding. i went back up front to use the phone to call 911 because I didn't dare drive and mother couldn't. The operator said that the EMT;s would be there soon and to lay on my left side to slow the bleeding. I told this to mother and she said lay on the couch, I told her no because I didn't want to ruin the couch. She grabbed an old vinyl table cloth and put it on the couch for me to lay on. I called George at work and told him what was going on and he said he meet me at the hospital because we figured help was on the way and by the time he got the house I'd be at the hospital. yeah right,. and so the most ridiculous story i had ever heard much less been apart of began... For those who don't know Texas.. They have freight trains only and the smallest one is @ 150-200 cars long. Shallowater was a 2 cop town with volunteer firemen and EMT's. you could drive through the whole place in about 5 minutes. We were just outside of town as they say out there. The main restaurants which they had 2, one was Dairy Queen and the other a mom n pop one..Both on the other side of the tracks. I called back 911 and asked about the EMT's and they were shocked that I hadn't been picked up yet. It had been about 30 mins by then and of course I was bleeding more than before. Like turning on a faucet slowly. I ited on the line as the operator found out what was going on with the EMT's and when they came back on the line they informed me that they had been out to lunch and when they got the call got stuck having to wait on the train and they'd be there as soon as they could. They finally arrived about 30 mins later and when they came in the house they brought along the gurney and told me to get on it. I told them I would rather walk out and get in on my own. Of course they refused to allow me to do that. As they were wheeling me out of the house and down the steps, a wheel from the gurney fell of and the guy said to the woman to hang on while he put it back on. They got me to the truck and of course neither of them noticed the wheel had fallen off again as they were loading me. The woman road in the back with me and the guy drove. I would've had a better ride on the back of a 4-wheeler going through the woods. This thing had no suspension to speak of. Rough ride was an understatement. Anyway, because they are "volunteers" and not the professionals, we had to stop along the way and meet up with another EMS unti from the county. No problem, what do I care? By this time I had lost so much blood, I figured I was going to die anyway. Remember the reference to the faucet, I was about 3/4 of the way open by this time. The real EMT got out of his truck and proceeded to ream out the volunteers for just about eveyrthing under the sun. The only part that made senseHe of course said, "Not on my watch you're not". He had started checking me over and doing my vitals and then said we needed to go and that he'd start the IV as we went down the road. I told him, "you're going to do it know while it is stopped, or you're not doing it at all. This truck has no shocks and I'll be damned if you're gonna jab me with a needle going down the road. I felt every rock and pebble from Shallowater to here." He hollered to the driver to hang on a minute and he got the IV started. Once that was done, we proceeded to the hospital. The EMT kept asking me how if I was having contractions and I kept telling him it didnt matter I was dying. I also kept telling jokes and ignoring him the whole way there. Which really made him mad. I was already passed the cold stage and could feel myself slipping away slowly. i didn't care, and it was a nice feeling actually. No pain at all. We arrived at Texas Tech Medical Center, and when we got to the ER entrance they hurriedly got me out and when they went to push me inside they realized the wheel was missing and I wasn't going anywhere on that thing. The county county truck had followed us of course, so that driver took out their deluxe gurney with shocks and all kinds of gadgets.. I went from a go-cart to a Cadillac in a matter of minutes. George was waiting inside the doors and of course wondering where the hell I was. The rushed us into the prep area because they had to operate on me and since I was at the hospital you would think my ordeal was pretty much over. Not by a long shot. They transferred me to the hopital gurney so the EMT's could leave and proceeded the prepping. I had nurses and a bunch of other people coming and doing what ever they had to do to get me ready for the O.R. A owman came in with a huge stack of papers for me to sign. I asked," why?" She said they didn't have my medical records and that there wasn't anytime to go get them. I told her that was a crock of **** because my doctors office was just on the other side of the facility and all the paperwork had already been done over there. She shoved the papers at me and I said let him sign them, meaning George, she said I had to sign them. Fine!. I guarantee that mickey mouse, donald duck, **** you and a few other words were signed on those papers , but not my name. Once all that crap was out of the way they sent in the guy to do my epidural and once that was done we waited. And we waited some more. I asked what was the hold up? The nurse said they were waiting for someone from the O.R. to come get me, mean while over in the O.R. the doctor was waiting for them to bring me to him. finally the doctor realized that I wasn't going to be brought to him and he sent an intern over to fetch me. The intern was pissed, but cussed as he was wheeling me into the O.R. George in tow. He was there for all of it.. They put up a curtain so I couldn't watch which made me mad, stupid rule about not being allowed to watch yourself being operated on. My arms were stretched out on either side and taped down to the arm tables. One had the IV and the other had the blood to replace the blood I had lost. i was wide awake because they said had they put me completely under I may not make it. Again, that was fine with me, but they didn't want to listen to me. With in a couple of minutes I was opened up and Raymond came out. They took him across the room and I could see them using the straws to clear his lungs out, but not jsut one or two, the doctor had already used about 5 of them as she crossed the room. I asked George, "Is the baby ok?" He said they were working on him and then took him out of the room so he didn't know. They threw me back together and stapled me up and rolled me into a room. About an hour later a nurse came in and said I had to get up and walk and I asked about the baby and she said that he was down in the NICU unit. "Neonatal Infant Care Unit". She told me again to get up and walk because it would help me heal faster. I told her, "**** you, you walk, I hurt too much" George was getting on to me about how I was talking to the nurse. I told him to shut up I was the patient and I tell them what they are and are not going to do. I was still annoyed by the whole days events. Then about 4 hours later a candy striper comes in with new sheets for my bed. She holds them out to me and says "here you go". I was confused for a moment and then I realzied that this person expected me the patient ot change my own sheets. Ummm no.. I told her, "here I go what?" " I'm going to get up and go over to that bathroom and since I am split from hip to hip and full of metal it will take me a while to do it, but when I come back my bed sheets will be changed by you or else there WILL be a major problem." When I came out my bed was changed, I don't know who did it. But I knew damn well it wasn't going to be me. I wanted to see my son and asked the nurse about why they hadn't brought him to me yet since I had planned on breast feeding, I thought it was odd. She said that the only way to see him was to go down to the NICU because he wasn't doing to well and was in an incubator that couldn't be moved. I told her I hurt to much to go that far and them she proceeded to point and push the morphine button at my side. I again was not nice. I told her, " I don't want any pain drugs over Tylenol 3 because I was going to breast feed and if she pushed it one more time I was goind to take the needle out and shove it up her ass." And that she might as well remove it, cause I wasn't going to use it." George went down and took polaroid pictures of Raymond in his bed and that was the first time i got to see my son. Later that evening the circus began in my room, I had no idea why I was so popular with these people that i had been extremely rude to. The doctor came in and asked if he could bring in a group of interns to see my staples. I said ok, but I signed a paper that said I didn't want to be apart of the teaching side, guess they didn't take mickey as proper authority and did it anyway. If we had sold tickets I could have had a ranch and a dozen horses at least, that;s how many times they came to my room to inspect my staples. Now as a lot of people know when you are in the hospital you wear the gown backwards and nothing under it. By the time the 3rd group came in I had no shame left and made a big joke out of it and just started flashing everyone who came in. The next day I felt a little better and in less pain as long as I didn't move to much. I started walking a little, but sitting up in a wheel chair was not possible yet. It killed me knowing my baby was some where in that hospital and I wasn't able to see him or hold him yet. By the middle of the day I was bound and determined to see my son, They had removed all but the IV so I was mobile. I got in the wheelchair and George took me down to see out son. I met with his doctor, Karen Rogers. She said she had heard that I was ready to go home but my son was not. I told her point blank where my bed would be. She was confused so I explained that I was NOT leaving without my son and that if he stayed I was too. She said, "that wasn't possible" and I said, "don't test me." I guess the look on my face and the tone of my voice and my history of being a pain in the ass paitient lead her to try and compromise with me. She said that my son wasn't eating enough and that by now he should be up to at least 2oz a feeding and he barely ate 1oz. I told her I had planned on breat feeding and that i wanted to take him home with me. She said, "that he still needed his PKU test done but that wasn't until Friday". She then said "I will let you take him home with you and you bring him back here Friday for the test and if he isn't eating more then I will readmit him and you WILL NOT STAY!" I agreed and then she let me see him and I got touch him for the first time. he was so tiny and it broke my heart seeing him with all those tubes and things hooked on him. She explained what everything was for and said that while I was bleeding, he was drowning in my blood and that's why he is there. The whole time I was thinking of only me and not at all about him made me more ashamed of myself than anyone could imagine and I promised him the at I wouldn't be that way anymore with him. We left the next morning and of course the first thing people do after leaving the hospital with the baby is stop at Walmart for the things they didn't know they'd need. We got home and I had already started breast feeding and had formula as well to try and get him to eat more. Since there isn't wany way to tell how much a baby eats straight from the breast I had to pump it out and then feed him. He started growing for sure and by the time we went back to the hospital on Friday he was up to 2oz a feeding. Dr. Rogers was impressed and said that it was Mom he wanted and needed. We set up follow up appointments 2 a week to start to make sure he was continuing to grow properly and then I had my appointment the next week and that's when I learned about the "other side" of my ordeal. I was I the room waiting for the doctor or nurse to come in and check me over to make sure I was ok. The first thing the doctor said when she walked in was "it was you, you did it" I was confused and said," yeah, I had a baby." like it was no big deal. She then proceeded to fill me in on the events of her day. She said from the moment the hospital got the call from dispatch that they were bringing me in and why the whole place was on edge until I got there. Then based on all the events that took place soon after I got there, she said they had all the doctors in the hospital plus had to call in a bunch of specialists to work on my son and I. It was her first time in the labor delivery area and she said because of me she had to deliver 10 babies all by herself. I told her I was so sorry and i hoped she wasn't mad at me because of it. She said she wasn't at all and the experience was gladly accepted and that she was so happy my son and I had made it. She said they told her that if it had taken 5 mins more we both would've died that day. I was shocked at the time frame. I knew I was close, I could feel it. But timing is everything I guess. My son is celebrating 15 years of life today and has not had any problems that we know of from his birth. Healthy and strong as a bull lol. I am very grateful to all of those people who saved us that day. I wrote a letter to the hospital telling them that as well.
January 5, 2014 at 9:12am
15 yrs ago today i was in Shallowater Texas.pregnant with my son Raymond. living in the "back house" behind the kids grandmothers house with their dad.. "mother" and I got along pretty well and we would watch our "stories/soap operas" together everyday. On this day we were watching our stories and I started feeling really tired. I told her that I was going to go lay down for a while. The baby wasn't due for at least 2 weeks more so sleeping was hard to do anyway, As I was walking back to our house it felt like my water broke, I went on into the bathroom and discovered that my water hadn't broken but that I was in fact bleeding. i went back up front to use the phone to call 911 because I didn't dare drive and mother couldn't. The operator said that the EMT;s would be there soon and to lay on my left side to slow the bleeding. I told this to mother and she said lay on the couch, I told her no because I didn't want to ruin the couch. She grabbed an old vinyl table cloth and put it on the couch for me to lay on. I called George at work and told him what was going on and he said he meet me at the hospital because we figured help was on the way and by the time he got the house I'd be at the hospital. yeah right,. and so the most ridiculous story i had ever heard much less been apart of began... For those who don't know Texas.. They have freight trains only and the smallest one is @ 150-200 cars long. Shallowater was a 2 cop town with volunteer firemen and EMT's. you could drive through the whole place in about 5 minutes. We were just outside of town as they say out there. The main restaurants which they had 2, one was Dairy Queen and the other a mom n pop one..Both on the other side of the tracks. I called back 911 and asked about the EMT's and they were shocked that I hadn't been picked up yet. It had been about 30 mins by then and of course I was bleeding more than before. Like turning on a faucet slowly. I ited on the line as the operator found out what was going on with the EMT's and when they came back on the line they informed me that they had been out to lunch and when they got the call got stuck having to wait on the train and they'd be there as soon as they could. They finally arrived about 30 mins later and when they came in the house they brought along the gurney and told me to get on it. I told them I would rather walk out and get in on my own. Of course they refused to allow me to do that. As they were wheeling me out of the house and down the steps, a wheel from the gurney fell of and the guy said to the woman to hang on while he put it back on. They got me to the truck and of course neither of them noticed the wheel had fallen off again as they were loading me. The woman road in the back with me and the guy drove. I would've had a better ride on the back of a 4-wheeler going through the woods. This thing had no suspension to speak of. Rough ride was an understatement. Anyway, because they are "volunteers" and not the professionals, we had to stop along the way and meet up with another EMS unti from the county. No problem, what do I care? By this time I had lost so much blood, I figured I was going to die anyway. Remember the reference to the faucet, I was about 3/4 of the way open by this time. The real EMT got out of his truck and proceeded to ream out the volunteers for just about eveyrthing under the sun. The only part that made senseHe of course said, "Not on my watch you're not". He had started checking me over and doing my vitals and then said we needed to go and that he'd start the IV as we went down the road. I told him, "you're going to do it know while it is stopped, or you're not doing it at all. This truck has no shocks and I'll be damned if you're gonna jab me with a needle going down the road. I felt every rock and pebble from Shallowater to here." He hollered to the driver to hang on a minute and he got the IV started. Once that was done, we proceeded to the hospital. The EMT kept asking me how if I was having contractions and I kept telling him it didnt matter I was dying. I also kept telling jokes and ignoring him the whole way there. Which really made him mad. I was already passed the cold stage and could feel myself slipping away slowly. i didn't care, and it was a nice feeling actually. No pain at all. We arrived at Texas Tech Medical Center, and when we got to the ER entrance they hurriedly got me out and when they went to push me inside they realized the wheel was missing and I wasn't going anywhere on that thing. The county county truck had followed us of course, so that driver took out their deluxe gurney with shocks and all kinds of gadgets.. I went from a go-cart to a Cadillac in a matter of minutes. George was waiting inside the doors and of course wondering where the hell I was. The rushed us into the prep area because they had to operate on me and since I was at the hospital you would think my ordeal was pretty much over. Not by a long shot. They transferred me to the hopital gurney so the EMT's could leave and proceeded the prepping. I had nurses and a bunch of other people coming and doing what ever they had to do to get me ready for the O.R. A owman came in with a huge stack of papers for me to sign. I asked," why?" She said they didn't have my medical records and that there wasn't anytime to go get them. I told her that was a crock of **** because my doctors office was just on the other side of the facility and all the paperwork had already been done over there. She shoved the papers at me and I said let him sign them, meaning George, she said I had to sign them. Fine!. I guarantee that mickey mouse, donald duck, **** you and a few other words were signed on those papers , but not my name. Once all that crap was out of the way they sent in the guy to do my epidural and once that was done we waited. And we waited some more. I asked what was the hold up? The nurse said they were waiting for someone from the O.R. to come get me, mean while over in the O.R. the doctor was waiting for them to bring me to him. finally the doctor realized that I wasn't going to be brought to him and he sent an intern over to fetch me. The intern was pissed, but cussed as he was wheeling me into the O.R. George in tow. He was there for all of it.. They put up a curtain so I couldn't watch which made me mad, stupid rule about not being allowed to watch yourself being operated on. My arms were stretched out on either side and taped down to the arm tables. One had the IV and the other had the blood to replace the blood I had lost. i was wide awake because they said had they put me completely under I may not make it. Again, that was fine with me, but they didn't want to listen to me. With in a couple of minutes I was opened up and Raymond came out. They took him across the room and I could see them using the straws to clear his lungs out, but not jsut one or two, the doctor had already used about 5 of them as she crossed the room. I asked George, "Is the baby ok?" He said they were working on him and then took him out of the room so he didn't know. They threw me back together and stapled me up and rolled me into a room. About an hour later a nurse came in and said I had to get up and walk and I asked about the baby and she said that he was down in the NICU unit. "Neonatal Infant Care Unit". She told me again to get up and walk because it would help me heal faster. I told her, "**** you, you walk, I hurt too much" George was getting on to me about how I was talking to the nurse. I told him to shut up I was the patient and I tell them what they are and are not going to do. I was still annoyed by the whole days events. Then about 4 hours later a candy striper comes in with new sheets for my bed. She holds them out to me and says "here you go". I was confused for a moment and then I realzied that this person expected me the patient ot change my own sheets. Ummm no.. I told her, "here I go what?" " I'm going to get up and go over to that bathroom and since I am split from hip to hip and full of metal it will take me a while to do it, but when I come back my bed sheets will be changed by you or else there WILL be a major problem." When I came out my bed was changed, I don't know who did it. But I knew damn well it wasn't going to be me. I wanted to see my son and asked the nurse about why they hadn't brought him to me yet since I had planned on breast feeding, I thought it was odd. She said that the only way to see him was to go down to the NICU because he wasn't doing to well and was in an incubator that couldn't be moved. I told her I hurt to much to go that far and them she proceeded to point and push the morphine button at my side. I again was not nice. I told her, " I don't want any pain drugs over Tylenol 3 because I was going to breast feed and if she pushed it one more time I was goind to take the needle out and shove it up her ass." And that she might as well remove it, cause I wasn't going to use it." George went down and took polaroid pictures of Raymond in his bed and that was the first time i got to see my son. Later that evening the circus began in my room, I had no idea why I was so popular with these people that i had been extremely rude to. The doctor came in and asked if he could bring in a group of interns to see my staples. I said ok, but I signed a paper that said I didn't want to be apart of the teaching side, guess they didn't take mickey as proper authority and did it anyway. If we had sold tickets I could have had a ranch and a dozen horses at least, that;s how many times they came to my room to inspect my staples. Now as a lot of people know when you are in the hospital you wear the gown backwards and nothing under it. By the time the 3rd group came in I had no shame left and made a big joke out of it and just started flashing everyone who came in. The next day I felt a little better and in less pain as long as I didn't move to much. I started walking a little, but sitting up in a wheel chair was not possible yet. It killed me knowing my baby was some where in that hospital and I wasn't able to see him or hold him yet. By the middle of the day I was bound and determined to see my son, They had removed all but the IV so I was mobile. I got in the wheelchair and George took me down to see out son. I met with his doctor, Karen Rogers. She said she had heard that I was ready to go home but my son was not. I told her point blank where my bed would be. She was confused so I explained that I was NOT leaving without my son and that if he stayed I was too. She said, "that wasn't possible" and I said, "don't test me." I guess the look on my face and the tone of my voice and my history of being a pain in the ass paitient lead her to try and compromise with me. She said that my son wasn't eating enough and that by now he should be up to at least 2oz a feeding and he barely ate 1oz. I told her I had planned on breat feeding and that i wanted to take him home with me. She said, "that he still needed his PKU test done but that wasn't until Friday". She then said "I will let you take him home with you and you bring him back here Friday for the test and if he isn't eating more then I will readmit him and you WILL NOT STAY!" I agreed and then she let me see him and I got touch him for the first time. he was so tiny and it broke my heart seeing him with all those tubes and things hooked on him. She explained what everything was for and said that while I was bleeding, he was drowning in my blood and that's why he is there. The whole time I was thinking of only me and not at all about him made me more ashamed of myself than anyone could imagine and I promised him the at I wouldn't be that way anymore with him. We left the next morning and of course the first thing people do after leaving the hospital with the baby is stop at Walmart for the things they didn't know they'd need. We got home and I had already started breast feeding and had formula as well to try and get him to eat more. Since there isn't wany way to tell how much a baby eats straight from the breast I had to pump it out and then feed him. He started growing for sure and by the time we went back to the hospital on Friday he was up to 2oz a feeding. Dr. Rogers was impressed and said that it was Mom he wanted and needed. We set up follow up appointments 2 a week to start to make sure he was continuing to grow properly and then I had my appointment the next week and that's when I learned about the "other side" of my ordeal. I was I the room waiting for the doctor or nurse to come in and check me over to make sure I was ok. The first thing the doctor said when she walked in was "it was you, you did it" I was confused and said," yeah, I had a baby." like it was no big deal. She then proceeded to fill me in on the events of her day. She said from the moment the hospital got the call from dispatch that they were bringing me in and why the whole place was on edge until I got there. Then based on all the events that took place soon after I got there, she said they had all the doctors in the hospital plus had to call in a bunch of specialists to work on my son and I. It was her first time in the labor delivery area and she said because of me she had to deliver 10 babies all by herself. I told her I was so sorry and i hoped she wasn't mad at me because of it. She said she wasn't at all and the experience was gladly accepted and that she was so happy my son and I had made it. She said they told her that if it had taken 5 mins more we both would've died that day. I was shocked at the time frame. I knew I was close, I could feel it. But timing is everything I guess. My son is celebrating 15 years of life today and has not had any problems that we know of from his birth. Healthy and strong as a bull lol. I am very grateful to all of those people who saved us that day. I wrote a letter to the hospital telling them that as well.
super big hugs
