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JOSHUA WILKNIGHT — USA
Stillborn March 29, 2009 Prenatal-onset Mother's GBS Status: Unknown Gestational Age: 20 weeks Age harmed: 20th week of pregnancy |
The week leading into March 29, 2009, I developed a head cold. A couple of days into it, I started urinating frequently. At one point, I felt as if I had lost control of my bladder and was leaking what I thought was urine. It was clear and didn't smell like urine, though. I got over the cold and everything seemed fine again. In retrospect, I was probably leaking amniotic fluid.
On Friday, March 27, 2009, I went to an outpatient center for my routine 20 week ultrasound. During the ultrasound everything visually appeared fine. The baby had no defects, the heart rate was normal, the amniotic fluid seemed fine, and my cervix was long and closed. However, our normally active baby was curled up in his favorite place in my uterus and did not move around much. We (and the tech) thought he was sleeping and uncooperative. The tech showed the films to the perinatologist who determined everything was fine. They scheduled us to come back in a couple of weeks to complete the parts of the scan that they couldn't do that day.
At home that night, I started feeling some tightness and cramps. I assumed it was because the tech had been pushing pretty hard with the wand to get the pictures she needed and to try to get the baby to move. I went to bed assuming everything was fine.
On Saturday, March 28, 2009, I woke up and went to the bathroom. I had a huge smear of bloody discharge. I assumed that the tech had somehow upset my cervix during the scan. I went to my chiropractic appointment that morning. I shared what had happened with my chiropractor. She suggested that if I continued to see bloody discharge, I should call my doctor. The discharge stopped, though. We went shopping, ate some dinner, and watched some TV.
Around 10:00 PM I was sitting on the couch when I felt a pop in my vaginal area. I ran to the bathroom. As soon as I sat on the toilet, a huge gush of fluid came out of my vagina. We called the doctor, who told to us to immediately go to the hospital. When we arrived at labor and delivery, they did some tests and an ultrasound. It was determined that my water had broken and the fluid level was dangerously low. Our doctor arrived and discussed the situation with us. She told us our baby did not have a good chance of survival and it was likely that infection had caused this. She said that the perinatologist (high risk doctor) would come in the next morning to assess the situation. We were stunned and confused. At our request she put the fetal monitor on me before she left and we heard our son's heartbeat. This was around 1:30 AM. Nurses came in and did a blood draw for testing and put me on IV antibiotics. Then they took off all the monitors and put us to bed.
I had a very restless night. Around 7:00 AM our nurse came in to check my blood pressure and temperature before her shift change. I asked her if my blood test results had come back from the lab. She looked sad when she told me that my white blood cell count was elevated. This indicated the presence of infection.
At around 10:00 AM the perinatologist finally arrived (12 hours after I checked into the hospital.) He did an ultrasound and looked around for a while. He took the wand off of me and said, "Let's talk about what premature rupture of membranes at 20 weeks can mean." I interrupted him and asked, "Is there still a heartbeat?" He turned the machine back on, looked around some more, and said, "I think this baby has made the decision for us." He said that the baby must have compressed his cord and passed away during the night. I don't remember anything else after that.
A little while later, our doctor came to discuss our options. I chose to have labor induced and deliver the baby that day. At 4:45 PM, they started the induction. They told us that it would probably take 12 hours and a few doses of the medication. It took 4 hours and one dose. I progressed so quickly that our doctor barely arrived in time to deliver me. Our son was born sleeping at 9:30 PM on Sunday, March 29, 2009. We spent a long time holding him and praying. We named him Joshua and said goodbye. After two more rounds of IV antibiotics and 15 hours of Pitocin, I was discharged on Monday, March 30, 2009.
At the hospital we made the decision to have pathology performed on the placenta and an autopsy on his body. We are glad we made that decision now that the test results are arriving. On Wednesday, April 15, 2009, I had my first postpartum appointment. Our doctor sat with us and explained the test results. She said that the diagnosis was acute chorioamnionitis caused by group B strep infection. The infection weakened the amniotic sac and caused my water to break. I was never tested for group B strep at any point in my pregnancy.
I have now been classified high risk for all future pregnancies. The plan is now that I will be vaginally cultured for group B strep at my first prenatal appointment. They will perform urine cultures on a monthly basis for the rest of my pregnancy. If I test positive, they will prescribe oral antibiotics. They also plan to treat me as group B strep positive during labor and administer IV antibiotics.
I hope that this helps prevent others from living the tragedy that we have suffered through. We loved our son, Joshua, and want his short time on Earth to mean something.
— Glennis , USA
On Friday, March 27, 2009, I went to an outpatient center for my routine 20 week ultrasound. During the ultrasound everything visually appeared fine. The baby had no defects, the heart rate was normal, the amniotic fluid seemed fine, and my cervix was long and closed. However, our normally active baby was curled up in his favorite place in my uterus and did not move around much. We (and the tech) thought he was sleeping and uncooperative. The tech showed the films to the perinatologist who determined everything was fine. They scheduled us to come back in a couple of weeks to complete the parts of the scan that they couldn't do that day.
At home that night, I started feeling some tightness and cramps. I assumed it was because the tech had been pushing pretty hard with the wand to get the pictures she needed and to try to get the baby to move. I went to bed assuming everything was fine.
On Saturday, March 28, 2009, I woke up and went to the bathroom. I had a huge smear of bloody discharge. I assumed that the tech had somehow upset my cervix during the scan. I went to my chiropractic appointment that morning. I shared what had happened with my chiropractor. She suggested that if I continued to see bloody discharge, I should call my doctor. The discharge stopped, though. We went shopping, ate some dinner, and watched some TV.
Around 10:00 PM I was sitting on the couch when I felt a pop in my vaginal area. I ran to the bathroom. As soon as I sat on the toilet, a huge gush of fluid came out of my vagina. We called the doctor, who told to us to immediately go to the hospital. When we arrived at labor and delivery, they did some tests and an ultrasound. It was determined that my water had broken and the fluid level was dangerously low. Our doctor arrived and discussed the situation with us. She told us our baby did not have a good chance of survival and it was likely that infection had caused this. She said that the perinatologist (high risk doctor) would come in the next morning to assess the situation. We were stunned and confused. At our request she put the fetal monitor on me before she left and we heard our son's heartbeat. This was around 1:30 AM. Nurses came in and did a blood draw for testing and put me on IV antibiotics. Then they took off all the monitors and put us to bed.
I had a very restless night. Around 7:00 AM our nurse came in to check my blood pressure and temperature before her shift change. I asked her if my blood test results had come back from the lab. She looked sad when she told me that my white blood cell count was elevated. This indicated the presence of infection.
At around 10:00 AM the perinatologist finally arrived (12 hours after I checked into the hospital.) He did an ultrasound and looked around for a while. He took the wand off of me and said, "Let's talk about what premature rupture of membranes at 20 weeks can mean." I interrupted him and asked, "Is there still a heartbeat?" He turned the machine back on, looked around some more, and said, "I think this baby has made the decision for us." He said that the baby must have compressed his cord and passed away during the night. I don't remember anything else after that.
A little while later, our doctor came to discuss our options. I chose to have labor induced and deliver the baby that day. At 4:45 PM, they started the induction. They told us that it would probably take 12 hours and a few doses of the medication. It took 4 hours and one dose. I progressed so quickly that our doctor barely arrived in time to deliver me. Our son was born sleeping at 9:30 PM on Sunday, March 29, 2009. We spent a long time holding him and praying. We named him Joshua and said goodbye. After two more rounds of IV antibiotics and 15 hours of Pitocin, I was discharged on Monday, March 30, 2009.
At the hospital we made the decision to have pathology performed on the placenta and an autopsy on his body. We are glad we made that decision now that the test results are arriving. On Wednesday, April 15, 2009, I had my first postpartum appointment. Our doctor sat with us and explained the test results. She said that the diagnosis was acute chorioamnionitis caused by group B strep infection. The infection weakened the amniotic sac and caused my water to break. I was never tested for group B strep at any point in my pregnancy.
I have now been classified high risk for all future pregnancies. The plan is now that I will be vaginally cultured for group B strep at my first prenatal appointment. They will perform urine cultures on a monthly basis for the rest of my pregnancy. If I test positive, they will prescribe oral antibiotics. They also plan to treat me as group B strep positive during labor and administer IV antibiotics.
I hope that this helps prevent others from living the tragedy that we have suffered through. We loved our son, Joshua, and want his short time on Earth to mean something.
— Glennis , USA
To learn more about Perinatal & GBS Misconceptions, click HERE.
To learn more about the Signs & Symptoms of Preterm Labor, click HERE.
To learn more about the Signs & Symptoms of GBS Infection, click HERE.
To learn more about Why Membranes Should NOT Be Stripped, click HERE.
To learn more about How to Help Protect Your Baby from Group B Strep (GBS), click HERE.
To learn more about the Signs & Symptoms of Preterm Labor, click HERE.
To learn more about the Signs & Symptoms of GBS Infection, click HERE.
To learn more about Why Membranes Should NOT Be Stripped, click HERE.
To learn more about How to Help Protect Your Baby from Group B Strep (GBS), click HERE.