Loss, HG & Hope

by Janica Mehling

Our story starts with falling in love, dating fun and getting married. My husband was so good to me from the beginning. I was always an ill person and he never hesitated to step up and take care of me. We knew we were meant for each other and we never questioned starting a family. A big family... If only it
were that easy.

We suffered five miscarriages before becoming pregnant with our son. Most were early, around the six week mark. They all happened the same way. I would become very ill, vomiting violently, cramps and bleeding and feeling like death was right around the corner. When we would get an ultrasound, the techs always had the same somber face, only to be followed by the doctor telling us there was no heartbeat. I miscarried twice on my own and the other three had to be removed with a D&C.

We had been through so much in our relationship and finally I was diagnosed with Celiac disease. Oftenlinked to miscarriage and infertility, this gave us a little hope. I started a gluten free diet and although it wasn't an instant fix, I started to feel better than I ever had! It had taken 23 years to get a diagnosis and only time would tell if it would help. After three years I started to feel sick again, but in a different way.

Our record for getting proper medical care in our home town was unsuccessful and since it was a Colorado Doctor that found my Celiac disease, again we turned to Colorado. I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease and started treatments with steroids. About a month after the treatments had started we found out that we were finally pregnant again! We hadn't stopped trying; in fact we tried almost every month, with basil body temps and ovulation kits... We were so blessed to have such amazing news we immediately knew we had to find a Doctor that would help us do everything possible for this baby.

With a little research we came across an amazing Doctor/Midwife combo. She was in Colorado which is a three hour drive for us, but she was attentive, and understanding and most of all she was knowledgeable! She tested my progesterone levels and suggested we start supplementation until week 12. She also prescribed some anti-nausea medication as I was severally nauseous and vomiting. Eventually this was diagnosed as Hyperemesis Gravidarum. Around week 6, I had quite a bit of spotting and fear started to set in. I called the Doctor and she sent me to the hospital to check my levels. She said they had dropped and she doubled my dose. The bleeding soon stopped and we carried on for a few more weeks.

With several early ultrasounds we had determined that this baby was going to make it and we had never been happier. Around week 16 we had an ultrasound that showed something unusual. So we were sent to a specialist to confirm. This pregnancy was a Vasa Previa case. It is rare and had a mortality rate of 50-100%. The babies vessels were not in a cord and they stretched over my cervix. If I were to go into labor I would lose the baby and possibly my own life in less than 2 minutes.

How could this be!? After everything we had gone through. We were heartbroken but knew we had to do everything possible to save this baby. I had several spotting episodes and some cramping at times over the next few weeks. My case was one that seemed that baffled my local E.R. (They seriously said they had never heard of Vasa Previa and they would "Go and google it.") 

My husband walked me out of that E.R. and we drove straight to Colorado. My doctor confirmed that I was really a high risk case and danger of being so far away from proper treatment that I was scheduled to be hospitalized as soon as it was approved by insurance. I checked in to an amazing hospital at 25 weeks pregnant. I remember feeling so assured that we now safe. My first day was full of surprises; we were checked labor and delivery, then I was moved to the woman’s care floor, I had a picc line placement that didn’t finally happen until the middle of the night, a room switch, and in the morning my husband had to leave me and head back home. Three hours away.

It was rough, and even got depressing at times. I managed to get through it with some amazing nurses and weekly visits from my husband and my mom. I gained way too much weight from the steroids. (I was still suffering from crohns and could not taper of the drugs without a relapse. ) I was excited to go into labor one week earlier than my scheduled c section. I was 34 weeks and they could not stop the labor. I had my son 9 hours later. He weighed 4lbs and 9 oz. He spent 21 days In the NICU. I forgot to mention that the NICU In this hospital was amazing and that’s why we picked it. We knew our son would be born at 35 weeks and he would need help. I rented a hospital house and was able to live there the whole time so that I could still see and hold and feed my son. I couldn’t imagine being three hours away.

He was diagnosed soon after birth with a metabolic disease. It was rare and the doctors did not know how to treat it. They were very honest with us the entire time and it was greatly appreciated, but there was something petrifying about knowing that your son had something that even specialists had never seen. Luckily there was an amazing Children’s hospital a few hours away and they all worked together to diagnose and treat our son. It was all worth it in the end. We have an amazing little boy and thank god for him every day.

We chose not to vaccinate due to his situation and our personal beliefs. He was doing great and we were ready to start trying again. After about 2 years we started looking into getting some help. We eventually achieved pregnancy and were excited for what we hoped would be a smoother pregnancy. I was about 5 weeks along and had been having a lot of pain. I finally called the doctor about it and she did an ultrasound and said that it looked like it might be an ectopic pregnancy. I was so devastated I went home and researched what I could about it. My hormone levels continued to rise but not at a high rate. I made her wait one more week and wait to see if we could see a heartbeat. During that ultrasound the tech made a lot of verbal “ooohs and awwws,” my husband and I knew that something was wrong.

The doctor came in immediately and told me that my pregnancy was indeed ectopic and it looked like my right tube had started to rupture. I had to have surgery and my tube removed. We left the hospital devastated that our pregnancy had ended again in a loss. We stopped trying for a few months and decided to consider adoption. One weekend I became very sick, very suddenly and was trying to pin point the cause. I decided to take one of my numerous pregnancy tests that I had stock piled from all the years of trying. Soon enough there were two lines and I ran out of the bathroom screaming!! We were so excited. After a doctor conformation and a few tips to help me get through the morning sickness we celebrated.

We were blessed with another miracle. After several weeks of countless vomiting attacks and constant nausea I ended up in the E.R. I had Hyperemesis Gravidarum. I lost a lot of weight and my doctor had me started on Home health care for continuous I.V. hydration. It has had its ups and downs up until this point. There are a lot of nurses and people that think they know things about what will help and when it will go away… I was lucky enough to find a great support group of mothers that have and have had HG. It saved my life to know that I am not alone in this fight. I talk to them on a daily basis. I still receive fluids as I need them, at home, through my picc line. I take Zofran every 4 hours and Phenergan as needed. The vomiting has almost all subsided, and I am able to eat some meals now. We are 18 weeks, 4 days and fighting it every day. But we aren’t about to give up what we have already lost so many times.