Birth Story | Surviving a Placental Abruption
July 19th 2019, I tuck in my daughter for the last time as an only child. I wobble downstairs to get some dinner and say to my husband “Let’s go out this weekend and do something as a family potentially one last time before we have the new baby.” Although I have 3 weeks to go, I am determined to spend all available weekends together. We agree and get ready for bed. I think to myself “Wow, time has flown by. What will life be like with a toddler and a newborn?” With that in mind, I go to sleep with a plan for the following day. .
July 20th, 2019, I wake up at 7:00am on the dot with a sharp pain in my lower back. I don’t think much of it as I was having Braxton Hicks for the past 2 weeks. I grab my phone and look at the pregnancy app I had downloaded to see if what I am experiencing is normal. I remembered reading that contractions start off with pain in the back so I decide to time them. 10 minutes, 15 minutes pass by and I notice that the pain is still there and it hasn’t been coming and going in waves, it’s just consistent pain. I get out of bed, go downstairs quietly without waking anyone up and grab a granola bar. I figure maybe I’m hungry and it’ll go away after I eat. I wake up Shehab and say “I think I’m having contractions but it’s not coming and going. I’m timing it but I’ll let you know. Maybe I’m just hungry.” He went back to sleep. .
It’s 7:30am and the pain still hasn’t gone away so I decide to try and go back to sleep. I go to use the restroom and that’s when I notice the blood.
“Shehab!,” I yell. “Something’s wrong!” He quickly jumps off the bed and says “Let’s go!” He grabs Hoda out of bed and my hospital bag that I had packed 6 weeks prior in case anything like this happened. As you know, Hoda was a preterm baby, born 7 weeks before her due date due to a placental abruption. Shehab helps me into the car, straps Hoda in her car seat and starts driving. On the way there, I call my parents to tell them to make their way to the hospital to pick up Hoda. I’m sitting in the car quietly praying that we make it in time and that it’s not too late. I think to myself this can’t be happening again! At this point, I have lost a significant amount of blood and start getting lightheaded. .
We arrive at the hospital. I somehow walk in through the front door alone to get a head start while Shehab and Hoda go to park the car. Because I’m so lightheaded, I can’t walk anymore and have Shehab get me a wheelchair. I hold Hoda’s hand as he wheels me into Labor and Delivery. .
After unnecessary delays, the nurses takes me into the room and quickly gets me on the bed. I let go of Hoda’s hand and Shehab takes her to the waiting room. The doctors and nurses rush to find the baby’s heart rate. One of the nurses says “Prep the OR.” They quickly release the brakes on the bed and start to wheel me out of the room. As they are wheeling me out, I turn to the side and see Hoda looking at me with Shehab by her side. The look of concern on her face is the last thing I saw and it still haunts me to this day.
I was rushed into the OR and told to quickly get on the operating table as the baby’s heart rate was dropping quick. There were 4 nurses racing to put in an IV but were unsuccessful since my veins had collapsed at this point. The anesthesiologist looked over me and said “We’re going to put you to sleep now.”
12 hours later I wake up and see Shehab at a distance next to my mom, my sister, my dad, the nurses. All of them with swollen eyes. I wake up to find out I am fully intubated. It’s hard not to notice the massive tube INSIDE my trachea that I can feel all the way down in my stomach. I wanted to talk and ask about the baby, ask what happened to me, what day it was, where is Hoda?
I had suffered yet another placental abruption. Cause? No clue! We barely made it to the hospital in time. The next 24 hours I heard I lost innumerous amounts of blood, had a combined 24 units of blood transfusions, platelets, white blood cells etc. I heard I coded in the OR and that nurses were running back and forth in and out of the OR with bags of blood.
I’ll save you the gory details but 24 hours later, once I am able to breathe on my own, they take out the ventilator and get me ready to be transferred to another hospital where my baby was taken. The neonatal unit in my current hospital did not have the equipment they needed to treat our baby so they transferred him out immediately. .
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My transport arrived and I was ready to be taken. As they were wheeling me out of the ICU, every single nurse in that unit gave me a hug and their phone numbers and called me their “Miracle.” It’s crazy to think that at some point these nurses thought there was no way I was going to make it out. One of the doctors mentioned that in her 30 years in labor and delivery, this was the worst case she had seen.
During this time, I couldn’t help but think it wasn’t my time to go. God had a plan for me. I made it out of all of this not once but twice and I recovered stronger than before. He was really looking out for me.
I finally made it to University of Maryland Medical Center where my baby was taken. The next 8 hours consisted of labs, trying to sleep and pumping.
It was finally time to make it down to the NICU to see my baby for the first time! I remember thinking there were more wires, tubes and machines than actual baby. His head was wrapped and he was placed on a cooling blanket. His eyes were closed. He looked peaceful and boy did he look just like his Dad! .
At this point, it was just a waiting game. We waited for the baby to ride out all the necessary procedures. The nurses would constantly tell us how cute he was and how he’s such a strong little boy. Considering the fact that he was born under distress and had to be resuscitated, the nurses assured us that he was a fighter. Days past before we were able to see him open his eyes. The tubes and wires slowly started coming off and we were able to see him in a whole new light. The day finally came when we got to hold our little boy Ayub for the first time.
Fast forward 10 days in the NICU, 10 days of back and forth between home and hospital, MRIs, labs and tests, and we heard we get to bring Ayub home. Of course, big sister Hoda was so excited and we couldn’t wait to bring home her baby brother! .
It’s taken me months to write down this experience. Mainly because there is so much to say and I didn’t think I would be strong enough to relive it. The truth is I’ve been reliving this experience every time I look at my kids. Every time I look at Hoda I remember how we spent weeks looking at her through a glass box. Every time I look at Ayub, I see his head taped up and what he must have gone through in the first few moments of his life. When I look in the mirror and see scars on my neck and body, I’m reminded of the my physical and mental trauma. Every so often I come across something that triggers my experience and I can’t help but cry every time.
We’ve spent a lot of time in a NICU. With both kids collectively, about 2 months. If it weren’t for the NICU, sadly our babies would not be here. If it wasn’t for the progressive technology, the incubators, the heart monitors, ventilators, the MRI’s and of course the best of the best staff, our family would look a lot different.
We are forever grateful to the doctors and nurses that not only saved my life twice but saved our children’s lives. I told you God had a plan for me and it only seems right that we work to give back to parents who are in the same situation as us and may not have the same luxuries that have been provided to us.
Shehab and I are partnering with Penny Appeal USA, to provide lifesaving neonatal incubators to the Al- Makassed hospital in Jerusalem, Palestine. This is the only hospital that has a neonatal unit and is the leading medical center that serves patients from the West Bank, Gaza, and Jerusalem. Unfortunately, the neonatal unit refuses 40-50 preterm babies each month because they simply do not have enough incubators.
The hospital runs solely on donations. Through funds raised for this project, Al-Makassed hospital will be able to accommodate 10 additional incubators to serve 400-650 preterm babies each year!
As we gear up for Ramadan we hope you will consider donating to this campaign and giving other parents the hope they deserve.
My story has ended but for the hundreds of parents who are in my position and are denied neonatal care, their stories are just beginning. The link to donate is in my bio or you can visit launchgood.com/nicu
Thank you for reading my story, for all your kind messages and prayers for my family and I. It hasn’t gone unnoticed!