Alexandria, Virginia
My pregnancy was lovely. Despite all the physical and emotional roller coasters that come along with growing a human inside your body, I really did enjoy every part of the journey.
Labor and delivery were a different story. My water broke in the middle of the night, at 39 weeks of gestation, and thus began a 40-hour process of bringing my son into the world. I had developed severe preeclampsia and labor had to be stalled several times to keep my blood pressure down and my son and I safe.
He was finally delivered, healthy and strong and beautiful. I struggled, however, to deliver the placenta.
After 45 minutes of trying, I was rushed to the operating room, leaving my husband and son to wait and worry. I had begun to hemorrhage, and it was discovered that I was suffering from placenta accreta, a condition in which the placenta grows into the uterine wall. In the operating room, my blood loss continued, requiring several transfusions. I lost a total of 40% of my blood volume.
Doctors were able to stop the hemorrhaging and save my uterus, but I would never be able to carry a pregnancy again. In the week at the hospital that followed, I received yet another transfusion, as my blood levels failed to stabilize.
I am very grateful for the blood of strangers, which helped me to survive the hemorrhaging that threatened my life. Every year on my son’s birthday, I donate in his honor and to help a stranger who is in need
